On Saturday, January 28th, I collaborated with Shelby, a crochet artist from Oregon, on a day of weaving at The Secret Garden. Our aim was to use items that we could recycle and upcycle to add creative color to the garden.
Before the actual event, I tried my hand at circular and loom weaving using cardboard, and rediscovered a "wishbone" stick I made while in St. Catharines, Ontario this past summer.
I made up a pile of little cardboard loom kits so that visitors could try their hand at tiny weaving.
My husband and I went to the industrial area where he works and picked up discarded wooden pallets; and I scavenged some plastic packing belts from a rubbish pile in my neighborhood.
We leaned the pallets up against a tree so that the plastic could be woven between the slats.
Painted tires were drilled with holes and then colorful rope was woven to create unique seating.
We also wound rope around a tree and left yarn there to encourage visitors to weave any time they are at the garden.
Another weaving activity was God's Eyes which the kids LOVED!
Mere color can speak to the soul in a thousand different ways.
(Oscar Wilde)
Sunday blessings,
32 comments:
I would have never thought of most of those things. Your creativity never fails to amaze me. What a wonderful thing you're doing at the Garden. Have a lovely weekend my friend.
Blessings, Betsy
This is such a cool idea! I admire you and your husband for getting the wheels rolling. Looks like it was a fun time and there was a lot of creativity going on. You truly are something special!
Jane x
What wonderful additions to the garden!
Oh my word! These are incredible. I think I love the pallets the most! Who would have thought to turn pallets into art? You!? I love how you are bring art and color to your part of the world. You are making such a difference. :) Kit
Hi Tammy, I wish I had joined this event. I never tried weaving with a loom: it seems a so funny activity and I think it was brilliant how you arranged everything for the guests by upcycling unused stuff. So great!
Wow.. I loved all the artistic recycling you're teaching the kids to do.. the garden looks colorful and welcoming! The tire seats were very clever. Again, you inspire me with the way you share your time and talents with the children there. You're my hero. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)
Very sweet! :) Reading about your resourcefulness in reusing materials made me think of a place that Sarah took us to on Saturday - the I.D.E.A. store in Champaign which in their mission statement says: "we’re passionate about finding fun, functional and creative reuse for the materials we often take for granted". The store is a non-profit organization that is filled with all sorts of discarded items that are sorted in bins, etc., and used for art projects and the money raised goes to support the local teachers/public school district. It's a really cool place and we came along with a bag of goodies for future creative moments.
Hope you enjoy a great new week.
Love, Linda
Tammy...what a wonderful collaboration of artistic endeavors! Beauty and function can be had with barely a wisp of material. The little looms and God's Eyes are fascinating.
That looks like a fun and inspiring day!
Wonderful. Wonderful. Wonderful! Love all of your creativity and resourcefulness. And, the way you are weaving your community together. Just wonderful. blessings and hugs ~ tanna
Such great ideas for recycling and upcycling. Keep up the good work.
What you did is amazing! Love the idea with the pallets!
All of your ideas were fabulous Tammy. The pallets and the plastic ties is simply brilliant and will last forever. Great job.
Oh WOW Tammy this is all so amazing-I love it all. You are very creative and I super love all the recycling I do that with many of my crafts. I have been wanting to add some weaving to my little veggie garden and you have given me some ideas. I had been thinking too complicated lol those seats are soooo cool too-I am impressed hugs
You are so creative, Tammy! Love the handmade treasures in the Secret Garden, especially the tire seats! How unique. Hope all is well. Susan
All this creativity is wonderful! I love how you are encouraging creativity wherever one can find it, and especially for young children. The pallet idea is ingenious!
The weaving day looks amazing. All the recycled materials are so clever. What a great way to show people beautiful art can be created from things most would consider trash.
How very creative..love using what you have!
You come up with the most interesting things for the kids to do, Tammy. I love how everything turned out. Using recycled materials was such a great idea. The kids will always look at "trash" in a new way!
This is awesome!! What a great way to recycle "junk" into art and bring people together.
Absolutely amazing Tammy - what beautiful designs and colors.
Making such beauty out of many found objects is so rewarding - for both the creative artists and the fortunate visitors who get to view so much love woven into remnants of daily life.
Hugs - Mary
How wonderful it all looks! What great ideas!
What amazing creative ideas! I am so impressed! I love turning "trash to treasure" and you all out did yourselves....so cool! I'm speechless and that doesn't happen very often! LOL!
I'm sure everyone had lots of fun, Tammy. You do such great things for your community. The weavings look wonderful.
xo Julia
Wonderful post, Tammy...love those handmade looms! What fun it must be to visit the Secret Garden. :)
Dearest Tammy,
You for sure did spend a day in heaven and created such joy and color around you.
Great idea for up cycling those wooden pallets the way you did.
For kids especially this is so healthy, concentrating and being out in the fresh air and creating something with happy colors.
Sending you hugs,
Mariette
How brilliant is this. I can think of nothing nicer than crafting in the garden with friends.
Amalia
xo
I am always encouraged by your wonderful work with bringing JOY to community and people! I love all the weavings and tire seats. Happy Hearts to you dear. <3XO
I especially love the pallet weavings...how did you seal the ends of the packing plastic strips? This post reminded me of the Springtime activity I call "barnyard macrame": weaving baling twine at an angle through the openings of the stockpanel fencing for the lowest couple of feet, so baby goats can't walk through the 6x8" openings :) Not at pretty as yours, though!
Wow, Tammy! So much work went into your weaving project and so many ways to weave as well. The tyre seats are a novel idea and I like the notion of the tree weaving as a way to create a group project that may not necessarily have the participants together as a formal group. I'd love to see the result of random contributions. It looks like you had a fun time weaving with so many materials and turning discarded things into art.
These weaving projects are wonderful outlets for the kids (and adults!). I have done the circular flower weaving, the God's eyes and the loom weaving with my daycare kids, all with great results. I hope you warned your little visitors that they will now become addicts ... weaving addicts that is! Such a simple way to create a pretty textural piece. You and your group of volunteers have done an amazing job on the garden lately. Love that painted bench and the tire seats ... the yellow paint used ties everything together nicely making a welcoming little haven for your visitors. Great job Tammy, I'm sure everyone was pleased with their creations!
Wendy
SO interesting!!
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