Wood & Yarn (Full & Partial Branch Weaving, Tiny Birds) - Home Decor

Hey all,

To tell about the story behind this instructable..

I have been admiring stick weaves for a while now and I finally decided to try it out. This is also really great for those who want to get into weaving, but don’t own a loom just yet. It’s a perfect free loom to play around on. I really like the texture of the stick next to the soft woven textures of yarn. And it wasn’t too hard to make either.

And Branch weaving is sort of a combination of yarn bombing and a dream catcher. It is different and fun to be able to bring an item from nature into the home as an art piece.

All of the patterns used in this weaving project are very basic and easy. They are good for a beginner, even a child with some prior weaving experience.

If you’d like to try weaving on a stick, what i did has been described in this instructable. Kindly read through it.

And at the end of this tutorial, if the making in this instructable has impressed you - Do vote for me :)

Tree branches, preferably Y branch. And there are weaving possible with individual sticks tied together.

Warp threads, White and Black

Various colored yarns

Scissor

Fork(optional)

Big size needle. If you have a tapestry needle, it would be good.

It was during the recent rain during November 2020 (actually it started early this time, at October) there was a huge rainfall and bigger cyclones. And i had to cut down some tree branches from my neighbor's mango tree slightly tilted on our house. So saved these branches during the rainy days.

During January 2021, i started to clean up and trim these branches and make it ready to do some decor as and when the time permits.

So the Time has come now :D

Pictures added in this step describes clearly the process involved in bringing the branches to the shape. And usually people work on the rough tree branch. But here i have used a polished tree branch.

Here are the steps i followed to get the branches to a shape:

1. Trim the branches.

2. Pull out the barks.

3. Rub with sand paper, to get rough polished look.

4. Remove bigger edges, so that the branch can fit straight when mounted on the wall.

5. Varnish it.

Tie the end of the thread on the closed end of 'V' of the bottom branch. Stretch it up to the top branch and wrap it around once before stretching it to the opposite (top) branch.

Continue all the way along the branches until you reach the end or where you want to stop.

Tie off the thread in a knot and trim the extra length with scissors.

The branch I chose is approximately - 15-16 inches (from the start of the yarn to the end of the yarn on the bottom branch).

Here i have done, two methods of yarn weaving:

1. Full weaving(using full length of the warp thread)

2. Partial weaving(using random length of the warp thread, to make the weaving as per the shape we want).

Pull your warp thread across to the second branch and wrap the warp all the way around it (Your warp thread will cross the branches). So you’ll pull the warp across from one branch to the other, loop around the branch once, then bring the warp thread from the bottom of the second branch to the top of the first branch.

Then the pattern repeats, loop around the branch, bring the warp thread from the bottom across to the top of the opposite branch and loop around.

Continue in this way until you run out of space on your branches. Your warp threads probably won’t be uniform, but that is part of the fun!

Now using a needle you can weave across the warp threads as you normally would.

And for the rainbow theme, i used the rainbow colors in the below pattern:

x o x o x o x o x o
o x o x o x o x o x

[x = over ; o = under ]

Color order:

Violet - repeat sequence 5 times (10 total rows)

Indigo - repeat sequence 4 times (8 total rows)

Sky blue - repeat sequence 4 times (8 total rows)

Green - repeat sequence 4 times (8 total rows)

Yellow - repeat sequence 4 times (8 total rows)

Orange - repeat sequence 4 times (8 total rows)

Red - repeat sequence 6 times (12 total rows)

You can use a fork to tighten your weave at any time if you can't get it tight enough with your fingers.

When you run out of thread and start a new piece don't worry about knotting them. You will weave those strays into the back of the weave at the very end. The rows will be tight enough that the yarn won't come out.

I am a space enthusiast and have been observing news about black hole as well. So i wanted to make one weaving in the theme of black hole. Not almost the same structure as the black hole (and black hole is indefinite structure, and there are lot more undiscovered also), but somewhat close to the first ever image of the black hole. I hope i did so :)

For this theme, i do not want bright colors. And wanted to make it with bold colors with definite borders though have used dark shades of similar colors.And the warp thread used is black as well.

Below are the list of colors used, in a ring format:

Beetroot purple

Light maroon

Coffee Brown

Grey

Center part, of course in black!

After doing the weaving, i rolled up the weaved threads with the same color so that they look tightly weaved.

And if you have some set of yarn colours and wanted to try something adorable. Then yarn birds is a good option.

So lets start with it.

To make the tiny legs, i used a gold colour jewellery string and made them to a three toes structure(claw) and twisted the wire to make the tarsus.

To make the body, we gonna use yarns in bunch arranged in a line manner and inside we will stuff a small tissue paper rolled up together.

I have taken three different colour yarns and aligned them(as in the picture) to make the body part.

To make the beak, we will be using small colour paper sheet, cut them and shape it to a cone structure. And attach it to the head centre part of the yarn body.

To make the eyes, we shall use ready made eyes sticker.

Now, we shall insert the legs to the inside of the body and trim the extra feathers to make it to a better shape.

To make them stand on a base, i used rough wooden branch and used aluminium wire to create a cage like structure (not actual cage, but just to hold the stick) and fixed the bird with its toes using glue gun.

In addition we can use thick threads to let them hang on a place.

Hang/stick it on the wall and admire your art!