GALLERY
Wheatweaving designs
Links
National
Museum
of Straw Art
National Association of Wheatweavers
United Kingdom Guild of Straw Craftsmen
Cutting
wheat was the first major problem and the solution simple.
1981: Joyce and son, Mike, located a wheatfield and hand cut 1/2 acre
1982: Mike located an PTO (power take off) IH binder from an area farmer - along with a crash course
in operating the antique machine - they cut two acres - they were on a roll.
1988: Supply and demand increased and Mike cut 40 acres of wheat.
(Joyce often approached a farmer and asked if she could bind
25 or 30 acres of wheat: The reply, often accompanied by and incredulous
look, "lady do you know how much 25 acres of wheat is?" To which she replied, "Yes, it's 12,500 binder bundles." She
had no problem locating premium wheat in Russell County
In 1984 Joyce published Spiral Weaving, a how-to book on technique and patterns. She designed for: McCalls Special Interest, Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest, Crafts Magazine and had a wheat chess set on Crafts N'Things Magazine over the next six years. She developed a mailing list of wheatweavers all over the United States and supplied binder bundles to them for their wheatweaving designs. She bound wheat for three other companies that packaged the wheat for consumer markets. In 1987 she formed the National Association of Wheatweavers with assistance of the Kansas Wheat Commission, Kansas Wheathearts and the first convention was held in Hutchinson, Kansas Recreation Center