It all started with a little bit of wool.
I was not a knitter, and I couldn't operate a sewing machine, but there was something about 3d felted pieces that I found fascinating.
In the spring on 2011 I learnt to felt. From the very first item I made I was hooked. This was my thing.
I watched any YouTube tutorial I could find and I read anything I could get my eyes on. I always wanted to know more. A year later I set up nunoco with my sister-in-law with the aim of selling wool fibres for felters.
Just as we started out I decided I wanted to learn how to spin.
Luckily, a family friend had a wheel gathering dust in her attic and after a few days of frustration, some huffing and puffing, and determination, I was now a spinner and I was obsessed (and slightly dizzy). Spinning was now my thing.
In my adventures down the wool-spinning rabbit hole I saw demonstrations of drum carders in action. I was captivated watching dyed fibres blend together in what looked like big spiky pasta machines. I was in love. This is it. Mixing colourful fluff together is my thing!
12 years later and carding fibres is still my thing.
I left nunoco late 2016 and started Spin Jones at the start of 2017 and for a few months I ran the business from my home in Liverpool before returning to Wales in 2018.
Spin Jones is run by me, Lora Wyn Marshall (AKA Lora Wyn Jones) from my home on the edge of Eryri, north Wales. My background is in the visual arts and I have a BA (Hons) degree in Illustration from the Kent Institute of Art and Design.
I use commercially dyed non-mulesed Merino wool for my batts but I occasionally offer other breeds. Any fibres I hand-dye are dyed in my little kitchenette and dried in my workshop. I use a mixture of commercial and hand dyed silks for my batts.
I'd like to expand the items I have to offer customers and I'm excited to venture into non-woolly items and especially items that I've not had to make myself. I'm a magpie for colourful little things and I hope you'll find joy and inspiration in my little shop.
My workshop is in my home and we're a cat and dog friendly household.
(My wool fibres and batts can still be found on Etsy as I'd like them to be available to EU shoppers. Please note that I cannot sell items on Etsy that I have not made myself)
You'll be pleased to know I did eventually learn to knit and sew using a machine. I've never been one for doing things in the correct order.
