Carol Berry, Whatcom Weavers Guild, Bellingham, WA
Winner: The Virginia Harvey Award – Best Use of Design in a Woven Work, sponsored by Seattle Weavers Guild
Material & Technique: Plain weave rep; Indigo resist dyed shifted warp center section, 6/2 organic cotton. Ferrous sulfate Indigo vat. Warp side sections measured from bobbins left over from other projects, 8/2 cotton and 22/2 cottolin yarns. Weft is black 16/2 cotton and cotton string yarn. Each mat is woven in a different rep block pattern. 24 epi. 4-shaft countermarche floor loom.
Description: These placemats are part of a series of 6 inch wide 6/2 cotton indigo Ikat resist warps, shifted in various ways and combined with other yarns, hand painted, and immersion dyed with natural dyes, and some with commercially dyed yarns. The classic blue and white indigo coordinates and “sings” with the random width stripes from the “bobbin busting” yarns of the side panels. Weaving rep allowed for a different block pattern on each placemat.
