All you need to spin your dreams
We have a new addition to our Majacraft range of spinning wheels! The Luna is an innovative new wheel, designed to be so smooth it makes spinning a breeze. The extra stability of the inline design and our drive system combine to provide a lovely […]
Votes are counted! It was a close race, but as time went on it became clear that the favourite colour for Majacraft Bobbin Colour of the Year is…………… BELIEVE FROSTY!!! It was a good race, and Belladonna solid took an early lead, but by the […]
Once again, this year we will be creating one limited edition bobbin colour to add to your collection, and we would like you to help us choose which one! Our ‘bobbin colour of the year’ is always popular, and is a fun addition to your bobbin stash, you can even colour coordinate with your yarns, or colour code your singles. Whichever one is chosen will be available during 2025, and if there are any left after our final production run we will continue sales into the following year!
Our plastic bobbin range is custom made by injection molding, which is very sturdy and reliable. It gives us some extra options in colour choices too. This year we are again offering additional options to vote for, with a choice between the ‘tinted’ semi-translucent bobbins (frosty) and the ‘solid’ colour versions.
If you didn’t get in yet for your 2024 ‘Seafoam’ frosty, check with your nearest dealer to see if there are any left in stock.
Please select your favourite colour out of the six options below, leave a comment on this post only, to tell us the ONE colour you want to vote for – and on the 12th of August we will tally up and find our winner!
To make our counting easier, please give your chosen colour first in your comment, and be sure to specify if your choice is for Solid or Frosty! (you will not see your comment come up immediately as we currently have post approval on, but please only submit once).
As with previous Bobbin Colour of the Year, these bobbins will be produced in our standard bobbin size, which fits all of our wheels.
Please share this post with all your Majacraft spinning friends and ask them to vote too!
Please keep in mind that colours may differ slightly from images as shown on your screen.
The colour names are currently the Resene paint colour names, we will be creating our own special Majacraft name for the final chosen colour once applied to the bobbins!
BELLADONNA – Magenta Solid
BELLADONNA – Magenta Frosty
ADRENALIN – Orange solid
ADRENALIN – Orange frosty
BELIEVE – Dark blue/purple solid
BELIEVE – Dark blue/purple frosty
GRASS STAIN – green solid
GRASS STAIN – green frosty
Yes! We have been plotting and planning, and in 2024 we are bringing you TWO Majacraft Camps! One will be at our usual venue at Papamoa Beach, Aotearoa New Zealand, and the other will be a return to our wonderful Australian Venue at Lake Dewar! […]
Recently Suzy posted a picture of me (Andrew) on Facebook taking part in a health check of a Kiwi which quite a few people were interested in. I thought I would share a little more about this and show something I have recently been working […]
This week marks the end of an era here at Majacraft. One of our longest standing team members, Lance Hemingway, is leaving us for an exciting new opportunity in Tauranga and we wanted to acknowledge the impact he has had on both Majacraft and the people who work here.
Lance joined us over fourteen years ago for what he originally intended was to be a yearlong stay! Thankfully it did not play out that way and he has been sharing his knowledge and skills with us ever since. Spinners using Majacraft wheels benefit from his meticulous eye for detail and clever ideas, both in the products and the processes that have been integrated into our factory over the years.
Lance is an excellent teacher and has always helped young people starting at the workshop learn new skills and develop the ability to operate independently. He has a fierce loyalty that we have been fortunate to benefit from while he has been at Majacraft. As an example, early in 2023 I had a heart health issue and spent a couple of weeks in hospital. I didn’t know at the time, but Lance had been offered this new opportunity and was preparing to sign the contract but actually turned it down, so he did not leave Majacraft in a difficult position! It was a huge sacrifice to make and yet he did it without any recognition or fanfare at the time. Fortunately, the opportunity has come up again and he was able to accept it.
Lance has an excellent work ethic and his expertise with our machinery, maintaining them and ideas on how to fix any issues that come up will be sorely missed. Lance has always dived into any activity going on as well, from trucking heavy machinery around to impromptu logging operations. He was noticeable every summer when he would ride in on his immaculate yellow 1300cc Suzuki Hayabusa which was likely the fastest vehicle on Oropi Road. He always has time to share a funny story or interesting chat – or comment on the shocking traffic in the city!
Thank you so much Lance, you will leave a huge hole in our Majacraft family as you move on and while Majacraft will be sad to see you leave, we are very happy that you are moving on to a new and exciting opportunity. Good luck for the future and we can’t wait to hear of your new adventures.
Andrew and the Majacraft team
A photographic look at the weekend! Each year our Majacraft Camp fills with the presence of wonderful spinners and fantastic teachers, all willing to share knowledge, ideas, and our passion for fibre art in every form. 2023 has been no exception! This year we welcomed […]
It is time to get your registrations in for 2023 Majacraft Magic retreat! 2023 Class Content: Crimp Spin Ply with Pat Old – design yarn that matches the crimp of the fleece Beyond one Batt with Janet Day (AU) – carding for a big project Love Linen with Leigh […]
We have a couple of new products to announce! The first one is pretty straight forward so I will start with the new limited edition bobbins, and then tell you all about our new Extra Fine hand combs, with a wee story about what makes them so great.
We have had great success and feedback on our new-look black plastic bobbins, launched back in 2020 (see the blogpost). They have proven popular as well as sturdy and reliable. These bobbins are molded (not 3d printed) and are very strong, and we all love how we can see our yarns through the ends! So this year we are launching TWO new limited edition bobbin colours – same fab design and material, new colours!
Here is the collection! Standard black, with the new “Rubber Ducky” and “Frosty” We hope you will enjoy these bobbins! The yellow is vibrant and fun, will match up wonderfully with all your hot coloured fibres as well as bring some sunshine to your spin days. Frosty is a lovely gentle translucent, which will (like the black) go really well with any colour you spin, with the added fun of seeing your yarn through it too!
We hope you will enjoy these bobbins in your collection! As with all our limited edition colour bobbins, these will be available while stocks last. These are available now to order these from any of our Majacraft dealers.
Our second new product to launch is our new Extra Fine hand combs, for all your luxury fibre prep and blending. We have been making hand combs for years, and have our trusted, tried and tested Majacraft method of setting the lovely smooth (not too sharp) tines in place, so they are solidly fixed, will not bend, and stay straight even after years of use. Our standard combs are FINE combs, suitable for anything 18 – 30 micron fibers, wonderful on most Merino, Corriedale, Romney, and other fine to medium fibres.
Our new combs are EXTRA fine, with the tines closer together while still super smooth and reliably straight.
The Extra Fine combs have helped me with my fibre preparation tremendously! I have used the standard Majacraft Fine Hand combs for many years with great success and pleasure, just the right size for my hands, the perfect weight, no injuries, and beautiful fibre. But over time the range of fibres I had in my stash expanded and I developed a taste for very fine fibres, such as beautiful cria alpaca fleece, softest baby camel, and other delightfully soft, very fine micron fleece (12-18micron). Then one day, I added a big bag of the most delicious Polwarth lamb to my stash – gorgeous! However, as lovely as it was, it proved a challenge to prepare for spinning. Washed alone did not deliver the result I wanted, as the staples were not defined and it was quite fluffy. It is also quite a tender fleece, and hand carding produced mostly nepps and not much else. I tried combing it with my standard combs, and it was an improvement but still had more nepps than I would happily want to pull out while spinning.
Enter the Extra Fine hand combs! Magic happened!
The difference was amazing, the Extra Fine combs gave me a beautiful preparation from this tricky fibre, almost no nepps, light and airy, and it spun into a very satisfying two ply yarn. I knitted up a swatch and was struck by how very light and soft the resulting fabric was, my goal now is to prep enough fibre to make a lovely Spring/Autumn weight jersey.
Since then I have also tested these combs with a range of other super fine fibres, including some lovely baby camel, blending it with silk and a touch of 14 micron merino for a magical mix. The combs are easy to handle and make hand combing a breeze.
Some things to know:
The Extra Fine combs can be used to also prepare 18+ micron fibre, however I would not recommend it, there will be more (unnecessary) waste, as these tines are really spaced to be their best with your finest fibres. In hand combing, it really is a case of needing the right tool for the job.
As with all hand combing of fleece, you will get some waste with these combs too. I keep mine and card it into batts for added texture or tweed style yarns.
Choose the standard Majacraft Fine Combs for all your fine to medium micron fibres, and the Extra Fine for your luxury fibres to create beautiful smooth, ready-to-spin preparations.
We hope you will have fun with our new bobbins and combs! We have enjoyed creating and developing them as quality tools that will give you years of enjoyment!
Once again we were so lucky to have the opportunity to gather together for three days of spinning, learning, chatting, and sharing at this years Majacraft Camp! We were all delighted to see so many old and new friends, and we hope all those attending […]