Weaverbird Studio Project Nest
Yes, this is a simple bag on the inside, but on the outside, you won't find one alike. These "project nests" are big enough for a sweater, and small enough to comfortably tote around. The base sits flat, and the top can fold over if you'd like. The pocket in the front is made with thread crumbs - thrumbs. Bev feels the life of every thread, and won't throw away, making use of all leftovers. The body of the bags use the weaving scraps, so your bag will be an individual work of art.
8" square base, 12" high
Bev Polk/Weaverbird Studio is based in Wilsall, Montana. Walsall is located in central Montana and has a population of 175. Bev is a full-time weaver.
In her own words:
"I live, love and WEAVE on the edge of a town that time forgot, in a converted horse barn that I call Weaverbird Studio. My landscape is sagebrush hills in a river valley ranching community surrounded by six mountain ranges. When I’m not weaving, I love to hike and camp with my husband or girlfriends, dig in the dirt around my flowers, or sit on my porch with a cup of coffee and my herd dog Izze. My life is simple and practical. My weaving is vibrant and pleasurably useful.
I’d rather be weaving than cooking, so I appease my conscience by weaving practical kitchen items of washable and enduring beauty for our color-starved kitchens. My Scandinavian influenced staples include towels, - always lots of towels, - table runners, ponchos, bags and scarves in colors and designs inspired by my surroundings. My ideas evolve as I hike, tend my flowers, or sit at my loom surrounded by shelves of multi-spectrum cones of some of the finest cotton thread in the world. I wake up dreaming about color and design ideas.
In my earliest memories, I have needle, thread and fabric dangling from my hands while I explore my world on a tricycle or camping with the family. I knit during second grade recess. I wove bright potholders and a placemat in fourth grade. I sewed my way through high school. It’s what my mother did. It’s what her mother did. I collected EVERYTHING - everything to do with design, texture, and color combinations.
After my builder-craftsman-father was killed in an airplane crash, my mother re-married, and I gained a Swedish weaving grandmother. My mother learned to weave, and our house filled with yet more fiber. I was not then at an age when I wanted to intentionally emulate my mother; still, the “dye” was cast. In the spring of 1971 I was a restless Commercial Art major when I heard of a course being taught in weaving. That was my only excuse to step foot inside of the Home Economics building, but I was hooked (or perhaps warped?) from day one, and I’ve never looked back.
Today, after some 50 years, several looms, and more miles of thread than you can travel or I can hike, I’m still in love with weaving practical and vibrant heirlooms for your “every today”. Wake-up to color and your coffee will smile.
