Clay Weaving Looms

 

A while back I had my grade 4 students make these clay looms after seeing this Artsonia exhibit. Students rolled a slab of clay, trimming the edges to create an irregular shape. We then used a jar to cut out the hole. An odd number of holes were made around the edge of the hole. I liked the idea of these being wall plaques featuring either a sun or moon design, so I had the students decorate the clay as a sky. 

After glazing and firing, embroidery thread was threaded across the holes to create the warp. After this step was done I realised I didn't like them with black thread so some students used white or a colour. Students then used a tapestry needle threaded with wool to weave around the circle.

This project was all a little bit experimental for me, but now that I have done these once I will know what not to do next time. In a couple of photos you can see that some students forgot to add the holes in the clay around the circle and I failed to notice this before firing! I had these students weave onto a cardboard circle instead which I later glued to the back of their clay.