Woven wall hanging [HANDMADE]

In the last years the traditional art of weaving is experiencing a major revival. Woven wall hangings and DIYs to make them can be found everywhere. In comparison to traditional tapestry depicting nature, humans or religious figures modern tapestries is a very geometric mix of different shapes and materials. Additionally many wall hangings are decorated with fringes, pom poms or beads.

I enjoyed all sorts of crafts already during my childhood, in the kindergarten and at home. I remember that I had weaving kits made of paper developed by Friedrich Froebel. Colourful strips could be weft into an A5 size sheet with cuts that resembled the warps. The strips could be removed and rearranged to form numerous designs. On a circular plastic loom I wove raffia into coasters and small table cloths. On a wooden loom for children I wove simple stripe designs made of wool. Perhaps the childish crafting sparked my passion for textiles. And to get off track shortly.. at work I encountered also woven fibres in the form of technical fabrics. As a composite engineer I designed and built structures, like an unmanned aerial vehicle, boat hulls, bridges or (wall) panels, using fabrics made of glass, carbon or flax fibres to reinforce polymers. I worked on a research project with the aim to develop 3D hollow woven structures, and on a project to modify a conventional weaving machine to weave composite tapes.

So when visiting D. on a dry spring day I was positively surprised with a small weaving workshop in her garden. She had built wooden looms, and bought wool and yarn in different colours inspired by a paper garland. Although I got a small loom the short time I had to stay was only enough for a start, so I had to finish my mini wall hanging at home alone.