Share This

July 30, 2015

Weaving Fun into Art

Arts and crafts are regular activities at Hopewell. The residents love the opportunity to be creative and share their talents. Whenever we mention we are going to be working in the Art Room, the residents become visibly excited. They enjoy expressing themselves in the many ways offered by Hopewell. One of our current projects is weaving with straws. The way we weave may be a little nontraditional, but it is easy to do. It is inexpensive to start, and so much fun.

What You Need:

• 4 to 6 clean plastic drinking straws
• Yarn (2 colors if possible)
• Scissors
• Masking tape

Getting Started:

1. If your straws have a bend, align them and cut them off.
2. Cut a slit in each of the straws on the same end, about 1 inch long.
3. Measure and cut a piece of yarn to about 10 inches longer than you want your finished project to be, for each of your straws.
4. Slide a piece of yarn into each of the straws, about 2 inches past the end.
5. Slide the yarn into the slit in each straw and tape it in place. These pieces of yarn are your cords.
6. Tie a knot around the ends of your cords that are opposite the straws.
7. Align your cord weaving straws.
8. Tie a slip knot with your weaving yarn around your first straw on the left.
9. Start weaving yarn over and under the straws.
10. When you reach your last cord, wrap around the straw. Weave back in the opposite direction to your first cord.
11. Continue to weave back and forth until you reach about 10 rows.
12. Push the weaving tightly together and gently slide it off the straws.
13. Continue weaving groups of yarn together and tightening the groups down the straws until your end product is as long as you desire.

To finish your weaving:

14. Cut the yarn off the straws. Save them for your next project.
15. Cut your weaving yarn about 6 inches longer than your weaving.
16. Knot your weaving yarn around each of your cord pieces of yarn.
17. Once you knot each of the chord pieces, knot a second row back to the first cord yarn.
18. To finish the bottom, knot the cord straws off in pairs. Knot the first and the second cord straws, the second and third cord straws, and down the row until the end is complete.
19. You can trim the cord yarn or leave it as a fringe.

Enjoy your beautiful project. We encourage you to give your hard work to your friends.

If you are not the arts and crafts type, our residents make beautiful weavings. They are available for sale in our Farm & Craft Market. The funds raised by the sale of items in the Market help support our Art Room and projects. Making art in any form is an important part of the healing process at Hopewell. The Hopewell Farm & Craft Market is open Wednesday through Friday from 12:00PM to 4:00PM and Saturdays from 10:00AM to 2:00PM. It is located just two miles south of Mesopotamia Circle, at 9489 State Route 534. Stop by to support healing art and creativity.