Paper Yarn becomes a basket with meaning

Remember the paper yarn from the last post? I spun it, and wove it into the lid of my basket.

I used commercial paper yarn for the warp, and some weft.  All of the blue weft is handspun, from Thai unryu, Habu paper yarn, and calligraphy/sumie paper.  Some of it is dyed.  I wanted to use up some of the bits and pieces from my practice papers, and this is the result.

The bottom part is perigord weave, and the blue is twining.

Workshop at Bloom!

Last Sat., I taught a workshop at Bloom!, hosted by Sandy Mier. http://www.bloom-artscape.com/ Located in Yachats, OR., next door to one of my favorite coastal galleries, Touchstone  http://www.touchstone-gallery.com/.

We painted watercolor paper on Fri. night, and then tried to start cutting it on Sat. morning. After 1  and 1/2 sets of paper, my pasta machine decided to quit.  This could normally be quite disastrous, because it would take forever to cut all of the strips by hand, or even with a paper cutter.

However, resourceful connections located a pasta machine close by, and we were able to proceed without anymore problems. 

Participants learned plaiting, twining, fold-flip-lash border, and how to make curls. 

Weaving a handbag with dyed lauhala:

I counted six stakes inward from the corner, and started diagonal plaiting.

6 rows woven

dyed lauhala

Repeat at each corner.

Weaving above the twined corners to make the sides.

View of the front.  The large triangle in the middle was woven when I did the plaited square.  Now I have to fill in the gaps on each side.

Filling in the gap (between the middle triangle and the side).

To end the front, I make sure all of the front weavers are on top, facing one direction.  The ones in front are folded down, and plaited back in as far as possible.  This really strengthens the front panel.

I plait them over and under the originals, all the way around the side and to the back.

Then you tuck in the weavers that were in back.  The front part has 3 thicknesses of lauhala.

I continued up the back portion, and then did this finish on the front flap.

Almost done!  I hope to make a lining this summer.  I dyed the leather handle to match it, and the bone tube bead, also.