view from the studio: first batch of yarns dyed in indigo grown in our backyard

harvesting indigo seed

Saving Japanese indigo (Polygonum tinctorium) seeds from our Oakland backyard for next year's crop. Japanese indigo has been used for centuries to create a rich blue dye. The plant is easy to grow as an annual and the leaves may be harvested several times during the growing season for a fresh dye vat or saved to work with dried or fermented. You can purchase seeds for your own indigo crop @ the Fibershed Marketplace. A percentage of each sale goes to support Fibershed's ongoing educational programs.

dots on dots

view from the Creative Growth Studio • Artist: Maureen Clay

I LOVE Maureen's dot paintings. It's been fun seeing 
these papier maché pieces fill the studio = So happy!

Two Squids in Love

One of the small illustration from the pattern booklet 

created for the Syd the Squid Natural Dye Knit Kit. 

Drawing & knitting squids is so much fun!

Meet Syd the Squid

This is Syd. He’s SUPER shy, but really likes dancing when no one’s looking. . .

Syd is part of a collaboration project I have been working on with natural dye artist Rebecca Burgess. Soon it will be Available at the Fibershed Marketplace as a natural dye knitting kit. The orange color is achieved with dried coreopsis.

Knit flat or in the round, the knitting project introduces simple increases, decreases & i-cords. It's a great introduction to toy making and the magic of natural dyes. 

Normally, I knit toys in the round on double pointed needles, which honestly only looks intimidatingly awkward but is actually quiet simple once you've stopped over-thinking what you are doing. Approaching this project from the perspective of a kid while designing was a huge challenge. My goal was to keep the construction simple yet fun to make. I'm pretty happy with how goofy he turned out.

Photo credit: Michael Keefe

Fibershed Marketplace launches

Our Fibershed Marketplace launched on-line today! So exciting!
The image above shares some of the MANY faces involved.

Our Fibershed Marketplace brings farmers and artisans of the region together to provide you with raw materials and finished goods. Seventy to ninety percent of each purchase you make goes directly to the artisans and farmers, while the remainder advances our goals of a renewable energy powered supply chain. A portion of your purchase goes directly towards establishing and improving a bio-regional mico-manufacturing base, that in turn, will help provide new jobs and will advance the quality and scope of our local textile offerings.

A HUGE thank you to Dustin Kahn for building the on-line marketplace! And of course to Rebecca Burgess for gathering us all together and constantly keeping positive and focused in spite of the many, many challenges of making local fiber + local color + local labor products accessible for everyone. We have a long journey ahead of us, but look at how far we've come this past year! The marketplace is a great way to celebrate and share the richness grown in our region. It is such an honor to be part of this incredibly dedicated group of individuals and so inspiring! You can lean more about our journey at Fibershed.

photo credit Paige Green