Youth Weaving
Tomorrow is my Youth Weaving Class, and I wanted to write a little about it. I have six students ranging in age from 8 – almost 13 and I am amazed at the joy, verve and focus they bring to their work. I have them set up on a somewhat motley selection of floor looms that are the “dregs” of the Master Weavers’ Program. (Not the lovely Wolf looms pictured above) They are weaving overshot, huck, bronson, twill, waffle weave and plain weave. I have students who are intensely focused and perfectionist and others who are free spirits that happily forge ahead with loopy selvedges and skipped threads. The experience really makes me lament the lack of “hand-work” in the public school curricula.
It is a much greater loss then people realize. Having a concrete goal and being able to see concrete progress toward that goal (unlike acquiring many academic skills) is such a necessity for our kids’ mental health . . .
