All you need to spin your dreams
Day 4 was our first full day of showing. Over the last few weeks, after a response from one of our customers, Owen has been developing a neat little spindle based on Mayan spindles. He made a bunch for us to bring down to the […]
Day 2 of the trip to the Fibre Festival this year was primarily the ferry crossing over Cook Strait. We had an 8.15am sailing with a check-in an hour earlier. As a result, our alarms had to be set nice and early at 5.30. After […]
Day 3 of the Fibre Festival trip was focused around setting up our stand. The doors to the Convention Centre were opened to traders at midday so we had some time in the morning to complete other tasks. I had another loom that I wished to warp up in a certain way so we needed to find a yarn shop to source some more yarn. The Warehouse (New Zealand’s answer to Walmart) did not have what was required but we managed to find just the thing in a little shop in the back room of the local Christian bookshop. Finding the shop that is needed in an unfamiliar town is not always easy.
I have a very good long time friend, Jason, who lives near Blenheim with his family. We took a little time to visit Jason, Sarah and the children in their lovely home right on the coast before we had to be back at the show. They have very interesting life stories as he is a Paua diver (NZ shellfish similar to abalone) and she is a general practice family doctor and mum. An hour was not long nearly long enough to visit and we were soon heading back to Blenheim for the festival.
On the way back past the Convention Centre, we noticed traders setting up early so as it seemed time was going to be tight to get everything done, a quick reshuffle of our plans had us lugging all of our gear into the Convention Centre an hour earlier than we expected. For the next three hours it was a bit of a zoo as we arranged stands, assembled wheels, laid out products and tried to get everything in order.
This year we had decided to try something new in the layout of the Majacraft stand. In the past, we have followed the NZ trend of having as many products on display as possible so people can find exactly what they need. What we had in mind this year was trying to go for a much simpler, cleaner design that hopefully presented what was out very elegantly. When it was all set up it looked great and just what I planned on and hoped for.
We finished at 3.30pm so there was time for a quick trip back to the motel to play with the warp on the weaving loom and another cup of tea. Before we knew it, it was time to rush back to the Convention Centre for the opening night of the Fibre Festival.
The evening opening proved to be very busy and bustling. We had the opportunity to meet up with some familiar faces which was very nice. At 6.00 (with some trepidation), I was able to show the new loom to a small gathering of visitors. They seemed very enthusiastic about all the little innovations and overall were very positive about the new creative opportunities that could be made with it. At that point, my best summation would be “phew”!
We packed up at 7.00pm and had a quick meal in the Convention Centre restaurant before finishing up for the day.
I gave myself a late night treat at the end of the evening and went and watched The Avengers in 3D at the local cinema. I thought it was a super fun movie if you are considering seeing it!
I thought I would share about Majacraft at the New Zealand Fibre Festival and write about it as a kind of road trip. It is being hosted in Blenheim this year which is probably around 800 kilometres plus a ferry crossing from our workshop in […]
Natalie from Namaste Farms invited me to be interviewed on her podcast just before Christmas. Apart from the unpleasant experience of hearing my own voice (do I really sound like that?), it was a lot fun to be a part of. If you wish to […]
The Aura Toolkit app for Windows Phone 7 has just been published to the Marketplace (Windows Phone Marketplace). This has been a project I have been experimenting with for quite a while and am very excited to have it available finally. As a quick disclaimer, this post contains some of my own opinion so bear this mind as you read on.
The main feature of the Aura Toolkit is the wizard that allows you to select Bobbin Drive and Flyer Drive ratios (by touch) and then it auto-magically can calculate the draw and twist per inch for yarn. It also has a selection of recipes as well as ratios and dimensions of the Aura. It uses the very cool Panorama control as well as some other neat bits I have found or made. The best bit to share is the price…
FREE!
Here are a couple of screenshots
If you have a Windows Phone and would like download it, look in “Tools and Productivity” in the Marketplace.
The question that I am sure is going to come next is “Where is the iOS/Android version?”. Well, <opinion>Microsoft has excellent tools, resources and online support. I find WP7 to be very elegant and innovative and produce quality apps in a short time. Also, it is easier to get an app noticed in the Marketplace as WP7 is ‘on the up’. I am very excited to see what the Nokia phones are going to look like which are going to be coming out before the end of the year and I also suspect the integration with Windows 8 (middle of next year) is going to be pretty special too. From what I understand iOS has a steep learning curve. Android does not have hardware standards and multiple versions of the software so making sure the app runs reliably everywhere is not easy. It will be WP7 only for a while unless I fancy some new challenges.</opinion>
So there you have it. Download it, review it, rate it, make suggestions (I already have some ideas for a newer version). It will remain free because we want to support Majacraft spinners and give you fun tools to help in your creativity.
You can get it here Aura Toolkit
Until next time.
Andy
If you are not already aware, we have issued a price rise that is effective from October 01. In the interests of making sure you know as much of the details around this – because it is a large price rise compared to anything we […]
The elves have been busy at Majacraft. This week (actually last week as I type this), we have shipped the next generation of our Rose spinning wheels. While they are still obviously a Rose to look at, very little has not been inspected thoroughly and tweaked, modified and improved where we can. Rob and I have spent a lot of time trying to make the lines as smooth and elegant as possible so that hopefully it creates a very romantic look.
To help with building this romantic wheel, we commissioned a local artist, Sharon O’Callaghan to redesign the Rose motif. We are absolutely chuffed (= very, very happy 🙂 ) with the design she has come up with and it now is laser engraved on the handle and Rose carrier. She has been very helpful and inspirational for us to work with.
Sharon does not have a great deal of art on the internet however many of her paintings are displayed around Tauranga. If you wish to contact her then write to us and we will happily forward your her details to you.
Keep an eye out for the new Roses amongst your friends and spinning groups and let us know what you think.
Some of the modifications in the Rose:
The full description appears on our web site in the Wheels section. Until next time…
Andy
WOW! What a fantastic time we had at our recent Majacraft Magic Camp. As we have done previously, we held it at Keswick Conference Centre right on the lake side at Rotorua. The weekend was very busy, starting on the Friday morning and continuing until […]