 I had a “moment” in early summer 2009, when I became very frustrated with the elitism which had grown up around the crafts that I have been enjoying since childhood and embraced again when I changed my name to “Mum”.
The Guilds of Spinners Dyers and Weavers locally were becoming difficult to access due to time constraints, adult education virtually non-existent - for crafts that is - OK if you want to speak Spanish or fix a car, and want to do that during the working day - but spinning and wool crafts generally seem to be generally neglected by our learned-leaders. Ironically this was at a time when interest in learning about and undertaking crafts generally was growing as some of us had time on our hands due to the recession. Independent workshops were available, but due to their scarcity quickly become booked-up, and could prove quite costly, both financially and time-wise. I personally struggled with working out where I am going to be a week ahead, let alone book and shell-out out some dosh on the off chance that I will be actually in Bristol in six month’s time !!
 I am incredibly blessed with having met some very talented craftspeople through Guilds, Craft Fairs, Courses and On-line who have gone on to become friends over the years.
I and my husband had also owned and run a successful craft "consultancy" (loose term for joining up the dots and enlighting media about craftsmanship - along with making sure they use the tools and terminology correctly!!) and have met a lot of like-minded people on our travels who have remained friends and soul mates.
The problem, as I saw it was, that I could mingle and mix with each of these friends at those designated “meeting places”, but getting them together in one spot, so they could all meet each other eluded me. It seemed to me such a waste that they were not aware of each other and couldn't compare notes (on many occasions I saw people reinventing the wheel, literally in some cases !!). I had tried occasionally to make introductions, but this proved quite difficult with some not using internet, and others seperated by location.
I was also being approached on a regular basis for some guidance on spinning, and being asked to give lessons. As much as I love the craft, after a busy day at work. being asked to sort out a misbehaving wheel and give some adhoc tutoring isn't really where I am at. I didn't want to turn enthusiasts away though, and was conscious that my rather garbled explanations at knitting/craft group meetings, were not really meeting expectations or fuelling enthusiasm.
Taking a step back, as I am one of life’s facilitators, it struck me that if there was some way that all these friends could meet regularly in a large space – with room and time to play and learn – what amazing textiles could be created. I was working on the theory that people with a passion infect and inspire each other, rendering each of our creative spirits greater than than any of us could achieve on our own…
so the germ of a good idea -  SpinDyeWeavers was conceived… but it needed more than just a good idea to make it actually happen ! What was needed was a venue, people to turn up and investment in both time and money to get kick-started.
After putting some notices up on the Weavers & Spinners UK Group (bit of nostalgia here when I found the original post !), and in stepped the hero of the hour, Keith, with the perfect venue, and after some hasty arrangements we opened up the doors in July 2009 – very nervously it has to be said, half expecting nobody to turn up. It was a shock when "People" did - so much so, much to our embarrassment we had to put a cap on numbers to prevent overcrowding and also to retain some semblence of organisation.
Professional Indie-dyers generously helped with resources and knowledge, and the local fibre shop run by Sarah and Dave - the Spinning Weal - got our equipment and shopping-lists sorted, as we scrabbled around to try to make ends meet, and establish what each new member wanted to achieve from the group so that we could find common ground and identify a purpose.
The first meeting was a very much think on your feet, with the dye stash and equipment having been dug out of our shed (having been abandoned years before!) along with Claire bringing along some dyes she had received months earlier as a pressie and it has to be said the combination of the Lime Green, and Rosee demonstrating how to paint fibre and roving, our love affair with colour began...
I make it all sound so effortless here, it was not all as plain-sailing as I had naively thought it could be and after a couple of false-starts, head-scratching and a lot of time in unforeseen admin and administration, before the group began to run seamlessly. Unfortunately, I had to leave the group in September 2010 as my personal world had become very complicated and split over several locations. I also wanted to explore the dyeing and weaving aspects in more depth and my opportunity came with DyeVerse - a company designed to facilitate workshops in textile crafts for the general public as well as enthusiast. Thankfully by now some very capable organisers had joined, so together with Keith and some other founding members the original group still flourishes today as a membership only group, and can be found out and about at local and more far flung destinations expertly demonstrating their passion for crafts. What I had learned by being involved was not wasted, I went on to be invited to assist in starting up similar projects in the South West and Wales, a couple of which have now been successful in grant applications, enabling those on a low income and disabled to access the workshops. Oh and I have as a permanent momento an enviable pallette of the most amazing woollen colourways. Each time I sit, spin, knit, or weave from the pile, it takes me back instantly to my year or so with the SpinDyeWeavers. As I work on the projects, I find myself smiling and chuckling out loud (much to the confusion of those around) as I remember jokes and highlights - of which there are many! and everytime a dyepot comes out, I still use the received wisdom to work out how to proceed when things go wrong. I therefore count myself really lucky to have met such fabulous folk and to be a SpinDyeWeaver.  To Learn more about the Bristol Group (which is Membership by invitation only) - please contact keithevans25@hotmail.com. For more information about Workshops and Courses on similar themes - please contact shani@spindyeweavers.com |
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The Idea |
This work and original ideas are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. by Shani Phethean-Hubble. The right of Shani to be identified as the author and creator of these works has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. A more detailed explanation is available at http://copyright.dyeverse.org.