Woolplay is the creation of Claire Powell who has been a smallholder on the Suffolk/Norfolk borders since 2016. Claire spent her part of her childhood in the Peak District, surrounded by sheep and sheep farmers. So when she had the land and was offered a small flock of rare breed Leicester Longwool sheep in need of a home, it was a dream come true.
Claire has always had a thing about textiles - the textures, the colours. She did tapestry needlework as a hobby until she discovered patchwork and quilting back in 2002. Claire designed kits for newbie quilters and ran her own online patchwork business for a number of years before focussing on her own modern improv patchwork journey. She was also a free motion longarm quilter for customers until the sheep took over.
With new fleeces every year, it was a steep learning curve sorting out what to do with 25 to 30kg of fleece a year. Claire decided to embrace the challenge and while some is commercially processed for her by niche UK spinning mills, she also taught herself to skirt and wash fleeces and to card and comb the clean fibre. As a lover of colour, learning to hand dye has been very rewarding. Claire uses both acid and natural dyes depending on the eventual purpose of the fibre or yarn. The long staples of Leicester longwool sheep take dye well and can be used in a number of wool crafts.
Claire's main woolly craft is weaving which she does in a variety of forms - peg loom weaving, frame weaving, circular weaving and more traditional weaving with a rigid heddle loom and a floor loom. This gives her huge scope for the style of weaving and what she produces, from soft small rugs to wall art, from scarves and wraps to cushions, towels and table runners. In addition she spins, mainly for her weaving, and wants to do more wet felting.
Claire has been a visiting artist at Designer 21 in Diss and sells at craft fairs. Now she has a dedicated studio, she is able to focus more on her fibre processing, dyeing and weaving.
