News & Events

I have been lucky enough to be successful in my application for funding through VACMA (Visual Artist and Craft Makers Award). I am a long time needlefelt artist and model maker and a more recent loom weaver, and work predominantly with by-products of the Wool Mill, which is based on the island and processes the wool of the native North Ronaldsay sheep.

The project being funded will allow me to experiment with the hairy yarn (not the wool yarn most people are familiar with and use in knitwear). I will be weaving this yarn into fabric and trialling different finishing methods. I am also experimenting with the hair to make padding and stuffing and the funding will allow me to be trained by a local upholsterer so I can put all these materials to the test and make an upholstered item almost entirely from our local sourced materials.

Helen Galland (Woolly Wally Gifts) www.woollywally.com