25 Years

We’re celebrating 25 years of The Wool Clip co-operative throughout 2026 in a number of ways.

• Special creations in the Caldbeck shop (and online) - these are being sold in aid of the 25th Anniversary Awards fund and share a colour scheme;

• An exhibition, The Wool Clip: 25 Years in the Making, at Farfield Mill. This opened on Wednesday, 2 September and runs until Sunday 1 November;

• Anniversary Awards for those starting out with their own wool-based businesses.

The first tranche of Awards (£250 each) was announced early in September (see blog below). Further applications are encouraged - we plan to announce a second tranche in December. Thank you everyone who has contributed to Award funding so far:

Our accountants, Saint & Co (Wigton office);
Viridian Distribution Ltd, our suppliers of knitting and crochet tools;
Past and current members of The Wool Clip;
Generous visitors to the Caldbeck shop and a WI group to whom a member made a presentation.

We’re excited about celebrating our passion for wool with you this year and hope you can join us.

Clay meets wool with Lindsay at The Wool Clip

General

Sally Seed

Tuesday, 31 August 2021

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There are just a couple of weeks left to see the work of The Wool Clip's latest Spotlight guest, Lindsay Thomas, a potter from Otley near Leeds. Lindsay is an established collaborator with Jean Wildish of The Wool Clip, combining her ceramics with Jean's yarn and fabrics to create jewellery.

Lindsay has an exhibition of her jewellery in The Wool Clip shop and it also features her hand-built stoneware planters, vessels and other pieces that use fabric and woollen yarn for wrapping, stitching and imprinting for texture. Her work will be on sale at the co-operative's Caldbeck shop until 9 September.

"Lindsay is the fifth maker to exhibit as our Spotlight guest and the second potter," said Jean Wildish of The Wool Clip. "I've known her for many years and she's a regular exhibitor at Potfest in the Pens near Penrith as well as being a volunteer at Woolfest so some of our Cumbrian customers may be familiar with her face and work already."

Lindsay started out with ceramics as a hobby, joining an evening class as a break from childcare. As she learnt more and developed her own style and technique, she completed a couple of one-week courses with established potters and was encouraged to start selling her work. She still combines pottery with being a registered childminder but has now been selling her jewellery and other pieces for over 20 years.

"There's a textile link to a lot of my work," Lindsay says, "whether imprinting clay planters with denim, using indigo colours in my glazes or stitching through fired clay with woollen yarn. Jean and I have known each other for over 30 years and the jewellery that we've created together is always popular, even as it has evolved and changed. Having met members of The Wool Clip over the years, it's lovely to have my work in the Caldbeck shop and to be reaching new customers."

A range of Lindsay's work will be on display and for sale until 9 September at The Wool Clip, which is in Priest's Mill, Caldbeck. The shop is open Tuesday to Sunday each week, 11.00am to 4pm.