Southern Adirondack Fiber Festival

This will happen on September 26th and 27th this year. (The card below is old! I had picked it up in 2014, but was unable to attend.)
I went in 2013, but not since. It is a small festival, but growing, I am sure.
Check out their web site to get more information.



The Washington County Fairgrounds are only 30 miles from Troy, NY - where Herb grew up.

Recycled T-shirts, turned into skirts - Loveworn

I met BJ McHugh of Loveworn at the Central Pennsylvania Arts Festival over the July 10th weekend in State College, Pa. BJ hails from Cincinnati, Ohio, where she makes new pieces of clothing out of recycled t-shirts. She will even make you a custom piece out of your saved t-shirts - you know those t-shirts you never wear but don't want to toss because they meant something to you once upon a time. (A skirt or hoodie seems more practical to me than a quilt, which is another idea for old t-shirts; or a rag rug, but you would never see the t-shirts anymore in the rug... Just thinking out loud)

Looking at her web site it seems that she has many more styles than she brought to the Central Pennsylvania Arts Festival. Here are a few images I took from her web site:

Little Girl's skirt - had to be fun piecing this together

Woman's jacket - wouldn't this be great made from your old t-shirts?

Women's skirt with a cute pocket

I was disappointed that she only had a few in my size - maybe that says more about me than her inventory - but I bought a lovely black and grey short skirt with a draw-string waist.

I am disappointed that I didn't find a post on another woman I stumbled upon in New Orleans who makes wrap skirts from neckties. I bought one of her fun skirts, too. I will have to see what  have in my files and introduce you to her.

Searching the term recycle, though, I found another of my fiber artists - MsCrochetJig - who uses soda top tabs in her purses.

Yildiz Palace/Şale (pronounced Chalet for those of us who don't speak Turkish) Pavilion - A review

Wonderful.

Yes, the palace itself is closed for renovations, but this pavilion and the incredibly steep park are open. Families were picnicking at the many tables in the park - plus there are at least 3 restaurants in the park, in the other pavilions. It was a nice visit.

Our friend, Nez, told us that the carpet in one of the reception halls was made by 60 or so weavers, and the the docent at the pavilion told me that it took 3 years to make. I can't imagine the size of the loom, or the room in which the loom was housed!

I wish I was able to take photographs of the carpet. I found this photograph at Turkishculture. I wish I had found a larger image. You can't possibly see the carpet.

The Şale Pavilion was built in 3 sections in the 19th century. It is very opulent and the workmanship is impressive. The carpet is a one piece Hereke carpet - 406 square meters! It is one of the largest carpets in the world and the wall had to be removed to install it.

Looking at the older two sections

The third section

The entrance to the center section

Shhhh, don't tell anyone I have this photo - of the Mother of Pearl dining hall

The only portion of the actual Palace I saw over the wall

Lots of ducks in the park

Ok, I found this photo of the carpet:



And a friendly cat I found on the street... what beautiful coloring!

Battenkill Fibers - Carding and Spinning Mill

WOW. That's all I can say.

Processing Services
Yarn Sales
Mill Tours

There is nothing glamorous about this job - you just have to be very passionate about yarn.
They are working on huge pieces of equipment which look like they came right out of the 1880s - and Karen told me that in some cases, the equipment is exactly like what they were using back then.
They need to humidify the work area so as not to get shocks. The heat can be significant inside the work space, though the other day it was cool, they were still adding humidity.
Fiber from rutting rams can be overpowering, knocking you off your feet. (I hadn't considered that as an occupational hazard.)
They will process many types of fiber - including cats and dogs! Probably not on a regular basis.... Someone even asked them about Hemp.
For the summer they employ farm raised young people for they understand the nature of 'organics' in/on the unwashed fiber.... All sorts of things fall out on the screens as the fiber is examined - bugs, sticks, grass, feces.....
The fiber is washed a minimum of two times, air dried and then sent through a humongous carding machine imported from Montreal. The pieces of loose fiber gets all over everything, gathering all throughout the machines and in the air.
Vacuuming must be a large part of the job description.... though perhaps that wasn't in the main body of the craigslist ad.


Karen, the mill manager, was very friendly and dedicated a huge amount of time to walking me through the process and answering my questions. The structure in which they are housed is a modern aluminum building - no historic building pulling power from the Battenkill river. The employees are wearing t shirts and shorts, listening to their mp3 devices with the wires tucked in to their shirts so that they don't get caught in the machinery. Karen explained to me how in the last century the women would strip to their undergarments when it was hot, but that accidents would happen when the sleeves of their blouses would get pulled in to the machinery.

Overall, my visit was a fantastic learning experience. I admire their passion. I recognize the need for the service, especially to all the farmers out there. I value the employment, especially in this fairly depressed region.

Both employees had to stop what the process to attend to the fiber - he is spinning the fiber and she is taking three spools of what he has created and winding them together to make a three ply yarn. The lengths differ on the spools, so she must change the spools on a regular basis so that there is always three threads being twisted.

This photo is taken from the other side of the machine the young man in the orange cap is working - this is from where he pulls the roving to create the threads. Nothing glamorous abut the space....

Fiber Art in High Fashion

On the cover of Glamour Magazine's July edition, spectacularly attractive Keira Knightley is sporting a bright fuchsia, woven dress. The photographer or editor cropped it at about her waist.

As a fiber artist, that caught my eye - high fashion with weaving. Oh, our lucky day. The dress designer, Altuzarra, was inspired by fiber artist Sheila Hicks.

BUT - WTF? This dress is awful. It looks in the same vein as Carol Burnett taking the curtains to make a dress à la Gone with the Wind. Did Altuzarra take a wall hanging down and wrap the runway model with it? As a top on Keira it looks splendid and enticing, here on the runway it seems a bit of a joke. How disappointing.

Though Altuzarra's execution was unfortunate in my opinion, it afforded us an opportunity to learn about Sheila Hicks, who

was born in Hastings, Nebraska and received her BFA and MFA degrees from Yale University. Upon completing her studies at Yale Hicks received a Fulbright scholarship in 1957 to paint in Chile. While in South America she developed her interest in working with fibers. After founding workshops in Mexico, Chile, and South Africa, and working in Morocco and India, she now divides her time between her Paris studio and New York.

Hicks has been widely exhibited in both solo and group exhibitions. A major retrospective Sheila Hicks: 50 Years debuted at the Addison Gallery of American Art and traveled to the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia and the Mint Museum in Charlotte, NC. Hicks‘ work is also included in such collections as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art, both in New York City; Museum of Fine Arts Boston; The Art Institute of Chicago; Museo de Bellas Artes, Santiago, Chile; and the Museums of Modern Art, Tokyo and Kyoto. One-person exhibitions include those at the Seoul Art Center, Korea; Israel Museum, Jerusalem; and Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.

Here is a tiny little sample of her work, called Escape to the North, which I found the same place I pulled her biography: