Native American Weaving!

I went and seen Troy yesterday at his house. I was hoping we would go to the movies or something, but the poor thing has done something to his back. When I got to his house, he was visibly in pain. So, we hung out at his house all evening and watched Batman Begins on FX. I had never seen it, and really enjoyed it. When I left his home late last night, his back seemed to be feeling a lot better. :)

Today I'm going to post an activity on Native American Weaving. I found this activity in a book called Art Projects by Design.

Materials need:

• 6" x 9" practice paper
• 6" x 9" cardboard
  
• scissors
• string
• various colors of yarn
• visual references of Native American weavings, especially patterns and symbols
• pencil

Terms you might want to know:

• Warp and weft
  

Directions for students:

1. One 6" x 9" practice paper, choose a Native American symbol to draw. Make it large, but not so large that it touches the edges.
2. Shade the back of the practice paper (this works the same as carbon paper) to transfer it to 6" x 9 " cardbaord.
3. On 6" x 9" cardboard, mark off every 1/2 inch on two opposite sides and cut in on those marks 1/2 inch.
4. To create warp, start with one corner cut with white string and go across the opposite cut, then to it's neighboring cut, then back across to the opposite cut. Continue until the string is in the last cut. The strings should go across the frong of the design and not the back.
5. Use color yarn to weave into the design first. Tie onto white string, then weave over, under, over, under, and so on. (Note: I found that you don't always have to tie the string to the warp. You can simply tuck it under and if your weaving is tight enough, it will not come undone!) If weaving a line pattern, start at the top.
6. To weave the background, use the same process but remember to weave around the last string of the design (if not, a hole will remain).
7. Slip weaving off cardboard and tie tassels onto the loops where the white string used to be hooked on the cardboard.

Design element: Area -- color shapes
Art History: Navajo weaving for color shapes
Grade level: Intermediate

I hope you find this helpful or useful. I found that while typing it I got rather confused. Weaving is a rather simple process though, so have fun!

I officially begin student teaching tomorrow, so forgive me if I don't post as often as I should.