About Shiny Dime Fibers

Shiny Dime Fibers is a solopreneur art business run by me, Amanda Baxter. I am a weaver, yarn-dyer and mother of two young kiddos. Prior to living in Indiana, I received a BFA in Fibers from the Kansas City Art Institute. I then spent three years (2011-2014) as a resident artist at the Appalachian Center for Craft in Tennessee. Since moving to Bloomington, Indiana in 2014, I’ve graduated with my MFA in Textiles from Indiana University, permanently settled in the countryside in the nearby town of Spencer with my husband, sons and two ornery farm dogs, and have begun pursuing a creative career.

(If you're curious about my student artwork and MFA Thesis, you can check out my older website here.)

Shiny Dime is a symbol used in memory of my sister. I dedicate my business to the memory of her strength, bravery and love. This business is the start of a long process of personal healing, and a desire to bring together a community of supportive fiber artists. I love the creativity of collaboration, and the positive energy created when sharing in the love of the work that we make together. To read the full story of my sister and my journey towards healing that led me to this business, read the blog post.

I love bringing color into my life as much as possible, and Tencel yarn is a joy to paint and dye. Though I currently use vibrant dyes with my yarn, I’m also very interested to incorporate more natural dyes into my practice, coming from plants that I cultivate at home. Currently I am growing Japanese indigo, which is a plant that grows well in my region and produces the beautiful namesake color. It is an artform to learn to extract the color and to dye with it, and I am still learning. (If you're interested as well, I sell indigo seeds and have blog posts detailing my extraction process.)

In the future, I hope to begin a line of wool yarn incorporating regional wool farmers and cottage mills. It is my desire to provide my local fiber community with yarn that connects their handwork to the narrative of their region.