It's Alivvvveeeee!!

This week was rather exciting for me. I have officially made my loom!
I hit up a local Value Village, and found a great frame, that I thought would work perfectly for my loom, and it was only $5.99! Wooo!

 I then headed off to Home Depot, and picked up some nails, and was ready to go! I was even able to find nails that matched the colour of my frame!

Once I got it all home (and took the ugly picture out of the frame) I marked dots along the top and bottom of the frame about 2.5 cm apart. I then began to hammer the nails on the marked spots, and well, frankly this is when it all went south.... 

I exaggerate, but I did run into an issue. The frame was too thin, and the nails were too close together and as a result the frame began to split!  

I freaked out, got super mad, and basically threw it in a corner, and decided I would have to start again. Overreaction to the max.

After an episode of The Mindy Project (because it makes me laugh, and therefore made me calm down, and re-evaluate) I went back to the frame to see if there was a way for me to salvage it. After a little bit of thinking, and tinkering, I decided to try using a very small drill bit to drill tiny holes into the frame, and then stick the nails in to avoid the pressure that was causing the splitting. This time, it was a success! I strung up my strings, and got it all ready to go. I even started a little bit, because I am so excited!

I learned a lot this past week/genius hour. I was reminded of the importance of taking time to re-evaluate before scrapping projects, because sometimes there are parts that are salvageable. This is such an important lesson to teach students. Some of the greatest creations can come out of 'failures', and so being able to look at things from a different angle, and press on is so important in life. Similarly I think it is important to have the ability to leave a project, take a break, and then get back at it. It gives you time to clear your head, and perhaps approach it from another angle when you get back to working. 

Overall this week has been productive, and a great learning experience, and I can't wait to get started on my first (hopefully of many) weaving project! :) 

~ Hannah