Hand-Loom Weaving Part 2

--_James Russell Lowell._

[Sidenote: _Weaving the foundation for designing_]

[Sidenote: _Honest work begets sympathy with labor_]

[Sidenote: _Interdependence in life_]

The "Kraus-Boelte Guide" has some good suggestions with regard to the value of paper mat weaving, in number training, and for following certain formulae which will lead ultimately to invention. Mme.

Kraus-Boelte says: "Weaving leads to independent effort and offers the greatest scope for future technical work, for it lays the foundation for designing. Even though it may not fan into flame a latent spark of genius, this means of occupation at least tends to show the value of honest labor." The child not only recognizes the value in honest labor, but his sympathy with all labor is aroused through his own efforts and through the stories told of weavers in all lands. He realizes, also, although in a limited way, the interdependence of the whole world. If the sun did not shine, and the rain fall, there would be no gra.s.s. If there were no gra.s.s, what would the sheep do? If the sheep did not give any wool, what would the weaver do? If the weaver could not weave, what would we do for clothes? Little children are always delighted to go back to the beginning of things. Oh, the joy of looking back on one's school days! As Friedrich Richter has truly said, "Recollection is the only paradise from which no man can be driven."

[Sidenote: _Some difficulties_]

[Sidenote: _A bit of experience_]

[Sidenote: _One solution_]

[Sidenote: _Community feeling continued_]

One important thought in this whole subject is that the work should be so arranged as not to add any additional burden to the already crowded life of the teacher. It is a lamentable fact that we have overcrowded rooms, and only one pair of hands to do all that has to be done. Perhaps a bit of the author's own experience will be of some a.s.sistance. After looking the subject squarely in the face and considering it on all sides, the writer came to the conclusion that it would be an impossibility to do all the work alone. So some helpers were called from the pupils of the higher grades, and the request met such a hearty response that it was wondered why it had not been tried before. As it is now arranged the older girls come in before school and at recess. They wind worsted, correct any knitting that may be wrong, start new spools, string looms, cut material for rugs, water plants, keep the closets where the materials are stored in order, and do many other things which relieve in a great measure the burden of detail. When it is possible, the teacher should choose girls who have a sister or brother in the room, because their interest is stronger and more lasting. Of course, some training is necessary, but the result compensates for the trouble.

Sometimes the work in other grades can be so planned that the children can make paper mats, etc., for use in the first grade. The beautiful community feeling begun in the kindergarten can thus be continued in the public school. The time will come when boys and girls in the higher grades will design patterns for the younger children to weave.

[Sidenote: _Nature knows no hurry_]

Take plenty of time in the first part of the year to teach the children to work well. "Time is nothing when _power_ is growing." There are some children who learn faster than others and they are always delighted to go about the room and help the slower ones. It will sometimes be found that they know just how to explain a difficult point--perhaps because they have just conquered it themselves.

[Sidenote: _A child's work should be suited to his capacity, without regard to grade_]

[Sidenote: _Train the individual_]

No work has been specified as suited to any particular grade. It should depend entirely upon the children. While, for convenience, courses in industrial training are planned, advising certain lines of work which experience has proved the best for first, second, or third grade, there are in every school, certain children who have more manual than mental ability. These are left behind as the more favored ones are promoted, and because a certain course has been recommended for that particular grade, they must, perforce, do it all over again. Instead of bringing out the best in these less fortunate ones, and developing and strengthening their minds through the hand by offering something not only new and interesting, but which presents new difficulties to conquer, we stunt their growth by giving them the same baby work term after term. It is time that earnest teachers considered this important question. Let us give up training the _ma.s.s_ and begin to train the _individual_. Through our interest in them they may find their life work. If a child in the first grade is prepared to do any industrial work of a higher grade, no matter how dull he may otherwise be, by all means let him do it. It is his way of expressing what lies within him.

Not only will his hand and mind be trained thereby, but his heart will be filled with the joy that always comes through achievement.

[Sidenote: _Value of hand training_]

[Sidenote: _If you would develop morality in a child, train him to work_]

[Sidenote: _Making citizens_]

Hand training has been found to be of great value in all other work. The children are brighter, and seem better able to grasp an idea. The slow children are also stimulated, and in doing the simple work well are preparing for that which is more difficult. Impression and expression should go hand in hand. We know nothing of "the bad boy," now that we have found something for his restless fingers to do. "The habit of methodical work is the basis of all ethics." In teaching children to do their best, we are training citizens. Some one has facetiously remarked that, "In the making of a good citizen it is necessary to catch your citizen early." We cannot get hold of the anarchists, but we can get hold of their children, and in the training of them to work lies their salvation. Formation is better than reformation.

[Sidenote: _Formation, not reformation_]

[Sidenote: _New applications for old teachings_]

Verily, there is nothing new under the sun. We hie ourselves to the summer schools, and return laden with new ideas--when lo! it dawns upon us that all we have done during the hot days has been to make a new application of what Froebel taught the world before we were born. So in this introduction, an old story has been retold, but I hope that it will come with a new meaning to my fellow teachers.

Chapter Three

FIRST STEPS IN WEAVING

[Sidenote: _Felt mats and slats_]

[Sidenote: _Demonstration cards and diagrams_]

The principles of weaving are very easily learned with felt mats and slats. One-half a yard of felt two yards wide will make thirty-six mats six inches square. These are very durable, and can be used year after year, if protected from moth during the summer. Some prefer leather or oil-cloth mats, backed with heavy unbleached muslin, but they are more expensive, and not so pleasant to work with as the soft wool. The slats, which should be at least one-half an inch wide, can be obtained at any kindergarten supply store. Buy the uncolored slats and dye them yourself. Dark green mats, woven with deep red slats, are pretty. The slats are easier to handle if they are soaked and cut the required length before dyeing. When the six-inch mats are cut, allow a three-quarter-inch margin on all sides. Measure the mat for one-half-inch strips, of which there will be nine, and mark by snapping a chalked string upon the mat. Double it with chalked lines outside and commence to cut from the center; then open and finish cutting to the margin. It would be better for very little children if the strips and slats could be one inch wide. In this case the mats would, of course, be larger, and it might be necessary to have the slats made to order. The slats should be kept in little bundles containing the required number, and secured by rubber bands. If one could have plenty of time and material it would be a good plan to have several sets of mats of different sizes, so that the children would not always be confined to one number and its combinations in a certain set of patterns--in this case, nine--but have the pleasure which comes from variety.

Demonstration cards and diagrams for weaving can be obtained at the kindergarten and school-supply stores. An ill.u.s.tration of an excellent demonstration frame can be seen in the "Kindergarten Guide," by Lois Bates. Sample mats can be woven by the older children from the designs in any of the "Guides," and given to the smaller children to copy.

[Sidenote: _Purpose of practice mats_]

[Sidenote: _Do not deceive the child_]

When the purpose of these practice mats is understood there can be no objection to them on the ground that the work is destroyed by pulling out the slats each time. It is not an unusual thing to see in schools, and even in kindergartens, faithful and conscientious teachers remaining after hours to pull out the slats, on the principle, perhaps, that what the children do not see will not affect their development, and the innocent little bundles are given out again on the morrow, only to undergo the same experience at night. One wonders sometimes if this is possibly within the definition of deception. "We mount to the summit, round by round," and when the children understand that in doing the work with the slats well, they are only learning _how_, and that each successful attempt brings the delightful day nearer when they may have a loom to work upon, they are perfectly satisfied.

[Sidenote: _Long slat weaving_]

When the children have learned to weave the small mats, further practice can be had by weaving long slats into a warp of cord on the loom. It is better to conquer the mystery of "over and under" in this way than to undo the work and wear out the material after making a mistake.

[Sidenote: _Paper mats_]

Many teachers prefer to make the practice mats of paper because they are cheaper. Heavy paper, in desirable colors, can be obtained at the wholesale paper houses, and for a small sum can be cut in squares of any required size. Mats can be made more durable by pasting them on heavy muslin before cutting. In many schools children in grades above the entering room prepare their own mats by measuring with tablets or rulers and then drawing and cutting on the lines. When they have learned to do them well, let each child make one for the entering room. Nothing strengthens the community feeling so much in a school as to encourage the older pupils to help the younger.

[Sidenote: _Mat weaving in the kindergarten_]

The mat-weaving, as it is done in the kindergarten, is very beautiful and fascinating work. The mats can be obtained in any size and any width of strips at the supply stores. The weaving is done with a long steel needle which has a spring at one end to hold the strip. After preliminary work with the felt mats and slats the children find themselves able to weave quite independently, particularly if demonstration cards or sample mats are placed before the cla.s.s. An infinite variety of patterns, which later will be useful in wool-weaving, can be found in the "Kindergarten Guides." In weaving patterns having a center, it is better to weave two strips at once, pushing one to the top and one to the bottom of the mat. The old numbers of the G.o.dey and Peterson magazines have patterns for Berlin wool and bead work which can be used for the paper mats with good effect. Mrs.

Kate Douglas Wiggin (Mrs. Riggs) has some good suggestions for invention in weaving, in her "Republic of Childhood" (Occupations). The value of weaving in number work is also admirably set forth in this book.

[Sidenote: _Gifts_]

At Christmas time many charming little gifts can be made of these mats.

Sachet cases made of a six or eight inch square, with four corners folded to the center, are attractive. Inclose a square of wadding, in which a pinch of heliotrope or white rose perfume powder has been hidden, and fasten the corners together with a sc.r.a.p picture of old Santa Claus.

Slat work is useful in learning the fundamental principles of weaving, although this work is more closely related to basket than to rug weaving. It is an excellent preparation for the free-paper weaving, and is also a step toward basket work.

[Sidenote: _Interlacing slats_]

In interlacing slats the mystery of "over and under" is solved and the dependence of one slat upon another in making a perfect whole is shown in a forcible way, particularly when the form falls to pieces in the attempt to lift it from the table. Edward Wiebe says in his "Paradise of Childhood": "It was the _one_ slat which, owing to its dereliction in performing its duty, destroyed the figure and prevented all the other slats from performing theirs." One experience of this kind will teach more than a thousand precepts. The geometrical forms learned in the sense-training lessons can be reproduced with the slats and will thus be impressed upon the mind during the period of busy work at the desk. A series of beautiful designs is published by E. Steiger, New York. Many designs may be grouped for decoration, and single symmetrical figures can be mounted upon heavy paper.

[Sidenote: _Free-paper weaving_]

[Sidenote: _Sequence_]

Free-paper weaving requires quite a little skill of hand and a great deal of patience before the child can achieve a successful result.

Perhaps a few words regarding it, and information about a simple sequence of paper patterns, will not be out of place, since so many are to-day taking it up. Strips of manilla paper forty inches long and one inch wide are used. These are cut into strips eight inches, sixteen inches, twenty inches, and twenty-four inches in length. For the first pattern of the sequence take four strips eight inches long and double each one. Hold two of them side by side in the left hand, so that the open ends of the outer strip are at the top while those of the other are at the bottom. With the right hand inclose the first strip in the left hand with one of the remaining double strips and pa.s.s the ends of the latter between the two ends of the second strip. Then hold the work in the right hand and proceed in the same way with the left hand. When both strips are in, draw them tight and they will be firmly woven. The ends can be cut in any way desired. These little forms can be used for bookmarks. They are very attractive when made in two tones of one color.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Sequence in paper weaving_]