The ploughed field

This blog marks the beginning of the story of the ploughed field.
When I was driving home through Kings Forest in Suffolk I stopped by a field which still has the stubble from last years harvest and the farmer had started to plough ready for the new crop to be planted. It was the beginning of narrative in design which included aspects of my farming childhood.

The weather has been very wet and muddy puddles were transversed by the  marks left by a tractor and footmarks. The field is bordered by Breckland pines standing to attention and this land would have seen Anglo Saxon farmers tilling the land and using its plants for dye. Evidence of these activities can be found nearby at the West Stow Anglo Saxon village. It is a route I drive regularly and I often stop at this spot to watch the rotation of the year, the wildlife and collect material for my dyes. But I love the marks man makes on the land especially the ploughed furrows which give a sense of the past and the future. So I have started to use this spot as an inspiration for design and began to think of the evidence this field may hold to indicate how it has been worked.

Rust dyeing has been an eco technique I have been playing with for sometime. A visit to my family farm gave me the opportunity to look into what was my fathers' and my grandfathers' workshop to see if there were any potential objects for a rusty imprint. The bench was still there and shelves of Horlicks tins full of nails, screw, washers as well as parts from machinery. A bagful came home with me and I started to experiment with eco-print techniques. The results resonated with the field and some of the imprints related to the marks and colours I had seen.

This imprint makes me think of the furrows of a ploughed field and was made with the blades which were used by my father and grandfather to till the land.

So the next stage is to start sketching and recording what I see - this is always a  part of the process I often find challenging. Referring back to previous techniques of mark making and playing helps but I do like to understand structure by doing pen/pencil sketches first. The rust dyeing  technique needs to be developed by printing onto  coloured backgrounds made with natural dyes from plants some of which grow in Kings Forest.

Writing the Proposal for my Masters Project has helped me to clarify my intentions and plan my practice over the next few months. Collecting fresh material for dye baths can be a challenge at this time of year and I want to use my knowledge from the nettle project to explore the range of colours from other plants. My intention has always to be sustainable so when I was confronted with numerous plastic trays filled with blackberries reduced significantly but from Mexico I had to consider my principles. But as upcycling and recycling activities are seen as an aspect of sustainability I decided to buy them!! It was going to be interesting to compare the colours with blackberry dye from my garden and there are parts of the plant I could try so these berries would fit the criteria of my practice. The selected dye sources will be :
EUCALYPTUS  ONION  WALNUT  BLACKBERRY  WOAD BALLS  NETTLE MADDER

These samples are from my work in 2013 but going back to the documentation it is not possible to replicate accurately because the description of process is mainly focussed on method and does not state part of the plant, season Ph of water/soil etc. So I have set up 2 methods of recording my practice so that replication is more precise. The extraction and  dye bath, then the designs where additives, mordants and fibre will effect change. However because 'there is still much inter disciplinary work to be done to find securely grounded scientific explanations for the process' (Cardon in Natural Dyes) it will be difficult to have the certainty that can be achieved with chemical dyes. But I have never liked complete certainty!

The ploughed fields are developing and some of my work yesterday could be translated into textiles. I focussed on the tractor tracks and would like to enlarge them to abstract the shapes and tones they make. When considering this idea for my techniques I can see it translating into wax resist and I could make a tool to represent the rectangular shape of the treed but can only see screen printing as the way forward to work on a larger scale and be precise. However I collected a bagful of rusty bits and pieces from our family farm and one of the samples really relates to the furrows and as I have a lot of the blades which made the shape it would work on a repeat larger scale piece. So here are two of my rust resist trials:

Rusty nails bolts washers etc laid onto cotton and sprayed with  water/vinegar.
The blade below is one of several tyne shears from a harrow used by my father and grandfather!

I used 2 blades as I wasn't sure if there was enough rust but as the results show 1 would have been sufficient! Look out for the 'hole' detail!

 

The iron has transferred colour as well as the rusted areas which give lovely details and texture. I can see this colour texture combination translating into the work I am doing with ploughed fields.                                                      Very pleased.                                                   The nails  and bolts were rolled but I think I should have just laid the cotton over them and you can see from the 'unrolling' that I probably over did the spraying! .                                                 

However when the cotton had been washed in salty water to neutralise the vinegar then a soapy wash individual shapes can be seen so useful reference for the future. The washers being flat make distinct shapes.                                              

The fabric makes me think of the furrows I saw in the ploughed fields and the lines give the prints a 3 dimensional effect which could be developed with stitch, quilting or even screen printing. I want to introduce a foil into my piece for the Bishops Prize and am thinking of the metal ores we get from the earth and a human form reaching up as 'the meek inherit the Earth'.

After the neutralising and washing this is ready for further development. Now to use the blades on a scarf and look at my designs to see how to use within a design rather than random prints.

I have been experimenting with eco-printing and rust dyeing and these posts by Fabienne Dorsman-Rey are some of the many images by her also India Flint's ideas which I find more creative, less random than many of the images out there.

But hey they are about the best in this field of textile dyeing.

This piece has given me ideas for the Bishops Prize piece. Unexpected blessings relates to the blessings I have from extracting colour from nature and the gifts Mother Earth has to offer if we only stop and look. The ploughed fields this morning with a covering of snow to exaggerate their furrows and the rich colours of the earth, tracks from machinery, animals and other beings made it an intriguing place with so many ways to interpret. I must use this inspiration and follow it not try too many different directions but develop one image.

Masters Project

After months of research sampling visiting listening speaking drawing and ofcourse dyeing the final project, the important one has arrived on my calendar!
Reflecting on the work and my practice I am more confident and have a clearer vision of my Practice however a trip to France gave me an opportunity to read through all the material I have collected over the last 18 months and to research further for my final project. This was really useful how many times do you search copy paste but never actually read the whole article. I know how easily hours pass just following pathways but from the initial documents I found some really exciting artists and dyers which all made me realise that my knowledge is a drop in the ocean compared to people like Sarah at weariing Woad has really understood the plant the process the history in fact the complete package of knowledge by doing it learning failing and discovering about woad. She is a true advocate for sustainability and has Scottish ancestors I love this poem in one of her Blogs:

Its time to stop the insanity.  Say no to toxic clothing and yes to sustainable, local clothing.  Wearing Woad, harkens back to the defiance of the Picts when they were threatened by the Roman government and economic system.  Wearing Woad also reminds us of the old Brit song:

The Ode to Woad

by William Hope-Jones, a housemaster at Eton,

1.

What’s the use of wearing braces?

Spats and hats and boots with laces?

Vests and pants you buy in places

Down on Brompton Road?

What’s the use of shirts of cotton?

Studs that always get forgotten?

These affairs are simply rotten,

Better far is woad.

Woad’s the stuff to clothe men.

Woad to scare your foemen.

Boil it to a brilliant hue

And rub it on your back and your abdomen.

Ancient Britons never hit on

Anything as good as woad to fit on

Necks or knees or where you sit on.

Tailors you be blowed!!

2.

Romans came across the channel

All wrapped up in tin and flannel

Half a pint of woad per man’ll

Clothe us more than these.

Saxons used to waste their stitches

Building beds for bugs in britches

We have woad to clothe us which is

Not a nest for fleas

Romans keep your armours.

Saxons your pyjamas.

Hairy coats were meant for goats,

Gorillas, yaks, retriever dogs and llamas.

Tramp up Snowdon with your woad on,

Never mind if you get rained or snowed on

Never need a button sewed on.

Woad for us today.

The time in France allowed me to reflect from a distance, research and read, discuss ideas with a friend and try to clarify outcome/s I want from this Masters :

A Business

Selling

Recognition for knowledge eg teaching lectures etc

A personal journey for myself?

Further research/PhD?

I do know that sustainability and Natural Dyes is the right area but I really want to develop and challenge my creativity and design.