Paper weaving: make a small over-under panel
Use four vertical strips and four horizontal strips to practise weaving. The key is to reverse the over-under pattern on each new row. The written steps work without the video.
Prepare eight strips
- Cut four paper strips for the vertical set and four for the horizontal set. Make each strip about 2 cm wide and 14 cm long.
- Use two contrasting colours if available. With one colour, draw a pencil line along each horizontal strip so you can recognise it.
- You also need a ruler, pencil, scissors and small pieces of masking tape. Ready-cut strips are another way to start.
1. Fix the vertical strips
Lay four strips vertically, side by side, with their top ends level and gaps of about 2 mm. Temporarily tape only the top ends to a work surface that can take masking tape. Leave the lower ends free.
Number the strips V1, V2, V3 and V4 from left to right. In this setup, these fixed vertical strips form the warp. The four strips you weave across them form the weft; call them H1 to H4.
2. Weave the first row
Work near the free lower ends. Lift V2 and V4 slightly, and pass H1 underneath them while keeping H1 on top of V1 and V3. Lower the lifted strips. From left to right, H1 goes OVER, UNDER, OVER, UNDER.
Gently slide H1 towards the taped ends until its top edge is about 2.5 cm below the tops of the vertical strips. Centre it so that both ends stick out. If it catches, lift the strip at that crossing instead of pulling hard.
3. Reverse the next row
For H2, lift V1 and V3 instead. Pass H2 underneath them and over V2 and V4. Slide it up below H1, leaving a small gap of about 2 mm. Keep both strips straight.
Add H3 like H1, then H4 like H2. Each row crosses all four vertical strips. Keep the top tape in place until you have checked the pattern.
The complete pattern
Read each line from V1 on the left to V4 on the right. OVER and UNDER always describe the horizontal strip relative to the vertical strip.
- H1, top row: OVER · UNDER · OVER · UNDER.
- H2: UNDER · OVER · UNDER · OVER.
- H3: OVER · UNDER · OVER · UNDER.
- H4, bottom row: UNDER · OVER · UNDER · OVER.
Watch the four-row pattern
Transcript
0–4 s: four amber vertical strips are labeled V1 to V4 from left to right. 4–9 s: teal row H1 appears, over V1, under V2, over V3, under V4. 9–14 s: H2 appears with the opposite order: under V1, over V2, under V3, over V4. 14–19 s: H3 repeats H1. 19–24 s: H4 repeats H2. 24–28 s: the completed pattern stays visible. All 16 crossings alternate along every row and column. The animation contains no audio.
4. Check before securing
You now have 16 crossings: four rows with four crossings each. Check across a row: the horizontal strip should switch between visible and hidden at every crossing. Then check down a column: the horizontal strip should be on top at every other crossing.
If a row repeats the row above it, gently slide that row out and weave it again with the opposite start. If only one crossing is wrong, undo the row back to that crossing. Adjust the gaps without forcing the paper flat.
5. Keep or reuse the panel
To keep the panel, use small pieces of tape to join the overlapping strips at the outer crossings. Then release the temporary top tape carefully, supporting the paper. You can secure any loose outer crossings from the back too.
Leave the ends as a fringe, or attach the panel to a folded card. This is a small paper decoration; the exact shape depends on your spacing. If you want to practise again, leave the edges unsecured and separate the strips.
Try it without paper
Draw a four-by-four grid. Shade the squares where a horizontal strip would be on top: columns 1 and 3 in rows 1 and 3; columns 2 and 4 in rows 2 and 4. There should be eight shaded squares. This is the same crossing pattern as the weave.
About the method
The V&A and MassArt Art Museum describe paper weaving with alternating rows. Coru’s eight-strip exercise adds a numbered pattern, a sixteen-crossing check and a drawing alternative. The video is a simplified diagram of the pattern, not footage of hands weaving.