Paper Weaving: Not for wusses

Over the last two days I have spent hours weaving paper.  Three hours is probably the exact number but who is counting... Well, I might be.  Anyway, here are the two ATCs that were so time consuming.  I sure hated to cover any of the weaving up!

This first one is for an Instagram friend who lives in Edinburgh, Scotland.  (She doesn't like shimmer or glitter!  Can you imagine?!?)  The color is off, but I can't do anything about that now since it is already gone.  Anyway, the weaving is done with a book page which I grunged up a bit with some distress ink and stencils, and two other papers, a yellow grid, and a teal/blue colored weathered wood looking piece.  I used a piece of a dress pattern for the arrow.  It also has my now-signature piece of washi tape on it. :)

This is the next one after I finished weaving, before I added anything.  I thought it deserved its own spotlight. The papers I used to weave this were sheet music, hand-made metallic, and a piece of watercolor paper on which I had painted several shades of browns and golds. It is my best weaving yet, and I really hated to cover it up!!

So I compromised and just covered a couple corners (had to have a spot for that washi tape!) and added a wire sculpture of a tree.  All that copper is simply stunning in real life, and the photo doesn't begin to do it justice.  This one is going to an Instagram friend in Wales (I think--still waiting on her address). 

I have another swap to make for another IG friend, but she is in the US. She likes weaving, too.  Well, I like it, just starting to wonder about the time factor.  Seriously!!  Each of these backgrounds took 90 minutes.  That is a lot of time for a little 2.5X3.5 piece of art!  Larger strips are less time consuming, but they aren't nearly as pretty.  Looser weave, same thing--less time, not as stunning, although they are still pretty.  I am sure I am not finished with this style. And you can bet your sweet bippy I'll be adding more wire to my art. :)