Blue Tapestry Woven Mandala Wall Hanging
Have you wondered how to make a woven mandala? Circle weaving is easier than you might think! I’ll take you through the steps I took to create this Blue Tapestry Mandala. It is a...
SlowYarn.com Blog
SlowYarn No Worries Dye Method
White wool is boring. It’s a lot more interesting to spin or felt with bright, colored roving in variegated colors than to spin it white and dye it later. This is a super easy method of dyeing, with no measuring, no rules, and no worries!
Natural Dye For Easter Eggs
I’ve always been a fan of natural dyes. The colors make me feel like I’m coming home to a flower garden. Some of the prettiest colors come from foods in the kitchen. Who hasn’t...
Introduction to Eco Printing
What is eco printing? This is a form of natural dyeing using direct-to-fabric or -paper printing from leaves, stems or flowers. Almost all plants have some color in them that can be transferred directly...
How To Eco Print
Would you like to learn how to eco print? Read on! Nature printing, or eco printing, is the art of pressing leaves onto a fabric or paper surface and extracting the natural dyes from...
Eco-printing with Cochineal: A Spectacular Combination
Eco-printing is a journey, more than a destination. It is a perfect project for the Infinitely Curious Person and a really frustrating project for The Perfectionist Person who wants standardized results every time. I’m the first one–...
Art vs. Craft
It’s time to reevaluate the 500 year old idea that art is only for the richest people, and it’s only art if it is made with the traditional art media of painting, or bronze or marble sculpting.
Blue Dye in History
The color blue has long been associated with royalty and riches. Any plant yielding blue dye was considered a valuable commodity, and there are only a couple of plants that do. It is possible...
Happy New Year from SlowYarn!
I want to share my slideshow of stellar moments from 2019. In addition to writing for and editing SlowYarn.com, I am a working artist. Most of what I do is fiber arts related, but...
Fiber Festivals
What should you expect at a fiber festival? Wool in every form, dyes, yarns, and fiber art equipment, as well as plenty of inspiration from finished fiber art on display.
Reading an MSDS for Home Dyers: Part 1
Understanding how to read a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) is important for any home dyer. Especially if you are doing Natural Dyeing, or Eco Printing, it’s good to know just how “natural” or “eco” your materials really are.
How Basic Does It Have to Be?
There was a discussion on one of the fiber arts groups on Facebook this morning about “cheating” by using a knitting loom. When your hobby is already practicing an old-fashioned back-to-basics skill like spinning or knitting, how basic does it have to be? Do we rank the “basicness” of our hobbies? Do we judge others based on whether they are struggling as much as we are for our art?
Product Review: Say “No” to the Super Chunky Arm Knitting Blanket
Don’t those pictures of the super chunky arm knitting blankets look cozy? They’re all over Facebook and Instagram. They have a great sales pitch about how fast and easy they are to make. All these...
From Sheep to Shawl: Dirty to Clean
I’m delighted to present a guest blog written by Heather Wallace on her Sheep to Shawl journey. Like many of us in the fiber arts, she was first captivated by handspinning when she saw a...
“Twenties” Nuno Felt Scarf
Let’s make a nuno felt scarf! The Silk When my daughter moved out of state, she couldn’t take everything with her. She talked me into keeping a box of silk garments she’d rescued from...
