Theme: Bringing Art
to Life in Schoolyards
Weaving Understanding
Youngsters Link Looms and Plant Dyes
A
study of Colonial times inspired Patti Shumate's K/1 class in
Asheville, NC, to ponder how people created their own clothing,
with no shopping malls in sight. "We read books, such as Charlie's
Cloak by Tomie De Paola, that got us thinking about weaving
and dyeing," explains Patti. "Next, we considered what resources
were available to early settlers."
Patti had been inspired to explore plant dyes in the classroom
by a workshop facilitated by Handmade
in America. Rather than revealing which plants were traditionally
used for dyes, Patti invited the class to bring plant materials
to school that they thought might produce colors. Samples
of their choices — blueberries, coffee grounds, onion skins,
grapefruit rinds, spinach, and acorns, among others — were
taped onto the left column of a chart. "The kids had already
learned from the books they'd read that colors could be boiled
out of plants, so we set out to test their hunches about which
colors would emerge from each sample," says Patti. Students
first tore strips of white cotton fabric and wound white yarn
around clipboards, then took off the circle of yarn and secured
the loops with small pieces of yarn. As they boiled each batch
of plant material, Patti encouraged them to try testing new
ideas they had. Among other things, they tried boiling just
the acorn caps, smashed fruits with their feet, and mixing plant
materials to get new colors. They documented on their chart
the amount of 
each
plant material and method used and the final color that emerged.
In the end, notes Patti, some of students' predictions were
fruitful (blueberries), yet some choices, such as grapefruit
rinds, yielded no color.
"As our colorful fabric dried on racks, we first practiced
weaving strips of paper," says Patti. Next, the class fashioned
small cardboard looms by punching holes in the top and bottom
of a square of cardboard, running yarn through the holes, and
then weaving colored fabric strips from side to side. Finally,
having practiced on a small scale, the youngsters used a large
floor loom, fabric strips, and natural materials, such as feathers,
sticks, and fuzzy plants, to weave a creative natural artwork.
"Students were captivated by the idea that life was so different
in early times — that natural materials that we take for
granted were so important to people then," says Patti. "Perhaps
more important was their interest in experimenting and discovering
things themselves, and their amazement that they'd actually
been able to create colors." To extend this project, students
created "God's eyes" from dyed yard and sticks, which they gave
as gifts to seniors. With their own eyes trained on finding
new plants for dyeing, the class used their indoor GrowLab to
plant nasturtiums and other plants for their spring garden that
they conjectured might yield humble hues.
Author: Eve Pranis
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