Lesson video

Welcome to your artcraft and design lesson.

My name is Liz and I will be taking you on your art journey.

This lesson is one of five on creative crafts.

And throughout the five lessons, you'll be learning about different types of crafts, the materials and techniques that are used.

You'll be learning about artists and craftspeople and the work that they create.

And you will be experimenting with materials and techniques yourself in order to generate ideas for your own craft making.

So if you're ready to begin, let's get started.

Before the lesson begins, you will need the following equipment: a pair of scissors, a pencil, a ruler, some glue, some coloured pencils.

You could use crayons or felt pens instead.

You'll also need a sketchbook, and you'll be using the sketchbook throughout all of the lessons.

You can use a ready-made sketchbook or you could make one of your own.

You can work on individual pieces of paper throughout the lessons, which can be joined together with a staple, or you can hole-punch or use string or ribbon to tie the pages together.

You also needs some A4 paper.

Three or four sheets will be fine.

They could be plain white, coloured, or patterned.

And for some of the activities, you will need an adult to help or supervise you.

I will just give you some time to collect your equipment before we begin.

Restart the video when you're ready.

In today's lesson, you are going to: Warm up with some drawing.

Look at some examples of creative crafts.

Explore a range of materials and techniques used for weaving.

Experiment with paper weaving.

And use a sketchbook to record your learning.

During the video, look out for the keywords.

They will be in a bold, coloured font.

The first keyword is loom, this is a piece of equipment that's used in weaving.

The next keyword is warp, a thread that runs up and down the loom.

The next keyword is weft, this is a thread that is woven over and under the warp.

The next keyword is yarn, a type of material used in weaving.

And the final keyword is wicker, which is a type of weaving that uses natural materials.

We are going to begin this lesson with a drawing warm up activity.

And for this, you'll need your sketchbook, a pencil, and some coloured pencils.

Or as I mentioned before, you could use crayons or felt pens.

Later in this lesson, you'll be learning about weaving.

And the weaver will usually work from a design which they have been given or create a design of their own.

You're going to have a go at creating a simple design which could be woven.

So firstly, you need to draw a grid in your sketchbook.

This can be drawn freehand or you could use a ruler.

I've drawn a grid in my sketchbook which has eight horizontal and six vertical lines.

So you could do the same as me, or you could create a grid of a different size.

Aim to keep the spaces in between the lines equal.

Next, choose two or three different colours.

I would like you to create a repeating pattern on your grid.

So you could either colour inside the squares, or you could draw and colour along the lines, or you could do both.

It's up to you.

Pause the video while you work on your design, and then restart when you're ready.

How did you get on? You can see my example on the screen, which has a repeating pattern.

Can you describe it? I used the three primary colours: red, blue, and yellow, and I created a repeating pattern, missing out one square at a time.

The first column is in blue, followed by red column, then yellow, back to red, and then blue.

The pattern is also symmetrical.

Have a go at describing your own pattern.

Craft is a form of making that usually produces an object that has a function such as a piece of jewellery, or a ceramic bowl to put your food in.

However, some crafts can be purely decorative, such as a wall hanging.

And some artists like to experiment by combining art and craft materials and techniques together.

We will be exploring some different types of crafts in the next part of the lesson.

Take a look at the craft objects in these pictures.

What materials do you think they are made from? The first object is made out of wood.

The second object is made out of yarn, and yarn is a continuous and long thread of fibres which may be made from natural materials such as cotton or synthetic materials such as polyester.

Wool is a type of yarn.

It's natural and obtained from animals such as sheep and goats.

The third object is made from paper.

Craftspeople will work with a wide range of materials, including glass, clay, willow, cane, wire, metal, and recycled materials.

Here are the same objects, but this time I want you to think about how they're made.

What technique has been used to create them? The wooden object has been carved.

The second object that was made from yarn has been woven.

And the third object that was made from paper has been folded.

Now each of these objects has been made by hand.

Here are some more examples of different types of craft making.

Stained glass involves carefully cutting and positioning different pieces of coloured glass together to form a pattern or image.

And they're often seen in church windows.

Pottery is a form of ceramics which involves changing the state of clay by heating it until it's hard.

The potter will usually fire the clay in a kiln.

This piece of jewellery is made from silver.

A jeweller or silversmith will use a range of techniques when making jewellery such as sawing, filing, soldering, and finishing.

For example, polishing the silver.

Time for a recap.

Can you remember some of the materials used in making different types of crafts? You can write or draw about these in your sketchbook.

Pause the video whilst you do this task, and restart when you are ready.

How did you get on? Did you remember yarn, wood, paper, glass, silver, and clay? In this next section, we're going to be learning about the materials and techniques that are used in weaving.

Weaving is a craft technique used to interlace two or more yarns together in order to create a structure.

Materials other than yarn can also be woven including: fabric, wire, ribbon, and string.

Weaving is a craft technique that uses yarn.

Is this true or is it false? The answer is true.

Weaving is a craft technique that uses yarn.

The two types of thread used in weaving are known as the warp and the weft.

I'll just show you on my cardboard loom here.

The warp is the tightly stretched thread that runs lengthwise up and down on the loom.

And then the weft is woven over and under the warp in order to create a pattern.

In weaving the thread that runs up and down the loom is known as the weft.

Is this true or is it false? Yes, it's false.

The thread that runs up and down the loom is known as the warp.

Here are two examples of looms, pieces of equipment used for weaving.

Look closely at the picture on the right.

Can you see what the man is weaving? He's making a floor mat.

You can also make a simple loom, like the one I showed you before made out of cardboard, just using string to make the warp.

And you can experiment with different materials for the weft in order to create different textures, patterns, and colours.

We're going to be having a go later using paper.

Nowadays weavers and textile artists can also use electronic looms to create samples of work that they will produce.

Wicker is a weaving technique which uses plant-based materials such as willow or bamboo or rattan.

Nowadays, synthetic materials may also be used, such as nylon.

The materials used in wicker work need to be pliable.

This means they can be bent and twisted into place easily.

Furniture and baskets are examples of objects made using the wicker technique.

Take a look at the photograph on the right of your screen which shows a basket maker at work.

How do you think the basket is made? Basket makers will build a structure or skeleton first using thicker and heavier pieces of material they will be working with, and these are made of stakes.

A lighter piece of the material, known as the weaving rod or weaver is woven in and out of the stakes.

Before working with the materials, they must be soaked.

So they are soft enough to bend and manipulate around the frame.

Pliable materials are those that can bend easily without breaking.

Is this true or is it false? Yes, the answer is true.

Pliable materials are those that can bend easily without breaking.

On the screen, you're going to see some examples of crafts that use yarn.

The first is crochet.

Crochet is a technique used to create textiles or fabric from yarn such as wool or cotton thread.

Now usually a crochet hook is used to pull the yarn through loops, but it could also be done using your fingers.

And in crochet, you have to complete one stitch at a time.

The second example is knitting.

Knitting also uses yarn, but instead of a crochet hook, a knitter will use knitting needles.

And knitting creates stitches, loops of yarn in a row.

Many stitches can be open at one time, unlike crochet where only one stitch at a time can be open, and you can also knit with your fingers.

Embroidery is the craft of adding a decorative design to fabric using a needle and thread.

The final example is macrame.

This is a crafting technique that uses knots to create the shape and form of a textile piece.

It's usually built by hand and no other tools are required.

Time for a sketchbook activity.

I'd like you to rewind the video to the first section on weaving, and read back through the information.

And then in your sketchbook, I'd like you to draw and write about what you've learned.

Now remember to include any key words as well.

Restart the video when you're ready.

In this next part of the lesson, you will be experimenting with paper weaving.

So for the activity, you'll need a pair of scissors, some glue, a ruler, a pencil, and some sheets of A4 paper.

You're going to be creating your own paper loom by sticking strips of paper together.

Firstly, you'll need to cut out two strips of paper, measuring 21 centimetres by two and a half centimetres.

Now if you take your A4 sheet of paper, use the shorter end, and measure two and a half centimetres from the bottom of the paper to here, and do the same on the other side, and then taking your ruler, draw a line across, that will give you the size of strip that you need.

And then repeat that again until you've got the two shorter strips.

The next step is to draw and cut out seven strips of paper that measure 30 centimetres by two centimetres.

And again, using an A4 sheet of paper, this side is 30 centimetres.

So you just measure two centimetres in at the bottom to the top, and with your ruler, draw a line, and that will be the size of strip you'll need.

And you'll need to measure out seven of those strips from your sheet of paper.

The final stage is to put those pieces of paper together.

And you'll need to stick the shorter strips of paper to either end of the seven longer strips.

And you can see my example here.

So here my shorter strips at the bottom and at the top, and then the seven strips that I've stuck in between those two shorter strips.

And you can see that I've left a nice even space in between the different strips of paper.

For this next step, you'll need an adult to help or supervise you.

I'd like you to cut out strips of coloured paper to use as the weft.

And these need to be 30 centimetres by two centimetres.

And you can use coloured paper, pattern paper, magazine paper, it's up to you.

I've got some photocopy paper that I've used of a design and I've cut that into strips.

and you'll need about 10 or 15 of those strips of paper.

Now weave your weft under and over the warp to create a pattern.

Watch the video of me weaving before you begin.

Now it's your turn.

When you have finished your weaving, restart the video.

When you have completed your weaving, stick down the strips of paper which are on the outside edges of your loom.

Next, stick your weaving in your sketchbook.

How does it look? What worked well? What can you improve on next time? I'd like you to write your thoughts down in your sketchbook and restart the video once you've completed it.

After this lesson, why not research other types of weaving? You can research in books or online.

You can look for examples around the home of objects that have been woven and record these in your sketchbook.

Or you could have a go at creating your own piece of weaving using different types of materials.

On the screen, you can see some different examples.

One is made from card and fabric, and the other is made from a branch with string and wool.

Well done, you have done lots of learning in this lesson.

You've learned about different crafts and have experimented with weaving.

If you'd like to share a photograph of your work with Oak National, please ask your parent or carer to share it on Twitter, tagging @OakNational and #LearnwithOak.

See you in the next lesson.