Zart Wooden Weaving Animal Heads

Zart Wooden Weaving Animal Heads 

Zart Wooden Weaving Animal Heads are a fun and easy textile project that develops fine motor skills and explores line, colour, texture and pattern – best of all, it’s an activity suitable for all ages.

• There are 5 animal head designs: Bear, Tiger/Lion, Koala, Owl and Rabbit, and are a combination of both PLAIN (horizontal left to right weaving)) and CIRCULAR (weaving that looks like bike spokes) weaving frames.
• Wooden Weaving Animal Head Shapes are made from FSC plywood.
• Each weaving head shape 5mm thick, and are approximately 9 x 16cm.

WEAVING

1. Thread a large eye needle (e.g. Plastic Weaving Needle Code: 5076. Wool Needles Code: 5079) with your chosen weft. Be sure to leave a 3cm tail on each weft thread – these can be stitched back into the design once the weave is completed.
2. Starting at the centre of the loom, pass the needle under the first warp thread, over the second, under the third, over the fourth, under the fifth etc. Continue to weave over and under, in a circular pattern until the weave is filled out.
3. Add other stitches to frame’s ears, nose etc

The WARP is the yarn which is strung across the loom and forms the structure for the WEFT.  NB: The warp should be strung with a slight tension and spring. WEFT is the fibre that passes through the warp and ultimately holds the weave together. The weft is used to add woven patterns, designs and add textures. The weft can be any choice of fibre including wool, roving, threads, string, raffia etc.

PLAIN WEAVE (Owl & Koala): The Owl and Koala are plain weaving looms, where the weft is woven from left to right

Preparing the loom: adding the WARP.

1. Start at the TOP left hand corner of the loom. Secure the warp to the first hole with a double knot.
2. Pull the warp ACROSS to the adjacent hole to its right. Thread the warp down through the hole, and then UP through the next hole along.
3. Continue to warp the thread across and down the loom, working left to right, ensuring to loop though each hole.
4. When the warp reaches the end of the loom, secure the tail to the last hole.

Begin the weave, add the WEFT

1. Thread a large eye needle (e.g. Plastic Weaving Needle Code: 5076 or Wool Needle Code: 5079) with your chosen weft. The weft needs to be long enough to pass at least once across the loom. Be sure to leave a 3cm tail on each weft thread – these can be stitched back into the design once the weave is completed.
2. So that the weave contours the circular loom, start at the left-hand side where the frame is widest. Pass the needle under the first warp thread, over the second, and under the third.
3. To create the second row, loop around the first warp thread, and then pass the weft from left to right, reversing the weave pattern on the previous row.
4. Continue to weave more rows, remembering to slowly increase the number of WARP threads included so that the circular loom shape is filled out.
5. As you get closer to the other side, slowly reduce the breadth of the weave to contour to the opposite end.

CIRCULAR WEAVE (BEAR, RABBIT, LION)

The Rabbit, Lion, Bear are circular weaving looms. The WEFT pattern on a circular loom looks like spokes on a bicycle wheel.

Preparing the loom: adding the WARP.

1. Start at the top of the loom and secure the warp with a double knot to a hole (this will be Hole 1).
2. Pull the warp down to the hole directly opposite the first hole (the 13th hole counting clockwise) and insert through.
3. Working in an ANTICLOCKWISE direction, thread the warp UP through the next hole (Hole 12) and carry the yarn back to the top where you started.
4. Thread the warp into the hole to the left of the first hole (hole 25),
5. Thread up through the next hole along (hole 24) and then carry the warp down to the opposite hole (Hole 11). Continue this process by threading up and down, and anticlockwise around the loom. Follow this weft pattern until you’ve threaded your last hole.
6. Carry the WEFT across the loom to the first hole that’s already been threaded – this will create two wefts ‘spokes’ going into this one hole. These two spokes will be used as ONE when you are weaving. Cut your yarn, leaving a tail, and knot to the loom.