How I got here!
As this is my first blog, I thought it would be a good idea to tell you about myself and how Wicked Tint came to be. I also want to explain how the member page works.
I have always been an artist, exploring several different mediums over the years; drawing, painting, embroidery, weaving, crochet, spinning and knitting. I came from a creative family of men and women who were always making something beautiful.
Mom has the most beautiful handwriting and was often painting signs, embroidering something or crocheting an afghan. Mom bought me my first pin loom for making potholders at the age of six. Little did I know that it would be my first exposure to weaving.
Dad had a woodshop in the basement, where he and my uncle would make items to sell in the local shops. I was often allowed to help with the sanding. Grandpa was an amateur photographer with his own darkroom. I spent many days in the darkroom with him. It was fascinating to watch images develop slowly as the paper moved to each tray.
My grandmother taught me to crochet at age of ten and I made a wonderful triangle. She forgot to show me how to add rows while keeping the stitch count the same, oops! I also have a wonderful art teacher in middle school who introduced me to rug punching, weaving and spinning. She encouraged me to explore all types of art from drawing and painting to the fiber arts.
It wasn’t until I reached my forties that I taught myself how to knit and found out that I had really expensive taste in yarns. So of course, that lead to spinning which I knew how to do thanks to Mrs. Lucas. I bought a spinning wheel and discovered as most of us do that spinning is also an expensive hobby. But I wanted dye my own fibers and yarn. I started with what my husband called my “chemistry set”. I had mordents, dye powders and all the dedicated pans to explore natural dyes, but found it impossible to get consistent results. Example: cochineal gave me thirty shades of pink and no two were the same. Yikes! So I switched to acid dyes for more consistent results.
My son encouraged me to put my art out there and start selling my yarns and fibers, but I needed a business name. When I was a teenager, everything great was “wicked” and tint was a natural association to color, so Wicked Tint it is! I wish he could have seen where it has taken me.
The member page is an added benefit for anyone who signs up to my email list. It is a page where I showcase all the new items I have been working on that month with details about fiber or yarn plus yardage. One place to see all the new items rather then hunting through all the pages on my website. It’s only up for a couple of weeks then I reset the page for the next month.
Included is a discount code to use on any order that is exclusive to the member page. Please take advantage of the code, I put it there to reward you for being a supporter and follower of my small business.
The member page has a new password every month that will be in the email so that you can access the page. You will only ever get one email from me a month unless I need to send out a correction. Weekly or even daily emails is a bit excessive to my way of thinking, but I felt that you should get some sort of benefit for subscribing to my emails. There is no charge for access, just subscribe to my email list.
May all your fiber dreams come true!
Shel