Adventures in Paper Weaving

About Adventures in Paper Weaving

Paper weaving is a quick and fun way to play with color, image, and pattern—without a loom!

Even if you’ve never seen a weaving draft and don’t know warp from weft, you’ll be weaving by the end of the workshop. We will begin by viewing the diverse work of several artists working in this medium today. I will demonstrate how to choose papers for weaving, how to decorate them yourself if you choose to do that, how to cut strips, choose a weave structure, read a weaving draft and how to do the actual weaving. We will emphasize choosing papers and weave structures that create maximum visual interest and interaction between image and weave. Finally, we will look at how to finish and mount your completed weaving. I will share several handouts and resources.

Suitable for: everyone. Previous weaving experience helpful but not required.

The class sessions will consist of PowerPoint slide lecture, Q and A and discussion. Students will work in between the two sessions on their paper weavings and share their work, if they choose, in the second session.

The capacity for this class is 25 students.

Class Materials

Students should provide:
Papers: either printed photographs or decorated papers (painted or found papers). A
weight of 90-140 lb is ideal—something heavier than 20-lb printer paper is easier to weave with, if possible, though it is certainly possible to use regular printer paper. If you choose to decorate or paint your own papers during the workshop, you will need the necessary paints, brushes, etc.
Blue painter's tape or (preferred) white artist’s tape. Try to avoid scotch tape or masking tape.
Scissors for cuttng paper.
Work surface: piece of cardboard, foam core or matboard at least 2” larger on all sides than the papers you are weaving with.
Means to cut paper into 1/4” strips: EITHER a rotary paper trimmer OR a ruler, cutting mat and x-acto or utility knife. Or you can cut strips freehand with scissors!