Introducing: WoolyWire!
Posted by Ali on February 28 at 02:32 pmNew to our Artists line up, from a little fiber arts studio in Lexington, Kentucky, comes Nellie Thomas and WoolyWire. When I first saw these creations, I was immediately drawn to the vibrant colors and funky style of this 24-gauge fiber-wrapped wire. So many ideas swimming in my head on how to use this and incorporate into my design work! Spin-Culture studios sources the raw-wool, freshly sheared, and washes, cards, dyes, and spins it into the most delicious looking yarns. The genius behind all this is felting the yarn to a length of 24 gauge craft wire. Beautiful color throughout a project or as accents along the way. I am swooning.
Thanks to technology, we were able to conduct a long-distance interview from Ann Arbor to Lexington to get the scoop on Nellie the artist and her world of fiber arts.
Q. What drew you to spinning?
A. One reason I love spinning is because I enjoy playing with all of the different textures. There are so many different types of textures to play with when using a number of different breeds of sheep and other various textiles. I also enjoy how the experience while spinning can be somewhat versatile; I can either relax and have a zen like experience of just making the same motions with my hands while not really having to focus on anything specific, basically enjoying it for the pure pleasure of spinning…and yet I can also be creative with it and let my mind run in different directions with ideas of how to create new types of yarn and spinning methods.
Q. What are your favorite colors? least favorite colors?
A. I would say my fave colors are within the blue/green spectrum…my least fave is pastel/cotton candy pink.
Q. Do you have any pets we should know about?
A. I have one cat named Chloe and is all black and she is my cat pretty much. There is also a dog here in the house which is my mom’s named Casey…she’s a German Shepard.

Casey supervises the day's work
Q. What is your favorite hobby besides the fiber arts?
A. I haven’t had a chance to do this much recently, but I really enjoy playing pool (billiards)
Q. Where do you find your inspiration?
A. I would have to say helping people to find their creative outlet inspires me. When people tell me they are learning how to spin, or how to do something particular with fiber prep, or learn how to knit– that sort of stuff really makes me happy to help them to be able to accomplish their creative endeavor. I’m not really sure why..I guess I have just found spinning/finding my creative outlet has affected my life in so many good ways that I’m happy to see it might do the same for others.
If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to talk to a passionate person about their passion…read Nellie’s final comments to our Q&A session:
We just really love WoolyWire! Check it out and let us know what you think. Can’t wait to start seeing pieces pop up in the Design Gallery… In fact, I was so excited about this particular launch, I posted a few ideas, to get your creative juices flowing (earrings & bracelet). Check ‘em out. Tell me what you think!