- Find an ‘eye’ supplier
- Eco printing supplier (recycled paper, vegetable dyes). For business cards, packaging, boxes.
- Write to suppliers for sponsorship / freebies / discount
Filed under: organisation, supplies | Tags: colour, designing, samples, yarn
My yarn samples arrived in the post – at last! They are perfect and work so well with the colour ideas I have from my beach outing.
Must get designing so I can place an order before the end of November.
Filed under: knitting, reflection, supplies | Tags: , evaluation, experiments, market, methods, presentation, pure wool, quality, shop, techniques, yarn
Went to the yarn shop in the markethall this morning to buy some cheap pure wool (UK produced, at least) to do some tests. Mainly for felting but also to play with forms and construction.
I am thinking about the work I have made so far (with a view to selecting images for next week’s presentation) and I came to the conclusion that I have used many techniques and explored many methods but they tend to stop when I feel I have conquered them within one object. Whilst this drives me to move onto the next method, it often means that the last one remains in a sort of limbo: explored, creation complete, but without the quality and ’wow’ factor that comes with an object where you know truly what you are doing and how it will turn out. What I am trying to say, so far they have all been experiments.
Now I have a chance to look back over what I have done, evaluate what I like, what worked well, how it could be used again and pull this all together to make some pieces that I feel are of a standard I am going to be happy to exhibit. If I put one up here per week from now until the New Year, it will keep me focussed on all that I have experimented with until now and highlight things that I might like to work on.
Filed under: supplies | Tags: aging, colour, fading, life story, materials, Natural, personality, process, variation, wool
I have ordered some yarn samples online from the companies I mentioned in my previous post, Garthenor Organic Wool and Llynfi Textiles. Unfortunately the Post Office is striking at the moment so I have no idea when they will arrive – better I’m doing this now though rather than waiting until the exhibition date is around the corner. I hope that by Christmas I’ll have a fair idea of what I will be making so I can get an order in and start the New Year with New Wool.
The naturally dyed yarn is made near Brecon. Funnily enough, the dyes she uses come from France and the wool from Ceridigion in Wales - a perfect combination of my own heritage!
Natural dyes behave differently to the widely used chemical versions: washing them as often you would a chemically dyed item will make the colours fade, they are more sensitive to light and there will always be variations within the yarn and between dyelots.
I like these properties, whilst some people want something to remain looking the same as the day they bought it, I think it is interesting and part of an object’s story if it ages with you. The idea of having your favourite childhood bear 40 years later and he still looks as though he never got out of the box, never got cuddles / dribbled on / a limb resewn….to me is so sad. The wear and tear is like evidence of his personality and life story – without it he is like all the new bears out there waiting to start their life. Aging is a natural process, why not use natural materials to show it?
Filed under: supplies | Tags: eco, natural dyes, organic, samples, supplies, sustainable, UK, Wales, wool, yarn
I am keen to support local (i.e. UK) wool producers, spinners and dyers who have a sustainable and eco-concious outlook.
So far I have found many companies, but these are my favourites who I intend to contact for yarn samples:
SHILASDAIR - naturally dyed, ethically sourced yarns from Scotland
GREENFIBRES - naturally dyed, organic yarn (although not sure if UK wool)
LLYNFI TEXTILE COMPANY -this has everything I could ever ask for! Organic, naturally dyed yarn from Wales.
GARTHENOR ORGANIC PURE WOOL - this is undyed organic yarn from a variety of breeds and used as the base wool for Llynfi Textile Company.
