Art and Artists - Shopping at the Southwest Fiber Festival

Today and tomorrow I'll be sharing pictures of the pieces I bought at the SW Fiber Festival. I'm sure we all have our own festival shopping strategies. Mine is to do an initial sweep of the event and then to head back to the tents and the items that are still on my mind. So after my first tour, I headed back to Grandma's Spinning Wheel. The first thing I did when I moved out to Arizona was look to see where the interesting fiber stores were located. Grandma's Spinning Wheel kept coming up in my searches, but was a little far away. I was happy to find them at the festival and finally get to see them in person. Their tent was very homey and it looked like they brought a sampling from just about every section of their store. They have a wonderful website with even better pictures than the ones I have here. There is also the touching story of how Grandma's Spinning Wheel came into being.

What caught my eye on this day was a display of woven earrings from Peru. I think I have Peruvian radar or something because I always manage to find weaving from Peru. I'm just drawn to it. These earrings were spectacular and in the morning sun, their sparkling beckoned. First, I have to say to all the weavers from Peru out there, you must demand more money for your work! There is no way that I should now own these earrings for a mere $9.oo. For craftsmanship like this, I would pay more. It is nice, however, for Grandma's Spinning Wheel to not only recognize beautiful work when they see it, but to pass on the low price to their customers.

They were all so striking that it was hard to pick out just one pair. Finally, I settled in on these. It was probably the way the gold thread played off the light that did it for me. They also inspire me. I stare at the pattern and look to see where the threads start and finish and the order used to create the starburst. They really make me want to go weave something! Anything!

So "Thanks" Grandma's Spinning Wheel, for sharing these gems with me and the other enthusiastic shoppers at the festival. I had to wait my turn to get into the tent! Oh yes, and there was another fun item that caught my eye. I totally wanted one of your Techno Drop Spindles. They were so fun. I don't know why, but for some reason I talked myself down from buying one. It may be the fact that I already own four drop spindles, but the Techno Spindles were so groovy. Spinning one would be like watching the inside of a kaleidoscope. Maybe next year!

I have one more artist that I want to share today, but I need to take a break and do a few chores first. I hope you understand. See you soon.