Working at the loom gives Jenny Walton an opportunity to decompress from life’s stress, something she also sees among participants in her weaving workshops. (Photo by Sean Clougherty)
Jenny Walton’s daughter doesn’t weave but she was instrumental in her mother learning how to do it.
It was her daughter’s fifth birthday and Walton selected a child’s loom for a gift. As they were getting it set for the first time, Walton said she got things going using the instructions. Five hours later, she said her daughter have moved on to another toy but Walton was still weaving away.
“I had never tried it and I never looked back,” she said, taking a break in her home studio.
Walton stayed immersed in weaving, learning from whatever books and materials she could find.
“It really was kind of learning as you go and I just had a knack for it,” she recalled.
In 2015 she launched her business Great Blue Fiber, surrounded around woven pieces but has since added macrame, jewelry and teaching components to her artistic arsenal.
Already living a full life and raising two children, “the furthest thing from my mind was starting a business,” she said. “But at this point, it was just the natural thing to do.”
Even as a business, Walton said the practice of sitting at the loom has a calming effect.
She said she often thinks about the history and tradition in weaving as she works.
The craft dates back more than 12,000 years and reflecting on those who did it as part of their survival as well as art adds to the peacefulness.
“It forces me to slow down and connect and breathe,” she said. “Time is suspended and you flow and create and make something, and that’s my therapy.”
She sees the same thing in her workshops as well, whether helping at-risk youth, military veterans and some people with disabilities block out negativity and bring out their creativity within the weaving patterns or helping people unwind for a few hours.
“It’s creating without struggling to think,” Walton said.
Her first classes focused on teaching adults but youth workshops are now a key component, just with a slightly different approach.
“You have to be a lot more playful,” she said of teaching kids. “It’s more about having fun,”
She aims to hold one or two workshops a month, moving around the Mid-Shore area but also ventures farther, into Annapolis, Baltimore and Delaware.
“I bring everything, you just show up and you leave with a complete wall hanging,” she said.
The next scheduled workshop is on May 19 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Salt Wellness in Queenstown. Registration is available online at greatbluefiber.com
Now, Walton’s weaving work is split about evenly between commissioned pieces and her workshops. She uses upcycled materials whenever she can and in commissioned pieces she uses only all-natural fibers like wool, coconut, bamboo, linen and cotton.“It’s just important to me to leave as little a footprint as I can,” she said.
Upcycling fiber from old sweaters, denim or other materials brings in a lot of texture to pieces and allows for more creativity.
“You can use anything,” she said.
Weaving and many other fiber arts have seen an uptick in recent years, and Walton said that’s helped build interest in weaving, but Watlon adds the texture options and one-of-a-kind nature play a big part, too.
“I think it’s more about them wanting piece of art that they want in a specific place,” she said.
With sustained interest coming from would-be weavers, Walton said there is opportunity to do more, hold more workshops, take on more commissions. It’s a balancing act she said, keeping busy but not overwhelmed.
There are times she said she has to pull back and she relishes having that flexibility, but she said stopping altogether isn’t an option.
“I’ll never not weave,” she said. “I’ll never not want to do this.”
