journal – Wool and Nature

Jackdaw

december 2025

It is early December and as I sit here writing this, I look outside the window and our little hamlet is wrapped in mist. It makes everything feel a little closer, a little quieter. From somewhere in the distance, I can hear sheep bells. Tiny notes drifting through the mist like a reminder that life keeps moving slowly, even when the days grow shorter.

Even though it is winter now, the wall hanging that I am sharing was made during autumn. This wall hanging was a custom piece, and the family asked for a jackdaw and other botanical illustrative elements that were meaningful for them. Hand painting these illustrations on linen made this piece personal, and the warm palette of autumn brought everything together in a gentle and natural way.

I am also sharing another piece that I finished around the same time that was made for my little shop. It has the same colour palette with deep red shades and has botanical illustrations of dye plants. I chose these dye plants intuitively by their shape. It is a quiet celebration of the beautiful colours they give to us.

Each season offers its inspiration and I try to capture a small part of it in each piece that I make.

Fleeting summer

august 2025

The spring and summer months have come and gone, leaving behind that golden afterglow that always feels both fleeting and unforgettable. I spent these long, bright days in the studio, translating the season into textile pieces. I am ready to be inspired by the fading colours, for shorter days and early morning walks in crisp air.

One of the projects close to my heart was making a collection of lavender filled suns. Each hand-painted sun was naturally dyed in the colours of the rising sun, every piece unique in it’s own way. They bring me so much joy to look at, and their scent is heavenly. I hope they brought a little happiness to you too!

I made a quilt that felt like gathering the changing colours over spring and summer. It was such a quiet and joyful piece to work on that was dyed slowly, step by step, dye bath after dye bath until all pieces blended in a way that felt right.

After finishing the botanical quilt I made a small collection of wall hangings. Some of them were dyed with madder, one of my favourite dyes to work with. It makes me so happy to send these pieces to their new homes.

Botanical pillows

march 2025

Lately, I have been working on a small collection of pillow covers. This new collection is inspired by a botanical dye garden of my dreams. A place where colour comes to life. Each illustration is a tribute to the plants that not only bring beauty to a garden but also gives colour in my dye bath.

I carefully selected some dye plants that spoke to me. Margolds, safflower, calendula and tansy that give rich golden tones in a dye bath. Alongside these dye plants, I also included flowers like poppies and thistles – not for their dyeing properties, but for their beauty and the way they shape our garden. The natural colours I dyed with reflect the gentle fading and transformation that happens in nature.

The pillows are naturally dyed with a colour palette that was chosen intuitively. Chestnut, which creates warm earthy browns, nettles for their soft, muted greens and indigo with it’s deep, calming blues. These plant-based dyes created subtle variations in tone, making each pillow unique in it’s own way.

To bring out the details of these plants, I embroidered some of the pillows, adding a layer of texture and depth. The hand-stitching follow the natural curves of flower petals, leaves or the feathers of a bird. I feel it adds an extra dimention to the botanical illustration.

Botanical illustrations

february 2025

It’s February and the days are slowly growing longer. We have had some cold days but overall it has been a gentle winter so far. At the beginning of this year I have been diving into the slow process of making a small series of botanical patches.

I started dyeing with onion skins, pomegranate and chestnut, each offering muted oranges, soft ochres and earthy browns. These colours feel like nature and reflect the landscape I see around me these winter months. But is is not all about the colour. Through painting plants and flowers, I try to capture my mind’s eye of nature, the way I perceive it in it’s beauty.

Hopefully this new collection inspires you. I can’t wait to see how these pieces find their new homes!

Changing Colours

september 2024

Hope you are all well and enjoyed your summer, wherever you found yourself. I am not sure what happened to that time, it feels as though summer has already come and gone… There have been trips to the river, walks in the woods, fresh garden meals, preserving and jam making, knitting and a bit of traveling. It has been a very pleasant summer.

I wanted to share with you also what I have been working on these summer weeks. Because the hot summer days the colours in our garden were slowly fading, as well as the wild flowers along the roads and in the forests. I love these fading colours of the flowers and the different shades of earthy colours that the landscape slowly reveales at the end of summer.

My creative process is always intuitive, never really sure where it goes. But I knew I wanted to work with these earthy shades of the changing seasons. I really love to make simple botanical illustrations that immediately speak to my love for this beautiful earth. First I make quick sketches of some flowers or plants that I noticed during my walks and then I hand-paint these ideas onto linen. While painting these flowers I dream about the colours I want to dye with, trusting myself and intuition.

I become attached to the pieces I make, translating my small world into illustrations and colours. I love how the natural and subdued colours of this collection turned out.

Fall has definitely entered our little hamlet, in the mornings the air feels crisp, the days are much shorter, socks in the evening.

Thank you so much for your continuing support and your time reading my thoughts. I am so excited to share these textiles with you and I hope you feel close to the natural world when you hold them in your hands.

Summer Sun

july 2024

It has been a wonderful summer here. I love where I live very much and I try to go outside as much as I can. We have had lots of rain here in the mountains and our garden is showing off all it’s beautiful colours because of it.

I recently found this lovely little sentence in a book by Wendelin van Draanen while I was working on my Soleil Quilt. It suited this feeling I had when I was painting the sun and dyeing all these yellow colours. It goes like this: ‘Then I began to notice how wonderful the breeze smelled. It smelled like…sunshine.’

Now that we are transitioning in high summer I enjoy the sunshine, swimming in the river and seeking for the soft cool breeze in the woods on days that it is really hot. Thank you for being here, I hope you enjoyed the photos.

x Claire