The Muffs Letter
September 12, 2024
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I didn't know where to start. I had so many ideas, colour themes and palettes that I like. I like pastels, I like deep rich nature colours, I like neons, greens, pinks, natural plant colours, retro themes, pastel themes, fairytale stories and vintage tales.
A Straight Forward Path
This has been driving me nuts and in circles since the beginning of time. I really want to know my personal style, maybe then it will be easier to choose dye colours, match colours, choose shapes and shop for things I really want instead of buying things I think I like, realising later it doest match or it's just not my thing anymore. I want to find out who I really am, what I am trying to aspire to from the depths so there's no more confusion, maintain consistency and get on with more important tasks.
Peace, Warmth, Joy & Country
I was at a yarn market and my favourite stall was an elderly lady quietly sitting behind a cheap old plastic table with no fancy display, no logo and no business card. Her yarn was all sprawled out to see. It wasn't messy and it wasn't fancy. However, it was the most special yarn stall to me that day. It was the only table of yarn with a very strong personal style. She brought me into her world. I felt like I was at her country farm house in each season for every festivity. She maintained this gorgeous blue hue throughout most every yarn skien in some small way, making her theme quite personal. I didn't grow up country, but it brought me home. It had an effect on me. I will never forget how she made me feel at her market stall, how she brought me into her special place, all by using placement and colour.
What's my style?
My personal style and what I want to portray to others through fibre craft is important to me. Muffs personal style portrayed visually through all aspects of my character comes out as vintage fairytales colliding with stories about the future world. It has a joyful aura with hints of dark twisted tales. It suggests a fusion of the old and the new, where classic stories and beginnings of futuristic visions intertwine. There are high contrasting elements throughout. It's bright, minimalistic and fun with a generous amount of soft round shapes.
How can I infuse my personal style into my art?
I will need to decide on a medium, the tools I want to use and choose a few techniques I want to work with. I will need to practice these together, over and over again until it's up to my personal standard. I will ask myself, is this my style, do I enjoy working with these techniques the most? Is it economical, fun and light hearted? How can I set myself up to stay focused and not veer off?(one way Muffs stays focused is by only using 12ply mohair paired with various other fingering weight yarns on 10mm knitting needles). This tool rule has been a game changer. It's one of my things. It's allowed me to learn to knit a variety of items and samples quickly and easily without loosing focus on my passion for yarn dyeing and colour. This big fluffy look also aligns with my personal style. The pairing yarn allows me to experiment with colour more thoroughly.
Exploring all aspects of Fibre Dyeing only using Primaries
I know that to get a good grasp, I will need to go back to beginner to infuse my personal style into my fibre art. Once I get a good understanding for mixing pastel primaries, neon primaries, two primaries, three primaries, including white space in my primaries, I will begin to add shades to my primaries. I will add base colours, creamy colours, browns, greys and blacks. I will play with neutral speckles and neutrals as a fourth colour to add to my primary palette. If you're a beginner, I recommend working with primaries as a starting point. If you want to become a dye mixing pro, explore all aspects of dyeing fibre with only using primaries. Always observe, journal and record your results.
To achieve personal styled collections in dyeing, I will bounce back to playing with primaries. In particular, Muffs Dharma Neon Primary Collection is just about ready for release. I wanted to tell you about it, but I also wanted to take the opportunity to mix some flashy vibrant neon primaries all on one yarn. So today I bring to you your monthly freebie "Photon Flash" a delightful rainbow of neon primaries all on one yarn. How did it turn out?
Creating Your own Personal Style
Some of you might be interested in creating or developing your own personal style, branding or fibre art niche. Branding your artwork is not about your logo, business card, market stall or website. It's about your own personal style, your ebbs and flows through life, who you are and what you want to portray to the world. How do you want to tell your story to others? I recently signed up to a personal style course so that I could hash out Muffs branding style and brand colours. I absolutely loved this course so I really wanted to share it with you. Here is the link to the course:
I plan to develop my own personal style course with a focus on colour, so look out for that in the future.
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I want to share everything I know with you, so you can hone in, save time formulating, cut the confusion and enjoy the process and fibre art part of it more. Thank you to all of those who have supported Muffs development and continue to cheer me on.
Kindly, Lori from Muffs Merino
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