Studio Update February 2023
Welcome to my blog. You never know what you will find here. It could be thoughts on weaving or ply-splitting, or other fiber techniques I do, or it might be posts about a walk on the beach, a book I’ve enjoyed, or cooking.
Since my website shows my work, images of my studio seem appropriate. These show its natural state. It hasn’t been tidied up for visitors. To you it might seem terribly disorganized, but I generally know where things are. The sliding doors face east, so I welcome in the morning sun; however, this time of year morning sun is rare.
I have several pieces of fiber equipment: two floor looms, an inkle loom, a takadai, a marudai, a kukeidai, and a cord maker. I also have a sewing machine, but we seem to have an adversarial relationship. When I first moved into this studio in 1994, there was plenty of elbow room and storage. Now I have to be careful not to impale myself on things that stick out, and I have to find room for bins of interesting stuff I use in my mixed media work.
Oddly enough, I can only work on one piece of equipment at a time. I have often thought it would be wonderful to have a project on every piece, so I could move from one to another, but it just doesn’t work that way. As I write this, I recently finished weaving an experimental braid on my takadai, and I am currently weaving cloth on my big floor loom.
Barbara J. Walker, Fiber Artist
About The Author
Barbara was awarded the Master Certificate of Excellence in Handweaving from Handweavers Guild of America in 1990. She is an active member of Northwest Designer Craftartists, has been a faculty member of the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts and the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, and has taught for guilds and conferences in the United States, England, Canada, and Japan. Her work has been exhibited internationally, and two of her pieces are the only examples of ply-splitting included in Lark Books' 500 Baskets. She is an enthusiastic educator and has had numerous articles published in Strands, Complex Weavers Journal, Handwoven, Weaver’s, and Shuttle, Spindle & Dyepot. Barbara has published two books, Ply-Splitting from Drawdowns: Interpreting Weave Structures in Ply-Split Braiding in 2012 and Supplementary Warp Patterning: Turned Drafts, Embellishments & Motifs in 2016.
Barbara’s home studio overlooks the Willamette Valley in Salem, Oregon.