Looms.—The market also offers a great variety of looms for school use, many of them quite simple in construction and moderate in price. In schools where bench work is taught, the making of a loom is an excellent problem either for the weavers themselves or for an older class working for them. If the looms are made by the little weavers themselves, only the simplest possible construction should be used, that the work may be completed and the loom put to use before the worker loses sight of the fact that the purpose is to provide carpet for the house. Children lose interest in long-drawn-out processes, and for that reason it is better to provide them with the necessary tools as far as possible while interest in the house building is keen. Later, if considerable enthusiasm has been aroused for weaving, individual looms may be made for home use. For the school with scant funds a very satisfactory loom may be improvised by driving nails one fourth inch apart in the ends of a shallow box of convenient size and stretching the warp threads across the open top.
For very small rugs a cardboard loom will serve. This may be made by cutting notches or punching holes along opposite edges of a piece of cardboard into which the warp may be strung. If a knitting needle is inserted at each side, the cardboard will be stiffened and the edges of the rug kept straight. Weaving needles may be purchased from supply houses. Wooden needles cost 50 cents per dozen. Sack needles serve well for small rugs and may be had at any hardware store for 10 cents per dozen.
Weaves.—For first weaving the plain "over one, under one" on cotton warp with rags or other coarse woof is generally best. Variety may be introduced by weaving a stripe or border of a different tone near each end of the rug. Vertical stripes serve well as another easy method of variation and are produced by using two woof threads of different tones and weaving first with one and then with the other. This weave is very attractive as the body of the rug with a plain border at either end.
As soon as the children have mastered the plain weave and have a fairly clear idea of the possibilities in design through varying the colors in the woof only, they may be initiated into the mysteries of the "gingham weave" and allowed to experiment with the variations in warp as well as in woof. Cotton rovings is an excellent material for weaves of this sort. This weave may also be used with raffia to make matting for the dining-room floor.
Fig. 19.—Box house by second grade. Columbia, Missouri.
Paper mats may also be used as carpets with good effect. Weaving paper strips is often an easier process to little children than weaving with textiles, except where very coarse textile materials are used. For paper mats select paper of suitable color and cut to the size desired for the mat. Fold on the short diameter. Cut slashes from the folded edge, not less than one half inch apart, to within one inch of edge of the paper (See [Fig. 20]), leaving a margin on all four sides of the mat. For weavers, cut from paper of harmonious tone, strips equal in width to the slashes in the mat.
