Fiber Monday - When worlds collide

I don't have anything progress to show on anything. It's been that kind of a week. Actually, I wasn't even sure I would do a Fiber Monday post there was so little to say. And then I went to the horse fair over the weekend.

I'm wandering around the exhibition center where all the vendors are and happen to see someone selling jewelry made with horse hair. Since I still had Bristol's tail hair sitting in the studio, I decided to take a look. (For non-horsey people, when someone has a beloved horse die, often they will cut off the tail hair to have made into some sort of jewelry to remember them.) I really liked what she had made and we started chatting. Well, one thing left to another and I mentioned I was a hand spinner which started us down the fiber arts rabbit hole. She then says she's been weaving with horse hair. 

G. was with me, and might have heavily sighed at this point and muttered something about being there for a while because I was very excited and started asking many questions. 

I took a picture of a small piece of weaving she had made. 


The warp is cotton. The weft is horse hair and it's length determines the width of the woven piece. Unlike regular weaving where you have a shuttle which allows you to weave fairly quickly, the horse hair needs to be woven individually. You can see the ends of each piece of weft hanging down at the bottom of the sample. It creates an almost vinal feeling fabric. The small piece on the right is woven horse hair made into some jewelry. It was fascinating and I enjoyed talking fiber with her. Much to G.'s relief, we did actually move on. 

I really liked her jewelry and I am also happy to have found an artist I trust with Bristol's tail. I just have to decide what I want made. 

Take a look at her website. She has some beautiful pieces and I love that she researched and uses historical fiber techniques. 

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