All you need to spin your dreams
Are you one of those lovely creative fiber people who have purchased one of our Dynamic Heddle Looms? Or maybe you are thinking about it or curious about what makes it different from other rigid heddle looms.. So this months blogpost is devoted to the […]
Limited Edition bobbins? Different colours? Yes! We’ve got them! This is just a little heads-up if you didn’t know about these already, because they are proving very popular and just go to show that us spinners love colour! Last year we brought out some super […]
Growth, it’s all about movement, change, and outward expansion. This is what excites me about circular weaving! In my mind, it is an embodiment of these ideas, starting at the centre and working outwards, expanding into the space around it and changing it in a positive way, adding more all the time. When I start a circular weaving it is all about possibility, I have made the warp, or the framework for growth, and then begin to experiment with how to use that framework, using colours, textures, fibers both spun and unspun. When we designed our first circular loom for the Fiberygoodness spinning course (Journey to the Golden Fleece) it was not obvious that this was going to be ‘something’, although there were already a number of people who had been following my own early experiments with this kind of weaving and it seemed there might be a few people would also enjoy this quite retro ’70s idea. I started out with a large gear off a very old Louet drum carder (the teeth were broken). It was the right shape, and the teeth ideal for allowing me to warp it and still be able to lift the weaving off the loom when finished without cutting. Up to this time I had only seem looms that required the warp to be cut off and tied, or that used the loom as a final frame in the work, I wanted something we could reuse and to also remove the need to mess about tying knots (not my forte!) This was my very first circle weaving.
I made some sketches of ideas for the design, we decided that it should have ‘cut outs’ to make it easier to weave into, as the gear I had been using was just flat. You can see I had a few ideas! Some of them turned out to be not very practical in terms of making them, but we finally chose the one you see bottom left, as the unique shape for the Golden Fleece class. A little later Andrew added another design to become the ‘standard’ Majacraft loom that would be available to people not in the course too, it proved very popular!
Our first prototype was closer to the original gear, and while it worked really well and I loved using it, the material it was made of was too heavy, making it slightly harder to handle and also less portable, and this was another goal, to make something people could put in their bag and take with them, much like knitting! This was the first prototype:
After a bit of experimenting and discussion we settled upon using wood for the loom, it is strong and light, it feels nice to use and handle, and the colour of the wood compliments any colour, making it pleasing to use. We came up with these two looms 
and then added the smallest loom: 
There was so much interest in weaving circles on these looms that we set up a Facebook page for people to share their ideas, techniques and tips, and where we could post things we could offer such as the ‘Warp Speed‘ warping methods and the ‘make your own’ Template. You can find the group HERE and are very welcome to join in! It has been exciting to see the growth (yes we are back..ahem.. full circle again.) of this group and see the huge variety of projects people are using circle looms for! If you are starting to feel a little inspired to try your hand at circle weaving, you might enjoy the following videos, a ‘basic’ circle warp, an alternate warp for making earrings, and some ideas for creating textures in your weaving. I hope you enjoy them! Happy Weaving everyone Suzy x
It’s been a few days since we all reluctantly re-packed our bags and returned home from Majacraft Camp. Time to reflect on the wonderful atmosphere and marvellous things learned, as well as the good feeling of having spent time with old friends and new. Firstly […]
Only a few weeks to go till Majacraft Camp! Tutors are getting ready, making up samples, sorting out fibres and yarns to bring, organising equipment.. And I recently had a visit here at Woolwench House from the vibrant Angela Daish! (No I don’t live in […]
Majacraft Camp is just around the corner, with just on four weeks to go till we all gather for much fiber fun! Preparations are well under way and I know Glynis has been super busy making up goodie bags, assembling equipment, and arranging important things like food, and coffee. And of course we have such a fantastic range of workshops to look forward to! In a previous blogpost we shared some information about the amazing Pat Old, who will be teaching some flax weaving at Camp, and this week we would like to introduce Michele Peddie, a VERY talented fiber artist, who will be guiding us thorugh the Journal making process that runs alongside the entire weekend. The idea of the journal is that we will be creating our own record of the weekend, this can include class notes, fiber and yarn samples, inspirations and visual journalling.. in fact it can be whatever you want to record of the weekend, all bound together in a specially made set of wooden covers which we will also decorate during the weekend! We will be supported, inspired, and guided by Michele throughout this process.
Michele Peddie is a textile designer, fibre artist and graphic designer by trade. Having returned to university as a mature student to complete a Bachelor of Design – Textiles, she is now keen to impart and share some of that knowledge with fellow fibreholics. Michelle explains her vision for the Majacraft Camp Journal as follows:
“The journal is about how to collect your ideas, notes and experiments and record them in a visual journal, rather than scrapbooking which can be very neat and tidy with photos etc. My visual diaries tend to get stuffed with lots of ‘things’ in the creation process. Instead of looking at an already created yarn and then trying to replicate it, I am hoping, along with Suzy, to show you a fresh way of coming up with ideas for colour and texture for your yarns and how to record these ideas so that they can be used over the weekend and in the future. This will be a fun exercise and I will be there to help throughout the weekend.”
Michele shared this image with us, as an example of how she collects inspiration and ideas to add to her visual journal:
Here are some examples of Michelle’s work to further inspire you!
We are sure you will enjoy Michele’s passion and enthusiasm for the art of fibre, and the creation of your Majacraft Camp 2016 Journal!
This time we would like to share a special place with you, a place called ‘Tarndie’, somewhere all us fiber fanatics would enjoy visiting! Firstly we would like to congratulate them on their 175 years and six generations of the Dennis family, farming in this […]
Since we have a little waiting to do before we can go and enjoy Majacraft Camp 2016, we thought it might be of interest to feature our tutors, so all those now signed up can get a little taste of what is to come at […]
This week we were able to send out a gorgeous batch of customised wheels, just check these out, we love them!
One of the joys of being a small company hand crafting our products, is that it gives us a lot of freedom to really personalise what we do to suit each customer. We don’t have a giant production line using pre-set machinery that can only build one thing with no variation. We don’t have an unchangeable system that churns out mass produced items. We start with our hands and our materials, and we craft each wheel, each carder, each set of combs individually, and very often to order because we also do not have a giant storeroom full of pre-made stock to flick out as orders come in, The beauty of this is, not only do our customers receive an item that has been made just for them, with our own hands, but we can also pause during the process and make changes to the wheel, add a personal touch on request that will give the new owner of this wheel a unique piece of equipment that belongs to THEM, that fits their taste and personality, a one of a kind wheel for a one of a kind customer!
We can do this in a variety of ways. We can colour them differently as you can see in the picture above, and there are so many colours to choose from 🙂 Check out this gorgeous purple!
And then of course there is the ‘tattoo’ we can add to the wheels, laser etched to your specifications, this really is the fun part! We have had many requests for wheel designs and it is always a pleasure to send these out to excited customers, it is such a great way to truly connect with a wheel, a visual treat each time you look at it and work with it. We only ever make one of each of these, so if you send us your design, you can be sure no one else will ever get ‘your’ wheel, it is just for you exclusively! Take a look at some of the unique wheels we have created in the past..
We can really get a lot of detail into these designs:
and we can add design touches on more than just the drive wheel too:
and one more example of where you can add design here with my (Suzy’s) ‘One Wheel’ which Andrew covered in Elvish script for me 🙂
Are you feeling inspired? Just email us at support@majacraft.co.nz and share your dream wheel wishes with us! We can talk about design and pricing, and together we can help make your ideas come to life with a spinning wheel you will love to use! If you already have a Majacraft wheel that you love, but want something personalised for you, we can customise individual parts for you to swap around as you like! Contact us for pricing and possibilities 🙂 Your ideas and designs are an inspiration to us!
For the Majacraft Fusion Engine Drum Carder Majacraft now has in stock both the 72tpi and the 128tpi carding cloth for the amazing new Fusion Engine Drum carder. This raises a few questions! The first, and most important one is, ‘which cloth doth suit me […]