CONSIDERING WEAVE

About two years ago, 

maybe three,

 I took the most wonderful online class with Jude Hill

of Spirit Cloth fame called Considering Weave.

After that,

weaving has once again become very dear to my heart

(actually still trying to purchase a Jude Hill weaving, hint, hint)

Anyways,

I've found I'm very attracted to Tapestry weave, 

and have been really enjoying Pinterest and all the Tapestries to be found there.

So one of my latest purchases to share with my 3-D students 

has been from an Etsy business called Manufabrica,

run by owner Kuku from Zagora', Greece.

She is creating the most delightful woven tapestry neckpieces,

incorporating natural finds like freshwater pearls, shells, etc. with silver findings.

Kuku grew up in a small village in Germany 

and learned to knit and crochet from her grandmother.

She studied Textiles and has since moved to a small Aegean Island in Greece

where she goes on walks along the shore to find treasures she might incorporate into her jewelry.

The necklace I bought from her includes all the above.

I so liked her presentation when I opened the package,

how she secured the piece to this neutral backdrop with lovely ribbon.

And the silver findings she incorporates in almost all her necklaces brings a touch of elegance

and elevates these sweet weavings to a higher level..

You might want to go to Etsy and take a peek.

It's For the Birds

WOVEN BIRDS NESTS

BEGINNING 3-D ART

wire, handspun yarns, ripped fabrics strips, jute, laces, recycled yarns & other misc. items

These imaginative nests were inspired by my last years students

who went above and beyond the minimum requirements.

This is the project I use to teach beginners how to weave.

But first we have to spin up our own hand spun/hand dyed yarns. 

We use them as inspiration for all our other color choices,

and include them in the woven nest.

This is also a huge recycle project.

It's our chance to use up all the odds and ends that I insist on saving;

bits of yarns, laces, ropes, plastic bags, beads & donated fabrics.

This year I asked the kids to not only weave a bird's nest but to then do something special around it.

Junior William Kim came thru in a big way.

He managed to find a very sweet blue bird, 

some eucalyptus stems, stuffing, silk leaves and a flower.

Then he arranged it all around his nest so perfectly along with his needle felted eggs.

In this next one,

very creative sophomore Shreya Sheth finds an old piece of wood that she splits,

then wood burns cool musical designs into it, 

and places it under her lovely nest.

Notice her sheet music stuffing?

Shreya's outside of the box critical thinking skills are going to take her far,

and I look forward to teaching her in many more of my art classes.

Junior Hazel Cruz,

a highly artistic young woman,

has built us this very soft & fluffy nest.

It's so realistic looking to me

 the way she has settled it onto a branch that she reconfigured and wood burned.

Notice how Hazel has woven with recycled plastic as well?

In this fun piece,

 senior Sunny Kim,

who was a joy to teach last year in Beginning 2-D,

 has used a lot of natural materials to cleverly incorporate into her work.

I love that she thought to wood burn on top of a piece of bark.

I asked her about the meaning behind her sign and she told me, 

"It's a bitter bird whose unlucky in love"

What a crack up!

She had me laughing out loud  :)

I'm so thrilled junior Liana Chie,

super star student from my 7th grade Art Wheel class 4 years ago,

has returned to me.

She, 

along with my other juniors this year who I adore,

have talked me into staying one more year 

so I can take them thru the Intermediate 3-D class.

I've put in my dues and can retire at any time now,

but teaching these young ones makes me so happy

 and I know they keep me young.

:) 

The hardest part for me,

 and has always been,

the getting up so early in the morning.

I accidentally oversleep my alarm at least 2-3 days each week

which makes me a crazy woman on the freeway  :(

And tremendously talented senior Anna Lee built this cutie.

She found lots of cool, old fabrics to weave with,

and I love the handle she made out of the foundation wire that we built the weft structures out of.

And notice those sweet strips dangling from the bottom?

Nice touch kiddo!

If you look closely you can see felted eggs alongside fabric eggs. 

Happy Heart

Nothing makes me happier then when my students continue to create after their class with me is over.

Three of my senior students, Bianca Tolentino, Kaili Hamada and Karisma Dev, all checked out spinning wheels from me for over the summer so that they could continue to spin their own yarns.

Above and below you can see what Bianca did with her handspuns.  

She made a cardboard loom and wove an elongated piece of fabric which she then turned into a journal (a project we did in her 3-D class)

Senior Reis Misaka, who learned to work with wood in the 3-D class, hand crafted a Niddy Noddy from wood doweling for Bianca to skein her handspuns (above)

Wow!

I'm so thrilled to be able to pass on the fiber arts to this next generation so that they can continue to pass it along and keep these arts alive.

Springtime at Whitney - Student Work

WOVEN BIRD'S NESTS

BEGINNING 3-D ART

I believe this is the 3rd year to do this assignment.  It's a great one because besides learning how to weave, the kids are using mostly recycled scraps as weft, as well as incorporating their handspun yarns into the piece.  This year there was more creativity then in the past as you will see in a couple of the works.

Like this one by junior Daphne Chiang. 

 Along with weaving this adorable nest, she has attached it to a branch which makes so much sense.

Besides weaving their nests they also have to make a little something special to sit in their nests.

This sweet piece and fairy were made by senior Megan Yeu.

Looking closely we can see all she has recycled; cording, laces, ripped fabric strips, and ribbons.

Love how junior Katy Uchiyama has taken a cracked egg shell and collaged over top of it with tissue, then made a little felt bird to go inside egg. 

This next one by junior Justin Jang is so clever.  He thought to weave with silk plant leaves/vines, feathers and mosses, and then he built a whole eco-environment inside his nest.

Great critical thinking Justin!

Senior Jackie Manipon made this next nest.  I love that she thought to dangle beads below and her eggs are exquisite, so pretty in fact that someone stole them out of her nest when it was on display in the office. 

I'm so sorry Jackie.  

She took and gutted real eggs then paper collaged over top of them.

The papers she used look like they are from Japan, not sure.  

What a shame they were taken.  

Our kids are usually very respectful of the art students and their work on display.  

This is the very first time something has been taken.  :(

Junior Bianca Tolentino made this adorable dimensional felt bird for her cute nest.

I really like how junior Alice Hong has dangled her ripped weft scraps from the bottom of her nest. 

 I think I'll do that next year on my demo. piece.

Alice fashioned a sweet little time piece for the inside of her nest.

But it's this one by junior Clarisa Bloemhof that really had everyone talking.

She turned her nest into a tree, complete with cork swing, then mounted it on this cool piece of scrap cardboard.

How wonderful is this???

A whole new place to go next year with the kids.

Thank you Clarisa for your inspiration!

And notice her handspun yarn as weft woven on top of the tree?

Can you tell I really like this one?  

LOL

Woven Bird's Nests - Student Work

This really lovely first one is the work of junior Laarnie Barcelon.  I love how much effort she put into all the added embellishments like the hanging ribbon with buttons. And her starch balloon eggs are wonderful too!

This is the 2nd year I've done this assignment with my Beginning 3-d kids as a vehicle to teach them dimensional weaving.  I couldn't be more pleased with the results.  within these nests you will find their hand spun yarns, feathers, laces, ripped fabric, recycled plastic bags, string, jute, you name it, it's been used to weave with.

The kids build their wire foundations from the rebar I pick up at Home Depot for just a couple of bucks.  It's steel but bendable, and really works well to form their structures with.  

The love birds and their nest were made by senior Kasie Le-Nguyen.

And the owl family and nest were done by the sweetest junior ever, Beah Tolentino.  There are actually 3 owls in the nest by only two are peeking out in this photo.

I feel really bad, I've lost the student's names of these next couple of nests, but they sure are cute!

I'm pretty sure this one above was made by junior Kaya Quarles.  

love the visual flow going on between the woven weft choices and the speckled eggs she made.  the students were required to make something special to put inside their nests.

This next one above is the creation of sophomore Reis Misaka.  Love those beautiful origami birds he made for his nest.

And this last fun one belongs to 8th grader Jenna De La Paz.

Great job young ones!!!!

Woo Hoo...New Assignment - Woven Nest

Every year I teach my Beginning 3-D students how to spin their own yarn as well as to weave with it.  And I usually have them weave a pouch, but this year I tried something different, we wove bird nests.  The requirements were to build a foundation for the nest out of wire, then use at least 4 different kinds of fibers to weave the nest with, one being their own hand spun yarn.  They also had to fill the nest with something that worked visually, then make something special to put inside their nest.  The medium was up to them.

These nests turned out so spectacular that instead of just showing off a couple, I've photoed at least half of the classes projects, so this is kind of a long post.  I hope you enjoy it.

This first one above was done by sophomore Lydia Kim.  I was so impressed by her choice of fibers and then figuring out and making a pattern to sew a felt bird.  Bravo Lydia!!

This next very feminine and lovely nest was built by senior Aparna Vanchewaran.  This was an end of the year project and I turned the kids loose to find whatever they could to weave with.  I have boxes with laces and ribbons that Aparna made use of, and then just look at her incredible butterfly she made for the inside.  Wow! 

In this one, junior Alice Zhang used chenille, jute, feathers and newspaper strips to get this very realistic looking nest, plus her white hand spun.  And she splintered a piece of wood and used our woodburning tool to etch "Home" for her inside.  So creative!

This next playful piece was done by junior Sheila San Agustin.  She recycled a notebook spiral binding, and papermache'd  this adorable little guy holding his fishing pole.

I asked senior Jaimee Chirico to make a prototype so the students would be able to see an example before they started.  This is her wonderful piece.

Her bird and nest's foundations were built from wire before they where woven.  And her eggs were made from paper mache' and then paint was speckled on.

Junior Emily Yang has made a gorgeous piece here with lots of wonderful fiber choices.  she also made paper mache' eggs. 

Junior Tiffany Lee got crazy creative and built this fabulous sculpture using all kinds of recycled materials.  I was so impressed when she turned this in.  She is such an outside of the box thinker, and I'm hoping she goes on to major in design.

Look closely at this next one with it's sleeping angel inside made from polymer clay and feathers, and the little sign that says "Be back in 2 hours"  So cute junior Lydia Ko

And then there's the sweet pomegranate angel by senior Stephanie Pascua, and the wire chicken below by senior Luis Gomez.

Junior Sara Shams peeled apart a plastic woven netting material to line her basket with, and then made a golden egg to nestle inside her lovely nest.  And sophomore Alex Rendon went all out with a purple lace he found to weave with that created a great fringe. 

Junior Ashley Chowdhury created the most lovely piece with her ribbons, laces and roses, and sweet butterfly.  And very clever senior Shavanti Kariyawasam dedicated her nest to the senior class and how they were ready to spread their wings and leave us.

One of my very favorites was this one by junior Stella Park, loved the form, the color choices, the fiber selections, and all the beautiful hand spun around the lip.  Gorgeous work as always Stella!!

And this last one, by junior Julia Chanco, is another well thought out piece in both form, colors, and hanging devise.

And her egg was so lovely with the collaged papers.  

Fantastic job all of you, I'm so proud to show these off!!  Just sorry it took me so dang long!