Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Ikat queen Polly Barton

I just read a great interview with Polly Barton on a blog called Handful of Salt.  Polly makes the most wonderful ikat creations.  I can stand in front of her work forever (mostly thinking, HOW does she DO that?).  But once I get past the "Holy crap!  It is NOT possible to do that with fiber!" moment, her work is just stunning.  Her website is wonderful.  Check out her gallery.

She is teaching at Penland School of Crafts this summer.  Oh how I wish I could go!

Here is some of the yarn from my last big dye run in January.  Much of it isn't being used in the current piece, but will be in the future.

7 comments:

  1. Having been to Penland, it's an experience that I highly recommend. They offer some scholarships and work/study options. Why not look into that? Unless it's just that the timing is bad.

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  2. PS: Thanks for the link to the Barton interview. I would never have seen it otherwise.

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  3. At the risk of being a pest, application and scholarship info for Penland was in my mailbox right after making the above comments. You can access the info here:
    http://penland.org/classes/summer/summer_scholarships.html


    Good luck

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  4. Love her work! Thanks for the link to the interview. Question--what kind of yarn are you using. I am always on the search for another yarn, as I am not totally happy with what I'm using.

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  5. Valerie, I do love Penland. I have been there before and will still consider Polly's class!

    Sherri, I have always used Harrisville yarn for my tapestries. I used Highland for years which is a 2 ply and now I use a 3 ply made by them. I don't know if it is commercially available. I got this batch from James Koehler, but he doesn't use it anymore. I dye all my own yarn so I am buying this undyed. If you want to buy already dyed yarn, I don't know what you should use. Weaving Southwest does carry some nice yarn they dye themselves for tapestry and you might consider that.

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  6. Thanks. I dye all my yarn, but am looking for something that does not seem to be made. I've been using a 2-ply from Henry's Attic that I buy in huge quantities. I like it, but would like to find something just slightly finer for blending. I'll keep using my HA yarns until the "one" finds me!

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  7. You may be able to get the Harrisville single. They sell something very similar (or perhaps identical) at Espanola Valley Fiber Arts Center for colcha weaving. I use 3 of them together at 10 epi. I think if you were weaving at 6 or 8 you could use 4 or perhaps even 5 of them at 6 epi. I haven't tried it. I like this yarn a lot and it might be worth looking into if you want to try something new. I'm sure the people at Harrisville could tell you. Basically, 3 strands of the single equal one strand of the (2 ply) Harrisville Highland.

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