What is Wheat Weaving?
Designed and made by Joan Dulcey example of marquetry using dyed straw, with plaiting around the edges and Swiss Spreuer to decorate.
From the earliest civilizations, the success of a harvest has always been critical to survival. In ancient mythology of many cultures, you find tales of harvest celebrations. The Old Testament tells of the collection of a sheaf from the field, which was decorated and taken to the temple to be blessed and kept safe.
Over the centuries the form of the ceremonies developed and by the 1500s in Great Britain you have accounts of sheaves being decorated to represent the spirit of the harvest, and tokens being made at the end of harvest. By the late 1800s the custom of making harvest trophies, or tokens seems to have been quite widespread throughout Europe.
In the 1960s there was a revival of interest in recording, recreating and developing new designs. By this time in Great Britain this work had become known as Corn Dolly making. In the 1970s some women from Kansas, interested in the craft, traveled from the USA to Eye Manor in Herefordshire, where Lettice Sandford ran a Summer School. They brought the knowledge and skills back to America and from there the craft grew.
The knowledge of working with straw had existed in America before the 1970s, immigrant families brought the skills with them to their new homeland.
The main use of straw over the centuries was for making straw hats, reticules, baskets and storage containers. Straw plaiting (weaving) was an important industry on the eastern seaboard of the States from the 1700s.
Straw has also been used as a textile fiber in embroidery, many museums in the USA have wonderful examples. The straw can be used whole, or split into narrow splints, or the splints can be spun together to make a two-ply thread, work that originated in Switzerland in the 1800s.
Flattened straw which has been dyed, or used natural has been used to
decorate boxes and other items. There is an amazing Noah's ark on the
American Museum of Straw Art web site. Do visit their web site, you will
find amazing straw items from around the world (there is a link on the
home page).
These aren't all the uses of straw, as you can see from the pictures on
the web site straw art takes many forms from small jewelry to big
sculptures. Please explore, learn and enjoy the amazing skills of
our members.
Created by Veronica Main. This piece incorporates the Swiss Spreuer motif (created using split straw and worked on a comb), straw marquetry and plaiting, with beads added to the straws.
Plaiting (pronounced with a short a) is also known as weaving. This was the first technique most straw artists learned. The simplest plait is braid. There are hundreds of different plaits.
The NAWW has documented these plaits into a Plait Directly. In 2005 we introduced a supplement with more plaits and some Swiss work.
This book is available to anyone and can be purchased from Ways and Means (use the link on the home page to contact NAWW). Even better become a member and attend convention where you can buy a copy as well as workbooks from past conventions!
The Swiss had an industry of plaiting straw to make hats from the 1600s, but in the 1800s they developed techniques to make straw hat decorations and braids.
The work was a cottage industry with whole families, and whole villages working to produce huge quantities of motifs and braids. Like their clocks the Swiss were precise in their techniques, and the work was perfect. Today we make the pieces and work toward that perfection.
Many of their techniques were almost lost. Veronica Main one of NAWW's members has done extensive research and wrote a book showing how to recreate the techniques. Barbara Fitch, another of our members also wrote a book which additionally covers straw embroidery techniques. Both books include good instructions.
Although we may not create these pieces for hat decorations we do incorporate them into our other straw art.
Created by Veronica Main, this is an example of a straw art project made from multiple types of plait.
This is a technique of splitting open a straw along its length, smoothing and softening so it becomes flexible and then applying the prepared straws to surface usually paper, but it can be fabric.
From these straw sheets, geometric patterns (parquetry) or decorative shapes are cut out.
The pattern are applied to paper, fabric, wood or metal to make a range of decorative items both useful and just for fun.
Each country has their own style of straw art. NAWW members have gone all over the world to learn these different styles.
We also encourage straw artists from other countries to come teach at our conventions. We've had teachers from England, Hungary, Switzerland, Netherlands, Australia, Canada, and Belarus.
Our American members have also taught in other countries. Come to convention and receive all the knowledge!
The piece on the right, a pin by Veronica Main, is made of straw thread.
The picture on the right shows examples of Swiss motifs made with straw threads and split straws.
To make straw threads, two splints of straw are spun into a two-ply thread.
Go to the Supplies and Tools page to see tools used for the Swiss techniques.
