For a while now I have been interested in exploring fabric, sewing, textiles, fibers... I wanted to experiment with weaving a textile but incorporating twigs and medicinal herb sprigs to it. I looked for a class but found nothing which is ironic given the rich textile tradition Perú has. My only hope was a youtube tutorial, I found a few helpful ones and made the simplest loom using chipboard as you can see in the photo below.
I used twine for the warp, cheap yarn I bought and some my mom donated to me from her knitting days. I found the process to be immediately soothing and meditative, the kind of work I can do for long periods of time. In the photo below you can see my first attempts at weaving with sprigs of medicinal plants I previously dried.
This was a very small piece but it took me a while to finish it; as I worked I wondered how long it takes for weavers to produce large pieces!
I really like the plant ends sticking out of the actual textile, some of the dried sprigs were too delicate to use however and they broke easily when weaved so I had to test the strength of different plants to find the most appropriate ones. I could not use too leafy ones either as it was impossible to weave with them.
I decided to use more twine in the actual textile, I really like the earthy texture of this material. The photos below show detaisl of how this looks.
The photos below show the final result; I´m really happy with it. This experience left me wanting more. In my next post, Weaving Part II, I´ll share where this took me...