Fall Festival Fun

posted by Angie

My local Weaver's Guild was asked to participate at the Children's area of the Fall Festival again this year. Another member and I strung up a warp between 2 trees for children to weave on using rag strips. The warp was really loose, but it seemed to work fine. This was definitely "temporary art". Last year we made a PVC cube that children worked on. However, Chris used my PVC pieces to make creations with, so I decided to just use the trees. It was a beautiful day and our space was next to the Art Center and a bit away from all of the hub-bub of the festival.



Weaving instructions were purposely light to allow children to experiment. It was interesting to see what they did. Some fastidiously took their rags over one warp, under the next, etc. While others just tied on their rag strips to let them flow in the wind. Parents are always interesting to watch, too. I had to tell more than one that it's okay with me that their child is "weaving" randomly and not paying attention to the structural soundness. It was total chaos, and I love chaos!



Though the end result was in no way structurally sound, everyone seemed to have fun creating it. There was a steady stream of children throughout the day. It was a total pain to unweave, but I think it was worth it. We'll go back to the cube idea next year. These outreach events are always time-consuming, but I think it's important for people to see that there are still fiber craftspeople out there. It also gives children (and adults) a peak at how fabric is made, a foreign concept for most, and one that seems magical to them when they see it. The Fall Festival is always fun (& free!), with many many activities and shows for families. It's one of those reminders about how lucky we are to live where we do.