Psychedelic weaving exercise
Hi there, I’m Jess, an Abstract artist and art facilitator for Talk About It, Mate and other community enterprises. I create various art exercises for all ages, predominantly adults but I like exploring child-like practices to allow ourselves to not feel the constraints of conventional art practices. One of my exercise ideas is this psychedelic weaving experiment that allows you to experiment with colour Indian inks, found readymade objects and use textile techniques in 2D form.
Materials
Earbuds
Scissors
Coloured card (optional)
Glue (optional)
Spray bottle (optional)
Firstly, use the pipette to disperse whichever coloured ink you so wish to the tray palettes, I recommend a maximum of 3 so it doesn’t look too overly complicated. To prepare your watercolour paper, spray it medium heavy with water so the paper is slightly damp, you can experiment with styles with dry brushing with the ink, wet on wet etc. Each technique has its unique marking and effect. Each coloured ink has its own earbud, mixing the colours will make the colours murky and you want the colours to be separate so you can control the composition better.
Now, just go crazy! I’ll put some examples of mine to give you an idea, but mostly, be free-spirited with it, and dont think about it looking like anything, the more abstract the better! Think about colour composition, complementary colours like green and red, purple and yellow, and blue and orange.
Once you have created various abstract works, a maximum of 3 will do for 1 weaving piece for variation. Once dried cut the samples long way at various sizes. Place the cutout pieces /or card into your weaving position and hold it down with masking tape. Now, with the other cut samples weave the pieces to create the composition. Before placing them permanently down with glue, work with different compositions.
Over and under then under then over. The strands shouldn’t be the same when next to each other.
Now enjoy your final finished work! If you want to be experimental you can add further detail with felt pens, oil pastels or other mixed media.
Hope you enjoyed the exercise!
Some of the links for the materials are affiliate links and are true to the use within the exercise
