The Club is Afoot!

Today I am feeling optimistic. It's been a good fiber week. I got everything in order for the Myth & Magic Club (which you should join, because it's awesome) and things are well underway. I was really afraid that I would solicit the assistance of other artists to make the non-wooly surprises for the club packages, and talk up the club all over the internet and then no one would ever sign up and I would be totally embarassed and have to go back to the artists and say, "Actually, it turns out that I won't be buying several custom items from you after all, because no one is even remotely interested in this club."

I mean, how awful would that be? But, I have been saved from this terrible fate! The club will take place after all! Which excites me to no end because I am really looking forward to it and have plans for some really amazing batts. They will be a bit more luxurious than the batts usually available in the shop. I'm using this club as an experiment in making batts with a higher percentage of fancy fibers like bamboo, milk fiber, silk, angora, etc. And as an experiment in branching out a little into using some fibers that I didn't dye myself, but bought from other fabulous indie dyers, some of whom use different dye techniques than I do.

There is still lots of room in the club, and 1 month subscriptions are available for those on a budget. So come play with us!

In other news, today my first-ever Ravelry ad started running. It's just a simple banner ad I made for the Myth & Magic Club, and it will run for 1 week, until sign-ups for August close. I have no idea if it will be effective in selling club subscriptions or bringing people into my shop, but I will know in a week. So that's a new thing too.

And speaking of new things... soon I will start dyeing silk scarves for the gallery, some of which will be available in the shop at some point. Like several weeks from now. And I'm going to try my hand at indigo dyeing. So indigo dyed fiber will be available in the shop... whenever I get the hang of indigo dyeing. Best not to hold your breath, I hear it's insanely difficult and takes a long time to learn and that the learning curve is steep and fraught with peril. Then again, I heard that about point spinning and long-draw spinning only after I had taught them to myself with little difficulty & was surprised to hear it. So, we'll see.

That's it for now. To the Post Office!

Seeking Artists & Crafters for purposes of Awesomeness!

Today I'm working on the details for my new fiber club. Which will be announced soon. And which will be awesome. For right now, let me just say this: It will be 4 oz. of spinning batts each month for 4 months, and there will be a theme. I've never done a themed club before, and I'm super excited. I'd also love for this club to have the option of coming with a few extra treats like herbal teas, handmade soaps, etc. for those who like a little extra pampering.

So I'm looking for folks who make those things who'd like to be a part of this. I figure there are two ways this can work. Folks can send in sample sizes of the things they make along with their business card, a coupon, etc. and use this as free advertising. The samples could be included in fiber club shipments at no extra charge to club subscribers. Or, I can work out a deal whereby I buy full-size items & include them with the monthly club shipments, and customers pay a bit more for their subscription to cover the extra awesomeness. Some folks love extra goodies in their clubs, and some prefer just the fiber. I will offer customers a choice between a no-frills fiber-only club and an extra awesomeness club.

Here's what I'm looking for:

• Handmade hot- or cold-process soap that is all natural & scented only with herbs, spices, & pure essential oils. No melt-n-pour or premade bases. No artificial ingredients. Just the good stuff -- high quality fair trade oils and butters, fresh dried herbs & spices, pure essential oils, and of course organic ingredients are always a plus.
• Other bath & body goodies -- bath salts, lotions, etc. Again, all-natural is key. No artificial fragrance oils.
• Hand-blended teas -- Fair trade and organic will always get you brownie points, because they are good karma and the world needs more of that going around. :)
• ACEO's or small art prints
• Greeting cards
• Hand-poured candles -- scented w/ essential oils, & made from palm, soy, or beeswax.
• Stitch markers for knitting/crochet
• I'm open to other things that I think fiber folks will like.

The extras in the boxes don't need to be the same each month, so you may participate for just one month or more. It's completely up to you. Most importantly, things need to go with the theme of that month's box. I'm keeping the theme a surprise from customers until I introduce the club, so if this sounds like the kind of collaboration you might be interested in, please email me atSerendipityFibers@gmail.com to find out the secret monthly themes & see if they're something you'd like to work with.

Shop Update

A little weekend shop update to start your week off right...

Available at Serendipity!

Goings On

I'm going to be scaling back my fibery activities for a few weeks because I have a lot going on in my life right now that needs my attention.

I won't be submitting samples for the August Phat Fiber box, but I plan to be back in the box in September. I will be doing a giveaway on the Phat Fiber blog in July (and probably August too), so you'll still have a chance to snag some of my fibers in the meantime. I don't know exactly when the giveaway will happen, but if you want to be in the loop on that the best way to be sure you won't miss it is to follow @PhatFiber on Twitter, or check the Phat Fiber blog daily.

I'm moving in three weeks. Just across town, but I'm really stressed out & unhappy about it. After much consideration, I've decided to leave the shop open and have a gap in shipping. So you can still buy things, but if you buy them during the critical packing-unpacking phase, it'll be a while before you get them. Because, you know, everything I own will be in boxes. And if you've bought something from me, well, one of the things you own will be in those boxes too.

Here's how shipping's going to work:
If I have your payment (have charged your credit card, your check has cleared, or am holding your money order in my hand) by July 27th, your package will ship sometime between the 28th & the 30th. After that, my next shipping day will be around the 6th or 7th. So, if I receive your payment on the 28th, it could be about 2 weeks before you get your package. If there's something you have your eye on and you need it before the second week of August, PLEASE buy it early and get your payment to me before the 27th.

On a completely unrelated and much happier note, I'm going to be starting an awesome series of interviews with a lot of truly amazing fiber artists. This is something I've been wanting to do for a long time, and I'm really excited that it's finally coming together. Be on the lookout for the first interview in a few days.

Whoa! Briny Deeps!

Wow. Okay, so I got a little off-track in my fiber schedule this week because something really cool happened. I've never made repeatable batts before. I generally dye fiber in small batches and create one-off batts in whatever colors strike my fancy at the moment. I made a huge batch of identical batts for the Phat Fiber box this month, and offered full-size sets in my shop.

And they were popular. Like, way more popular than anything else I've ever made. It was... kind of amazing, actually. And a little overwhelming. I'm... totally flattered, guys. They've sold out a couple times, but as of this writing there are two more sets in the shop. These will be the last sets that are identical to the samples in the box. If these sell out and there are still folks who want them who haven't been able to get any, I will do my best to recreate them but I can't guarantee they'll be exactly the same.

If they do sell out and you still want some, leave a comment here or convo me on Etsy. No pressure or obligation to buy at all, I'm just trying to get a general idea of how many people want them so I know about how many I need to make. They're $5.5o/oz. and they look like this:

Thanks for all the support, everyone.

Happy Spinning!

Shop Update

Hi guys,

There are a few new things in the shop, with more new things to come later this week or possibly this weekend. I will get a real blog entry done soon, but in the meantime I thought you might like to see the pretties! (And in order to put pictures of the pretties on Ravelry, I have to have them online somewhere else. And this is a very lovely somewhere else, if I do say so myself.)

Yeah... it's been a while...

So, it's been a couple months since I blogged.  Oops.  The upside here is that now I kind of feel like if I blog any time in the next two months, I'll be all On Top Of Things blog-wise.  (If anyone is actually reading this at all and cares whether I blog more often than two months apart, you should probably leave a comment because talking into a big empty void feels kind of weird, like talking to myself in a crazy way.  Bonus points if you have a question about fiber or a suggestion for a blog topic.  Seriously.)  

Anyway, parenthetical weirdnesses aside, some cool things have happened in the past couple months.  I got more involved with Phat Fiber, and have really enjoyed that.  Phat Fiber is amazing and if you are the kind of person who likes buying yarn or fiber from indie dyers or spinners, you should totally check it out.  There are also really cool handmade porcelain buttons that sometimes show up in the box, and they are absolutely amazing.   And handmade stitch markers and project bags and knitting-themed greeting cards and handmade soap and all manner of things that we all know fiber people love.  You know you want this.  

Being involved with Phat Fiber has gotten me more involved with Ravelry, and you'll find me there every now and then posting in the Phat Fiber forum as well as several other fora, especially ones about spinning and art yarns.  My name over there is, *gasp*, SerendipityFibers. 

I did actually FINALLY get around to organizing the batt clubs and getting them listed, and they are a lot of fun so far.  I've dyed milk fiber, which is a really lovely fiber that everyone should try at least once.  I dyed locks for the first time today.  They seemed a little intimidating compared to top and roving because I was worried that the shorn ends would felt together into a big colorful lump of weirdness, but all went smoothly and they were a lot of fun to dye.  They're Cotswold, and will be in the next Phat Fiber box assuming I manage to get them dryed, labelled, and in the mail as-soon-or-possibly-sooner-than-humanly-possible.  

And to that end, I am going to bed now-ish so I can get up early tomorrow and wrangle them into neatly labelled little plastic bags.  Yes.