Weaving with Waste workshop

10/4/2023

Saturday was our workshop with Sarah Cooke, entitled Weaving with Waste. (https://www.sarahcooke.co/) We had a late start as Sarah was stuck in traffic on the journey but Sarah gave us extra time at the end so everyone was able to finish.
It was an inspirational day, with Sarah bringing everything we needed. She started by talking about how she came to be teaching this workshop. She became interested in using waste and was then asked by the Journal if she would like to write an article about her work. She was delighted and this was printed in June 2020. After this her work became known and she began to teach and deliver workshops.

She brought 12 simple frame looms with her so the workshop was accessible to everyone, experienced and non-weavers alike. She showed us some of her work, including art pieces beautifully framed, bags, hangings and table mats. She also brought boxes full of waste for us to use for weaving. This was the exciting part, with everyone itching to choose something. There were all kinds of plastic, cables, vegetable netting, plastic film from the back of printed photos (Asda rubbish which was destined for the bin!), ribbons, cords, beads and lots more. Sarah said it was all waste of some kind, some donated, some picked up from the street, some salvaged or begged from shops.

The actual weaving was very simple and everyone was able to warp the looms quickly following Sarah's clear instructions. The warp used any knitting yarn as there needs to be a stable warp on which to weave some of the more unusual waste yarns. We then were allowed to choose our waste to weave the weft. The width was around 30cm max, and the length could be slightly longer, although we didn't have enough time to make more than a 30cm square.
I thoroughly enjoyed the whole day and loved my final piece of weaving. The range of samples were all really different and I think everyone was happy with their final piece. Some were going to be hangings, some bags and one was a book cover. Actually I enjoyed it so much that I spent Sunday turning it into a bag! Its almost done now and a picture will soon be added. Some people bought a kit consisting of frame, pick up stick and shuttle so they could continue at home. Those with rigid heddle looms could do the same thing, a little quicker, at home.

An excellent workshop. Thank you Sarah.

Here are Sarah's samples and close ups from them. The green one is made from pea and sweetcorn bags! Can you tell which one is made from fruit and veg net bags?