Imagine walking into a colorfully immersive environment made entirely of fiber, exploding with vibrancy and texture. As you walk from room to room, new adventures await you in art installations you can’t help but sink your hands, and mind, into.
The Craft Yarn Council is excited to announce a new partnership with Dallas’ premiere experiential art exhibit, Sweet Tooth Hotel, to bring an immersive fiber experience to audiences across the country. The new installation, titled “Intangible,” opened June 2020.
“Intangible” showcases an all-female lineup of some of the top fiber artists from around the United States, including yarn-bomb extraordinaire London Kaye (Los Angeles, CA), Fiber Artist Niki Dionne (Dallas, TX), Muralist and Illustrator Alli Koch (Dallas, TX), Fiber Artist Jackie Lawrence (Denton, TX), Installation Fiber Artist and Yarn Bomber Hannah Busekrus (Austin, TX), Crochet Designer Twinkie Chan (San Francisco, CA), Textile Designer Molly Sydnor (Dallas, TX), Dallas Yarn Bomber Co-Founder Sally Ackerman (Dallas, TX), Knit Artist Joanna Lin (Dallas, TX) and Embroidery Artist Kara Herman (Denton, TX). Each artist has been given a dedicated space to create their own whimsical world completely made from fiber and are the first cohort for CYC AIR (Craft Yarn Council Artist-In-Residence program).
Since each of the artists used large quantities of yarn for their installs, we wanted to do a special series of Happy Place blog posts to dive into how each of them stored and organized their yarn. Read on for our CYC AIR Happy Place with Jackie Lawrence, aka @forestfibers! Jackie is a fiber artist who works with multiple fiber processes, including weaving, latch hook, embroidery, crochet, and knitting. She's also a graduate of UNT's Fibers Program!
How many skeins of yarn did you receive for your Sweet Tooth Hotel installation?
Roughly 300 skeins.
What brand and fiber content did you use in your installation?
Caron (Yarnspirations) and Red Heart acrylic yarn.
What colors did you use for your installation?
All bright and fun colors!
What system did you use to organize your CYC AIR yarn for Sweet Tooth Hotel?
I organized my yarn by color.
What furniture or storage systems did you use to organize the yarn you received?
The HEJNE system from Ikea.
Do you or have you ever found it difficult to manage or organize your yarn?
Always. I find it hard to put my yarn back in the same place so I usually end up with several yarn stashes scattered through my apartment.
Knowing the amount of yarn you were going to receive, how did you find an organization system that worked for you?
I kind of estimated how much space I needed and honestly just got lucky with all my yarn fitting perfectly. The HEJNE shelves are very affordable so I was able to get two sets to fit my yarn. The shelves are deep, which allowed me to stash plenty of yarn, and I knew they could become versatile for storage over time.
How do you like to de-stash?
I like to ball up extra yarn and save it in a tote bag for a future project. Anything that I've had for several years and haven't used, I will donate.
Do you work in the same space where your yarn is stored? Why or why not?
Yes. Space-wise, it's always made sense to me. I've always had to work in small or shared spaces. With this project, I was able to set my latch hook canvas up hanging from my yarn shelves, which was super convenient in not having to move around all day or get distracted by other things going on around me.
How important is a well-organized yarn corner/office to your mental wellbeing?
Sometimes I won't notice how messy my space is right away, but when I do I always jump into organization mode so I can have a fresh slate to work with. Having everything put in its place gives me a safe environment where my mind can just focus on the work.
Where did you purchase everything shown in the photos you submitted?
Share any tips or advice you have for someone who is trying to reorganize their stash.
Organize it in a way that makes you feel happy and inspired! Whether that's by color or fiber content, or even by not organizing it at all, there's no wrong way to go about it.
Sweet Tooth Hotel installation image courtesy of TA Visuals. All other images courtesy of Jackie Lawrence.