Our final box for 2022 was the Native Australia Box.
I had a vision for this box - A celebration of the beautiful, colourful world that we live in. It had stemmed from our first year on the farm, surrounded by native flora and fauna and all the things we had seen since moving there. These included gum blossoms, wattles and kangaroo paws. The final piece which brought it all together came from Leah at Beach Life Clay, as we worked together for a second time since BeWeave launched on various prototypes for an extra special addition for one of the upcoming boxes.
Below is some of the colour inspiration behind the box.
The December BeWeave Box featured;
Extra Fine Merino
Our wool tops are such a versatile product and one of the reasons why they are so popular for weavers, felters, spinners and other craft makers. This is why the appear often in our BeWeave Boxes. This month I had a fun challenge to find the right tone to match some of the blossoms that the theme was growing around. In the end I chose the rich mixed berry which was a perfect match to the red Kangaroo paw, bottle brushes and gum blossoms I am surrounded with at home
Wide Sari Silk
If I haven't convinced you how good sari silk in a wide ribbon is yet, I am sure this wonderful hand painted addition will.
Hand painting is a popular dyeing option used for many artisan ribbons and a splatter technique is a fun and creative way to do it. I love how the splatters create such interesting and unique shapes and patterns as the colours cross each other, ensuring that no two inches of any ribbon are ever the same
For this month I wanted a ribbon that would highlight the yellow of wattle flowers and the reds from the gum blossom, bottle brushes and kangaroo paws with some green to include leaves and grass. When it arrived, I was absolutely thrilled to see that many of the splatters resembled gum blossoms too. It couldn’t have been more perfect for this months theme.
Banana Yarn
We experienced banana yarn last month in our Christmas box, but I had no issues featuring it again. Hand dyed and spun by artisan women in India, this is still a favourite product of mine for its versatility across the art forms.
This incredible mixture of colours has been included to represent a native Australian bird, a flying piece of art of that catches your eye every time it goes past. Can you guess what it is?
A rainbow lorikeet of course.
Handmade Weaving Comb
These custom native flora inspired weaving combs are extra special and were lovingly created by Leah at Beach Life Clay for the box.
The combs were an extra special component of the box, having been something I had hoped to include from the beginning of the BeWeave journey, it was just a matter of which theme it would best fit. These combs are a labour of love, having trialed multiple shapes and acrylic types to get the best fit plus trialing different colours, styles, blends and patterns before agreeing that the native flowers were our favourite. From here each of the flowers and leaves have been handpicked by Leah, dried and then molded into the comb. Each and every comb is one of a kind and features a mix of gum blossoms, wattle flowers and eucalyptus leaves, adorned with gold leaf.
I am thrilled to have been able to support Leahs small business again and beyond happy with how they turned out. I hope you love your pretty new weaving comb as much as I do
For our inspiration project this month I have created a floating flower using the wool roving top and rainbow banana yarn, plus some other wool tops I had on hand including some Leaf green Tencel that appeared in our very first One Bag Full Fibre Subscription. The flower has been created on one of our mini round looms, however could be created on any round ring/loom you have on hand.
Be sure to visit Leah at Beach Life Clay on Instagram and show her some love and don't forget you can subscribe to BeWeave in 2023, February will mark 1 year of our subscription box.
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