If you’ve been curious about how to create botanical prints, ‘eco prints’, or natural dyes, or if you have taken other workshops with limited success, we highly encourage you to join Sharon Mansfield to learn to botanical dye. Botanical printing is a big part of the Thimble. We love the process, the results and the hundreds of possibilities it […]
The Latest Nuno Felted Pieces from Sharon and a New Class!
Hello Thimble fans. Now that Sharon is done with the wedding madness, she has found herself with a lot of time to nuno felt, botanical dye and wet felt. Here are three of her latest pieces! A while back, we shared a post on Instagram about a new project Sharon was working on and ta-da! […]
Mary Jane’s Farm Feature
We’re thrilled to share the news with you! Mary Jane’s Farm? The Tin Thimble? Together? Yep. I told Hannah in early 2015 that my T3 goal for her was to get the shop into magazines – boy, did she deliver! We have carried, admired, and drooled over MaryJane’s Farm for quite a few years now. MaryJane’s sourdough starter […]
Advice from a Fiber Artist: Sharon’s Colorful Methods
Our students, customers and, shoot, even the Thimble staff, are always amazed at the color choices Sharon puts together in her handmade pieces. Whether it’s a wet felted wallhanging or a handmade dress, the woman curates beautiful color palettes. Our beginning students are especially intrigued and often ask her “How did you know to put those […]
Busy Hands Make Beautiful Things
For the past couple of months, our creative mother-daughter duo, Sharon Mansfield and Lisa Classon have been extra busy creating beautiful things for our store and for their classes. Sharon has been botanically dyeing men’s and women’s clothing with fantastic results: The jagged edges of the leaf prints near the collar of the above shirt are such an […]
Hidden Delights
One of the many benefits of being on the Tin Thimble team is being constantly surrounded by beauty. Not to brag, but we have people tell us every day how charming the shop is. In the many nooks and crannies, you’ll find interesting pieces that are handcrafted, vintage, or both! We’ve collected some photos of […]
Naturally Inspired: Sharon’s Experiments in Botanical Dyeing
Sharon has been experimenting with botanical dyeing for years now, to the point that she has become an expert. It’s an all natural process that colors fabrics with the imprints of leaves and other botanical objects with the help of metal and steam. Over time Sharon has botanically imprinted fabric of all sorts, including those of […]
The Magic of Botanical Dye
Happy fall everyone! It’s Sharon writing to you today, and I am so thrilled about this post. I don’t think I have ever done any art form as exciting as botanical dyeing. The challenge of trying to find the right combination of mordant to metal pipe to metal pan to dye bath is always a […]
Sharon’s Wet Felted Capelet
Look at this exquisite thing! Mom made this Melissa Arnold‘s Resist Shaped Felt class. The caplet was created using a batt (to which mom added a montage of fun fibers & hand dyed wool). She incorporated mohair into the center of the “flowers” and a lot of silk into the body. Shibori stitching helped to form the wet felt into […]
The CCO: Sharon Mansfield
While we at The Tin Thimble don’t really have “job titles”, it is safe to say that if we had to designate them, Sharon Mansfield (usually referred to as “mom”) would without a doubt be the Chief Creative Officer. In addition to teaching, she’s been botanical dyeing at home, she took a class with Melissa Arnold and […]
