This is the cloth I pulled out of the compost, washed and dried. Now it is my turn to respond to it.
I had this strong urge to preserve it....
...so I looked up 2 of my favourite books,
Therese de Dillmont's 'The Complete Encyclopedia of Needlework'
and Weldon's 'Encyclopedia of Needlework',
to read up about darning and patching. But once I started handling the compost cloth I saw that it is completely rotten with weak fibers so can't be patched or mended.
Next I did a web search on museum textile conservation techniques, which seemed to better suit the condition of this textile.
I attached it to a small tea cloth to act as a support and am now working a small running stitch around every tear, through both layers of cloth.
It is starting to have that nice crinkled 'English quilting' look.
It also reminds me of Kantha work from NE India and Bangladesh.
2 comments:
Hi Lesley , I know there isnt a big chance you respond to this 11 years own the line but I cam across this page via pintrest and I really loved the look of the compost decayed cotton, and would like to try it out myself! My only question is , was the fabric laid out flat when composted or did you simply put it in a hole in the ground?
hi, I did a lot of composting experiments while working on a BA Embroidered Textiles. This sample was scrunched up and put directly into the compost bin. It decayed quickly and it was very decayed when I rescued it. Another cloth I laid under a deciduous tree just before its leaves began to fall. I got some lovely marks from the leaves. I put small pieces of cloth under the littoral layer in a forest and took out a piece of cloth every 4 days so I had a series with increasing levels of decay. Putting a cloth in a hole in the ground would be an interesting experience. Go for it and try everything you can think of. What I would recommend is documenting your experiments well. Double staple a piece of Tyvek on the cloth on which you have written in sharpie the cloth's unique number then record in a journal everything you do to that cloth. All the best with your experiments, Lesley
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