#250 Summer 2014

Wendy Feldberg invites us to explore her approach to natural dyeing – printing plants directly onto fabric and paper. The exciting range of effects and colours will be irresistible to experimental natural dyers. Tara Osborough’s subtle woven textiles are a celebration of the intrinsic beauty of hand-dyed yarns.
Mayumi Kaneko’s paper yarn lampshades are a detailed and thought-provoking study of the intriguing interaction of light and shade.
As part of a sustainable initiative in northern Mongolia, Zoe Hillyard describes her voluntary work helping to teach nomadic herders to process and spin yak fibre for eventual sale as knitting yarn. At home in the UK, Kerry Lord provides a fascinating background to the production of alpaca fibre for handspinners.
We report astonishing and diverse textile news in Notebook, from Janet Phillips’ experiments weaving fine suture threads into delicate patches for surgery to the production of coloured threads from snail trails. Readers who responded to the Journal Design Challenge with the theme Landscape, Seascape and Skyscape created some stunning design boards.