As Virginia Woolf pointed out in the 1920’s, for a woman to be creative she requires her own space. I would say that this encompasses both a physical space and some mental space. It is difficult, if not impossible to create in a physical space that is full of the comings and goings and detritus of a whole family’s lives. It is even less possible in an environment with constant interruptions. During the writing of this one paragraph I have been told the length of an anaconda, answered the phone and dealt with questions relating to VAT, been asked if we could go on holiday somewhere where there are snakes, been tapped on the head with someone’s finished multiplication clock and harassed about the need to go and tidy it up a bit!
So, I have spent some time recently carving out some space for myself – not exactly a room of my own, but a 3 metre long worktop!
Enough to lay out fibre to dye with acid dyes. And I have fashioned a drying rack for said fibre to dry on. I consider this to be quite an achievement and if you had ever visited Misty Cottage, you would too!
As for mental space - well that comes and goes. I have had some in the last couple of weeks thanks to my parents who are lovely, involved grandparents to the Misty Cottage children. As a result of this I have created a space (which I will now have to protect fiercely) and some fibre which I think is lovely. I have called it Minti’s Choice because that is exactly what it is, my favourite colours used because I like them! I have used Blue Faced Leicester because it is so soft and delicious to handle.
Now the only problem is - should I spin it or sell it as it is for someone else to spin? I have been trying to decide for nearly three weeks now!
What do you think?
For goodness sake...spin it women!!!! Glad to see you have got...finally...some space for yourself! I would give anything for a studio but am lucky to have the spare room which is now my territory and mine alone...I only give it up when we have visitors and now I am working in it every day..maybe that system will have to be revised!! Good luck...beautiful colours by the way...just you! xx
ReplyDeleteSpin it, Minti! You know you want to! They are beautiful colours - I especially like the deeper. raspberry pink in the mix. And that shiny, clear work top is impressive. I could do with another one of those! Layn x
ReplyDeleteBy the way - any news on how the sloe dying went?
ReplyDeleteIt is very tempting to just spin it but then again it looks so lovely as it is!
ReplyDeleteI haven't done the sloe dyeing Layn. I had a look at some a friend had done and the colour is not what I am looking for. It comes out a kind of nude pinky colour which would not work well for me! Back to the drawing board on that one I'm afraid.
Hello!
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting my blog yesterday. I thought I would answer your questions here as I couldn't email you a reply. :)
I do dye my fibre myself and I use Greener Shades Acid Dyes which are a little kinder to the environment as they don't contain the metallic compounds that regular acid dyes use to give the dyes their colour. You can also dispose of them a bit safer down the sink as I do worry about contaminating the water supply. I know you can neutralise regular dyes with bicarb of soda but it just saves the hassle of doing that - I can just tip and go! :)
Thank you BBD for taking the time to answer, it is very much appreciated. Also it is good to know that there are some more environmentally responsible acid dyes out there. I will try to source them now, thanks.
ReplyDelete