Kate's Cauldron

1. What is your website?
Etsy Shop

2. Your Ravelry username?
katbyrd



3. What do you make?
Over the years, I've professional crafted in a number of media. I started with pottery, then gradually shifted to stained glass which I designed and sold for at least a decade. For the past few years I've been playing with fibers---something I had been wanting to do for years. Right now I spin (and sometimes re-spin, in the case of reclaimed yarns) and make wooden spindles. I'm especially fond of spindles with spiral tips that really seem to help maintain an even spin. I love the wood I'm using for my spindles and hate to waste any of it. I've alos been using the scraps to make shawl pins and buttons when the mood stikes me.

4. How did you get into making stuff?
I've always loved making things. I was an anthropology and archaeology student and still find that I have a need to know, hands on, how and why people do what they do. Tools and craft are such a big part of that. I love looking at form and function, that place where culture, spirit and art collides with neccessity and work.



5. What is your favorite thing about the local fiber community?
Those I've met are just big hearted, creative and just wacky enough to keep things interesting.

6. How does what you do/make influence the rest of your life, and vice versa?
Craft is sometimes, just something I have to do to keep my sanity. Things going on around me may influence the colors and designs that inspire me at any given moment. I am currently being seduced by the palette of a halved avacado, for example, although I've yet to figure out what I'm ging to do with this vision (other than make guacamole).



7. Any funny stories, words of wisdom, something else to share about you or your business?
Kate's Cauldron is an odd name for a spindlemaker. I can't seem to abandon my original business name that I've been using since I first started making pottery. The photo in my logo is a hand built Goddess/fertility pot made over twenty years ago and the only largish pot I kept for myself. Nowadays I use it to hold my spindles, so I guess it belongs after all.