Spindle Spinning

This week all the 3rd and 4th graders started learning to spindle spin.  (I'll be taking pictures next week since my hands were busy all class time this week)  They got to take home their spindles and fiber to practice with. I'm going to post a couple of YouTube videos that they can watch to help them and/or you can watch to help them.

Two things that are good to constantly remind new spinners about are:

1.ALWAYS spin the spindle CLOCKWISE.  Some of the kids had trouble figuring out which way that was.  We had a convenient clock in our room that I could point to, but putting a sticker on their right hand could work too.  I'm going to try that next week.

2. Practice, practice, practice!  This is something that will take time to learn.  The yarn will break as will the piece of roving which might also get tangled with the spindle.  The yarn might come unspun or fall off the spindle.  If you are getting frustrated, put it away and take it out later.

I posted this video last week but I will post it again since it is just like what I taught the kids in class.  We used the "park and draft" method that she demonstrates in this video.




All the kids are still working on drafting appropriately.  This is something that takes a while to figure out how to do correctly and consistently.  Their yarn (in general) right now is very thick.  This is because they are not pulling back enough on their fiber before they let the twist in.  It can be very frustrating doing this at the beginning because if you pull back too much the roving breaks.  When that happens or when they are adding a new piece of roving, I explained that they need to put wispy ends on top of wispy ends and then spin as usual.  Here is a video specifically showing drafting close up.



We will work more on drafting next week.  When their spindle gets full, and with the kids spinning thick yarn it happens quickly, they need to carefully wind it into a ball.  The first part of winding is the most important because they need to be careful to not let the yarn untwist. Letting it sit on the spindle overnight will help it to not untwist as it is rolled into a ball, but I know that many of the students don't want to wait so they just need to be extra careful.  I'm so glad all the kids seem so excited about spinning.  They can spin all they wool they have, I will bring more for them next week.

8/31/2013 and 9/6/2013

1st and 2nd Grade

On 8/31 we started our weaving unit.  The past two weeks everyone has been weaving paper placemats that I will be taking to laminate so they can actually be used.  We talked about some weaving vocabulary like warp, weft and plain weave.  Everyone seemed to enjoy the project.  Here are some pictures of everyone hard at work.

Next week we will start straw weaving to make a bookmark.  Most of my waving lesson plans come from this wonderful book.  It is just an awesome book for anyone wanting to teach kids how to weave (it is slightly deceptive looking like it is for kids, but really it is for teachers), I highly recommend it!

3rd and 4th Grade

On 8/31 we talked about how wool (and all animal hair) can felt to make fabric and shaped items.  Everyone made a small piece of flat felt in a baggie.  Here are all the pieces of felt drying in my back yard.

Soon after this picture they were moved to my garage due to the wind picking up and starting to blow them around.  We will use this felt in a future project.  Everyone also wrapped a wool ball blank in colored pieces of wool.  I then took them home, put them in the legs of pantyhose and washed then with laundry to make finished wool felt balls.  I passed them out at the end of class last Friday and took a picture of each class with their balls.

This week, 9/6 we talked about spindles, their history, the different types and watched some YouTube videos of them being used.  Everyone also got to decorate their own high whorl spindle and a fabric bag to carry their spinning tools back and forth to co-op with.  Here are some  pictures of everyone working hard on their projects.

Here are some of the YouTube videos I showed.

 

This is the best YouTube on the basics of spindle spinning I've found

 

This is one of the coolest YouTube videos about native textile arts I've ever seen, BUT it is most interesting with the English captions which I had trouble getting to show up on my Kindle Fire which is what I was using to show the kids the videos, so I haven't shared it with the kids yet.  Anyway, I totally want to go to Peru now and visit the villages these women work in and buy lots and lots of fabric from them.  If you are even slightly curious about native cultures and/or fiber arts this video should hold your attention.  I found it fascinating.

 

Next week we will start learning how to spindle spin.

Friday 8/23/2013

Well, this week has proven that the blog is still a work in progress.  While the classes went well, I only remembered to take pictures of the 4th grade class.  I'm sure it will all come together soon, but there are less pictures this week.

1st and 2nd Grade

We made God's Eyes this week.  It was so much fun watching each child's creativity come out.  Some preferred a simple look, while others were more elaborate.  I thought they all did a great job.  Those who finished early (not everyone did) got to make a sheep picture with real wool.  Those pictures went home with them, so look for them in their backpacks.

3rd and 4th Grade

This week we learned about wool, some of it's properties and how it is prepared before it is used.  The children got to touch lanolin, raw wool and washed wool.  Then each child got to try hand carders and a drum carder. 

Wool can be prepared by carding or combing.  I told the kids that I would post a picture of what wool combs look like, please share the picture below with them.
 

Some of them really enjoyed carding the fiber and asked where you can buy them.  Here is a link to the carders I bought for the class, I bought 90 TPI and the student size.  Everyone also got to make a sheep picture to take home along with the wool they carded. 

I have to say that I was so happy to see the enthusiasm that the kids had for what we were learning.  I mean, I think that working with wool and learning how it is processed is really cool, but there was a little part of me that worried the kids wouldn't think it was as fun and interesting as I did.  I was happily proven wrong, everyone was really interested in the lesson and it went really well.  I'm crossing my fingers for that to continue.

First Day of Class

1st and 2nd Grade

Friday we talked a little bit about what textiles are and what we will be doing in class this year and then we got right to the project.  The children traced their name in yarn and then followed the contour of their name with more yarn.  They seemed to enjoy the project and their pictures turned out really well. 

3rd and 4th Grade

3rd and 4th grade are separate classes, but follow the same curriculum.  On Friday we talked about how plant fibers were the first fibers used to make textiles and how rope was the first textile.  The children made a list of ways rope could be used to change their lives if they were cavemen.  Their lists were excellent and showed wonderful creativity.  

They each tested with their own plant fiber sample how a few fibers were weak, more fibers were stronger, but if you add twist to those fibers, they become nearly unbreakable.  I then gave them their fiber journals, which they will be using to record what they learn about this semester.  They filled out their plant fiber page and then got to decorate the cover of their journal with colored pencils, wool and glue.  The kids worked hard and the covers were all very unique.

It was a great first class and I think everyone is looking forward to more.  Several moms have asked how I developed the curriculum, it was with the help of several excellent books.  I will make a post about these books sometime in the near future so keep checking back.

Thank You!

I just want to give a big thank you to Schacht Spindle Company and Knit Picks. 

Schacht Spindle Company is an American company located in Colorado with a full line of fiber prep, spinning and weaving tools.  I believe it is the only American company to offer all these types of tools.  They are know for the quality of their product and I was so happy when they offered me an educator's discount on their looms.  Due to the discount I was able to buy four looms to use in our classroom this year.  I have a 10" Cricket loom, a 15" Cricket loom and 2 school looms.  I know the kids will have a lot of fun using these looms in class and look forward to introducing them in future lessons.

Knit Picks is an online yarn store that specializes in affordable natural fiber yarn.  I have ordered from them for years and have always enjoyed the products I have used.  When I found out I was teaching this class, I asked if they could donate some yarn for us to use.  They ended up sending a HUGE box of yarn for only the cost of shipping.  All our projects will be of better quality and the children will have a lot more color and fiber choices for their projects because of their donation.

Thank you so much for making this year's art class that much better!

Introduction

My name is Rachel Flores and I am so excited to be teaching three fiber art classes for Denton Classical Co-op, a non-profit educational co-op.  I will be teaching a Fiber Arts class for 1st and 2nd graders and a History of Fiber arts class for 3rd and 4th graders.  

I've loved art since I was a child and always gravitated to more tactile, three dimensional art.  In college, I was introduced to fiber arts through the internet.  On my meager college budget, I bought a drop spindle and some wool and figured out how to spin yarn.   I learned how to process raw wool and about other fibers, their properties, how to prepare them, dye them and make them into yarn.  After college, I took a bit of a break with spinning and learned how to sew.  What I had learned while spinning, the properties of different fibers, helped me while sewing to have a better idea of what fabrics would be best for which uses.  When I started having children, I became interested in making toys.  It lead to an interest in felting.  I learned about wet felting and needle felting.  Last year I learned how to crochet and started making amigurumi.  I began to think about how fun it would be to share my love of fiber arts and teach a class to children.  I suggested the idea to some of the moms at Denton Classical Co-op and they were extremely supportive of the idea.  I began reading books and started writing the curriculum.  Early this year, I achieved a long time dream and bought my first spinning wheel, a used Mach1.  I also bought 2 rigid heddle looms and 2 tapestry style looms to use in the classroom.  I will give them their own post, but wanted to thank Schacht Spindle Company for giving me a discount on the weaving looms we will be using, and Knit Picks for donating most of the yarn we will be using for the class.

The fiber arts are such a fun and exciting way to connect to history.  Only in the past fifty to two hundred years have people become wholly disconnected with the process of making cloth and all the many things cloth is used for.  Historically, only food production took more time and effort than textile production.  But, while many school children can explain where fruit, vegetables and even meat come from, if you ask how their shirt, dress or pants were made, you will get a lot of blank looks.  In archeological digs, spindle whorls are one of the most prolific items found anywhere people lived.  Middle age and Renaissance art show many pictures of women of all social levels spinning in a variety of settings.  Textile arts were practiced by everyone, peasant women spun, but so did royalty.  While spinning was mostly accomplished by women and children, weaving, especially in later years was mostly accomplished by men.  Both men and women knit and the earlier art of felting was often a group activity for families and villages.  Extremely skilled artists made beautiful wall hangings for castles, but even the simplest peasant shift showed hours upon hours of work, spinning, weaving and sewing to make the garment.  I hope to help the children feel this deep connection with our past over the course of this year's class.  I also hope to help the children find a new way to express their creativity and ideas, making simple and often useful objects for this year's art class. 

For the 3rd and 4th graders we will follow a historical progression of how the fiber arts developed.  I will start with introducing plant fibers and rope, then introduce wool, talking about processing and felting.  We will then move to spindle spinning with wool.  We will talk about cotton and silk and their historic significance.  I will introduce more exotic fibers and current man made fibers.  We will dye the wool yarn the children make and then use it to weave.  We will weave several different projects and learn weaving terminology like warp, weft and shed.  The children will get a chance to try loom knitting and crochet.

For the 1st and 2nd graders there will be less emphasis on history and no real historic progression.  The first semester will be focused on weaving and loom knitting while the second semester will be mostly felting projects.  The class will give them a chance to make a lot of fun and useful art pieces.  

I hope to use this blog to track the classes' progress and share with parents and others what is going on in the classroom so they can hopefully practice these skills at home and beyond.