Today we’d like to introduce you to Carly Hampton
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
People who are involved in fiber-related arts and hobbies often joke that they are a black hole, that you start with one and get sucked into another and another until you are doing all of them. This phenomenon helps explain how I started naturally dyeing, but not entirely. The other force that has helped guide me to this practice came from and increasing interest in and connection to the natural world around me. People often feel that you have to visit our most famous natural parks and travel far and wide in order to experience natural beauty (thanks to social media). However, I found a deep connection to the natural world and its rhythms right in my back yard. Literally. I started to pay attention to the plants growing along the ground on my daily walks with my dog, to notice their cycles, and eventually, begin to wonder what their historical uses were. This is how I came upon natural dyeing. What was once a hobby morphed into a deeply grounding spiritual practice and has now grown into a deep love for all parts of the process and sharing this with others. Late last year, I decided to take the chance on building out Forager into a sustainable business and here we are today.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has not been entirely smooth, although I am in the very fledgling days of my business at the moment. I had long known that I wanted to have a position in the fiber industry. The passion and open-mindedness of the community being some of my biggest draws. However, I had completed a master’s degree in secondary Spanish education and chosen to be a public school teacher. Anyone who’s been a teacher knows how hard it is to leave once you enter. When I started my master’s in 2018, education was pretty much the same it had always been in my experiences as a student. As I finished the degree in 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic it had changed entirely and not in ways that I wanted to be a part of. It took me a few years to really come to terms with this fact and work up the courage make the leap, but as my health was becoming increasingly compromised due to the insane demands that are placed on teachers in the current climate, I knew I had to make the change. Teaching is historically one of the most stable careers out there, so one of my biggest struggles in transitioning into natural dyeing and the fiber industry has been the lack of certainty and stability and how this impacts the day-to-day of my business.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a natural dyer of sustainably-sourced and ethically-produced yarns. Every single skein I produce is dyed by hand using raw plant materials. I seek to weave sustainability into everything that I do, so all of my dye materials are ethically foraged, ethically sourced, or are repurposed food waste. I also seek to minimize water usage in my dyeing, something that traditionally utilizes a lot of water. This means that I am finding creative ways to reuse dye baths to create a beautiful palette that capitalizes on the waste of the dyes of some of my colors. There are many hand dyers out there, but there are very few who dye nonsuperwash yarns naturally like I do, and I am so proud of this. I love putting something out there that I love to knit with, that I believe in, and that I have had a hard time sourcing as a knitter and crafter.
What makes you happy?
Connection makes me happy. Connection to others. Connection to the natural world. Connection to those that have come before use who have long used the dyeing practices that I now use. I come from a background where I didn’t, and still don’t, belong with those that brought me into this world. I have always been the odd one out in my family. But finding and feeling my place in the world around me and with those around me is a great source of joy for me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://foragerfiberstudio.com
- Instagram: @foragerfiberstudio
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/ForagerFiberStudio
