I purchased a simple frame loom from a thrift shop but the similar can be found at Hobby Craft or Tiger or you can make your own using a picture frame and some nails. I displayed the hanging from a broken branch I found in the garden.
Materials
Plastic bags in a variety of colours
Cotton warp thread or string
Fat twig or thin branch for hanging
Equipment
Loom
Weaving shuttle
Scissors
Tape measure
Step 1
Cut the bag into strips 0.5cm wide. Knot the strips together so you have one long strip.
Step 2
Thread the loom by tying on the thread at one side and then going backwards and forwards between the top end and the bottom end of the frame. It is important to maintain an even tension. Tie off the thread in the same way as you tied on the thread.
Step 3
So that the weaving doesn’t fall out when you finish you will need to make a twisted header. Cut a piece of warp thread about two and a half times the width of the warp. Twist the thread round each warp thread in turn. As in the image.
Step 4
When you get to the end of the warp return in the opposite direction push the threads down and tie off at the end.
Step5
Thread the plastic onto the shuttle and then starting in the middle of the warp take the shuttle under and over until you reach one end, then go back the other way.
Step 6
As you work push down the weft to cover the warp. When you have made a stripe of one colour change to another.
Step 7
To make tassels cut strips of plastic (blue)about 20cm long. Choose a middle section of the hanging and put the blue plastic behind two warp threads at the same time. Wrap one side round one thread and the other round the other , pull the threads through to the front of the hanging. Add as many of these as you like. Mine was so bunchy that when I hung it up I gave it a bit of a trim.
Step 8/9
Weave another block of flat weaving. Repeat steps 3 and 4 to finish off.
Step 10
Pull the ends off the loom and then thread onto the branch. Cut off the warp threads from the other end of the loom and knot them one to the next one.
Tip
Check that you are not creating a waist by pulling in the sides of the warp as you work.
creativecolour.org 