Atslan Stone Pendants

Today's upload are these two stone pendants, Malachite & Jaspis. To view these in more detail, click here.

Crafted from a combination of three different threads. Wax coated rayon has been used for the central cores, with hemp and flax worked around the rayon to provide these Malachite & Jaspis pendants with a strong adjustable cord. Simply slide the large bone bead along the cord to adjust the length.

For more pendants from Atslan and Green Glass Tokyo, watch this space as more will be added slowly over the next few weeks.

Natural fibres, Natural dyes and Original designs http://www.sorazora.com/

Linen Crochet Shawl

Today's product upload is this beautiful linen crochet shawl. For more details on this item, click here.

Elegant movement like a butterfly... Crochet Linen Shawl. 

This shawl is beautifully crochetted by Nepalese women using soft linen thread .

The sophisticated design simply fascinates anyone. 

The Linen thread is washed once before being crochetted. 

The more you use it, the softer it will become. 

Natural fibres, Natural dyes and Original designs http://www.sorazora.com/

Middle Farm Apple Festival

This coming October will see Middle Farm's annual Apple Festival held on the weekend of 16th & 17th. Sorazora have been confirmed as one of the stalls offering an array of products at this celebration of English apples. A full list of the band lineup over the weekend is available on the Apple Festival link.

Middle farm is a 625 acre working family farm nestling at the foot of Firle Beacon on the South Downs in Sussex. Although October saw us at many events and festivals in Japan, this will be a first for us in the UK. We are a little worried about the weather and expecting to have to wrap up warm. I am sure a plentiful supply of cider will keep the chill at bay!

Natural fibres, Natural dyes and Original designs http://www.sorazora.com/

Wooden Skein Holder

Crafted from elder and oak, this skein (hank) holder has made life  a little easier here at Sorazora. There is nothing unusual about the design, but after just a short while in the workshop it certainly helps with converting ball to hank for dyeing and then back to ball again. It was my first attempt to put my GCSE woodwork skills to the test within the field of spinning, weaving and dyeing. I fear a handloom will be requested of me next!!

Natural fibres, Natural dyes and Original designs http://www.sorazora.com/

Green Glasss Tokyo

When we started Sorazora in the UK at the beginning of 2009, we were delighted to showcase the glass work of Masaya Kuribayashi. Based in Shibuya, Tokyo, Masaya sells his work in person throughout many festivals and events under the name Green Glass Tokyo. His work is also available in a shop called Sakae (link in Japanese only!) in the coastal city Kamakura.

Sorazora is providing, not only a showcase for his work in the UK, but also the first outside of Japan. We had a great response from customers concerning Masaya's glass pendants and have just recieved a new batch which I will craft onto macrame cords and slowly uploaded in the run up to Christmas. To view his previous work in our online store, please follow this link.

There are four different techniques used in our new batch and I shall try my hardest to explain the differences. First there is the classic "Inside Out" technique, where coloured glass is applied to a clear glass tube before being inverted to leave the coloured detail set within the pendant. This technique has been used in three different sized pendants.

Inside Out, Large

Inside Out, Medium

Inside Out, Small

Umi

Umi means sea in Japanese and with this style, each pendant has captured the powerful beauty of ocean waves. This is my personal favourite of his different techniques.

Uchu

Uchu means cosmos and is the name of his technique that creates three dimensional visions of space and its deep expanse. You will see that I have already started to string the pendants using a combination of undyed hemp and rayon. I will also be using naturally dyed hemp, flax and even nettle for some of the pendants.

Neutral

This technique focuses on layering the glass at the back of the pendant to form a blend of pastel shades in a organic pattern.

From Sorazora, we'd like to thank our good friend for providing us with a further selection of his work and also congratulate him on his upcoming marriage in November. Depending on our work schedule here in the UK, we are not sure if it will be one or both of us that will get to join him on his special day. If I know him well, it will definitely be a great party held in the mountains of Chichibu in Saitama prefecture.

Natural fibres, Natural dyes and Original designs http://www.sorazora.com/

Customer's Crochet Bag Creation

Today's "Customer's Creations" upload is this really cute crochet bag. It was crafted by Lisa in Kent who used Sorazora's naturally dyed hempwool that she had purchased at Kent County Show back in the middle of July.

Lisa used two and a half 100g balls that are a 50% hemp & 50% wool blend. She intends to put a lining in the bag at a later stage. We love this bag and her choice of design really shows off the colours that she chose. We would like to thank Lisa for sharing her work with us and we hope it will inspire others to get creative.

The blue yarn was dyed with indigo and the two different greens are both dyed with pomegranate peel. The use of different mordants creates a different green. Alum was used for the lighter green and iron sulphate was the mordant for the darker green.

Natural fibres, Natural dyes and Original designs http://www.sorazora.com/

OUT OF THE ORDINARY 2010

From the 17th to the 19th of September saw 2010's Out Of The Ordinary festival on Knockhatch Farm near Hailsham. It is pretty much the last festival in the season as outside events start to fall out of favour with the weather. We were very lucky with the weather over the weekend with it keeping dry. The cooler night temperatures were kept away by staying close to a fire in the evenings. Any fire visible was surrounded by festival goers keeping warm.

This year, Sorazora held a workshop/demonstration during daylight hours for those interested in basic macrame techniques. It was a nice way to get to know people and give them the skills to make their own bracelets or pendants.

Mark Sidders was again giving demonstrations on spoon carving. It was at this festival last year that we had the pleasure of meeting Mark and being his neighbour for a great weekend. Mark's website is still under construction, but can be viewed by clicking here!

We had upsized our stall from last year's 3m x 3m to 4m x 4m. This new larger size is more suitable for our shop as it gives us not only more ground area, but extra height for decoration. We weren't the only stall to upsize....

....MUU (whom we had the pleasure of meeting for the first time at last year's OOTO) had also become much bigger with an impressive new frontage. Muu is a popular stall and I can state from experience that their yakisoba and curryballs are absolutely delicious. Please visit their website for further details of their upcoming events and menu.

Natural fibres, Natural dyes and Original designs http://www.sorazora.com/