Once upon a time, many years ago, I decided I wanted to become a fiber artist. Although it is an extreme oversimplification, Malcolm Gladwell told us in his book Outliers that it take 10,000 hours to master something. I took this concept and applied it to my work. I spent 4-8 hours every day researching,
We are seeing a revival of natural plant fibers in the world of textiles. Once, we used a much wider variety of plant fibers than we do today. What happened? In the 1960s, synthetic fabrics overshadowed the market. Now, we are starting to see young artisans revisit natural plant fibers. There is something special about
Cotton is often thought of as a sustainable textile, but the truth is that it’s not as sustainable as you think. Cotton requires enormous amounts of water and pesticide to produce, and it’s not environmentally friendly to grow cotton. In this blog post, we will explore the truth about cotton and why it’s not a
The Fibershed movement started in 2010 as a way to create regional economies that could support the growing and processing of fibers within a 250-mile radius. The goal is to build a more sustainable and resilient system that doesn’t rely on imported goods or fossil fuels. Since its inception, the movement has grown exponentially, with
