Peters Valley -- a little background

IMG_1225 Originally uploaded by raynag.

I'm back from Els van Baarle's magical working with wax workshop (try saying that 3 times fast!). This was the view from the fiber studio. Peters Valley was once a lively village -- till the federal gov't condemned it in the 1960's because they wanted to flood it and build a dam and recreation area. The village, which had been there since the 18th century, was seized by eminent domain and everybody was evicted. Years went by and the dam project never happened. The derelict buildings remained -- and Peters Valley Craft Center in rural New Jersey was born about 30 years ago. Nationally known for its blacksmith studio and ceramics -it has a wonderful fiber studio, photography, jewelry, and other courses. The building on the right used to be the post office; now it's the craft gallery. And the wonderful Greek revival building was a hotel and is now empty.

IMG_1266 Originally uploaded by raynag.

Barbara Conte-Gaugel and I roomed together in this once-elegant home that is now being restored. It's next to the blacksmith shop and last time we were there they banged and hammered and kept us up all night long. This year's group became our friends.

IMG_1270 Originally uploaded by raynag.

In case you wondered what the fiber studio looked like - here's the outside. It's about 3 miles up the hill from the village. Nice space, lots of paints, dyes, and discharge stuff available. And WAX. Els told us to bring UGLY fabric and I had a ton of it. I'm really sorry I didn't take before and after pictures because batik is a great way to improve your dyed fabric failures!