Triage Centre in the Garden

Here on Vancouver Island it has been a long winter. The deer are hungry and looking for a tonic for their stomachs. They have been gnawing on the bark of our Indian Plum, so much so I was concerned about the tree's welfare.

My solution was to set up a triage station around the tree while I sewed, pinned and tied hand embroidered table cloths around the damage trunks.

The cloths were made to be sacrificed while protecting tables, now I am sacrificing them to protect living wood.

Hopefully, this will deter the deer and they will look for something else to eat.

Dissertation

 For my BA(Hons) studies I wrote my dissertation on my mother's 4 embroidered afternoon tea cloths.

...and one cloth I was given by her friend when I became engaged.
I learned so much. I am continuing to study the ideas raised in my next module of work, which started this week.
My holiday is over and I am back to work.
On Tuesday I had the first lesson for the 12 week 'Mark Making With Machine' course at Victoria College of Art. Except for losing light at one end of the studio after a power surge, the lesson went well. I had fun and all of the students worked hard at getting to know their sewing machines.

Stained Table Cloth

The table cloth has been washed and ironed so now i can see the extent of the staining.
There are lots of pink and black areas.

...and a few holes. I like this area where there is a mended hole and now more holes beside it need repairing....

...or not.

Dialogue with a Maple Tree

Several months ago, just as the autumn leaves began to fall, i placed a table cloth under a maple tree.
I watched as it became covered with fallen leaves and disappeared.

Yesterday i decided it was time to find it and take it inside.

As I brushed the leaves away i found lots of black and pink! staining.

This horned animal skull shaped motif on the corners of this tablecloth is one i have been researching for my dissertation. The shape is known as a bucranium.
I will now gently wash the cloth. I'll show you the results when it is dry and ironed.

Dialogue

It must have been cold last night because this morning there are a lot more fallen leaves under the maple.
The tea cloth I put under it is quite covered.
I hope lots of interesting staining is going on under those leaves.
I have to watch it closely now to catch it before the cotton threads start disintegrating like they did in a previous sample.

This was an unexpected surprise. Even though it is October here in Victoria and I knew the lawn was still growing, I didn't expect grasses to grow up under the cloth.
They have found their way through the eyelets in the tea cloth. It looks like threading.
I could do something with this.

Dialogues Continue

Last year i wrapped the 4 the trees i decided to have a 'dialogue' with. After a few months the unbleached cotton i had wrapped them with showed no signs of the staining i had expected. So I left the trees wrapped and continued the dialogues in other ways.
Yesterday, while i was outside doing fall clean-up in the garden, i checked my wrapped trees and this is what I found.
Staining on the Arbutus wrap...

...and the Douglas-fir (image above), and also on the wraps of the maple and the cedar.
It made me realise i can't rush these dialogues because i am wanting to respond to cycles of time that are different to my own.

I also checked on another dialogue going on out in the garden at the present.
Leaves have started to fall on the table cloth lying out under the maple. The cloth is no longer white but i don't know if there is just dirt from rain and animals walking on it or staining is starting to take place.

I spent today working on sessions for the class i start teaching in November, 'Mark Making With Thread'.
People have been generously donating materials and books for the students to use. I went through the bags and sorted them according to how they could be used in the different sessions i have planned. One lot of fabric is big enough for everyone in the class to have a piece so i planned a session around it.
I also did lots of reading for my dissertation and some brainstorming on a white board to organise my thoughts for the next few chapters. I have done enough reading for now. Tomorrow i get back to the writing.

Articulation's Fundy Study

Deborah and Phil, our hosts of the Jonah Place Bed and Breakfast Inn we stayed at while based in Sussex, prepared a delicious evening meal for us one night.

Here is the 2010 group shot in the front room of the 1884 inn.

The low bush blueberry fields were starting to turn red.

A blueberry picking comb ReBecca's grandfather made.
We enjoyed lots of blueberry flavoured food wherever we travelled around the Bay of Fundy.

Back To Work

Now that Articulation's exhibition in the Victoria College of Art is over, I am back to work on my dissertation for my BA(Hons) degree studies. The subject of my dissertation is a study of my mother's embroidered afternoon tea cloths as I seek to explain why women embroider flowers.
I have put images of the cloths up on a board so it is easy to constantly refer to them as I read, make notes and write the first draft.

A friend lent me this fabulous book that is proving to be an invaluable support for my argument.

I still have the last of my work to store away after it was hung in the exhibition.
Yesterday I took 2 works down to Polychrome, a gallery in Victoria that is mounting the Victoria College of Art faculty show. Unfortunately I will miss the opening because I will be on the east coast of Canada.

I

I have started packing for that trip - my plane ticket and a juicy book to read.
The trip is this year's annual Articulation study session. We are exploring the Bay of Fundy. ReBecca has organised a jam packed itinerary for us. We are all very excited to be getting together again and to be beginning the research for new body of work. We already have some great plans for it.

More work on Compost Cloth

I have been developing my response to the composted cloth. After I found it was disintegrating, I put a backing cloth behind it - a small tea table cloth. Here is a quick drawing of how it will look.

After stitching through both layers to secure all of the tears, I am now working through both cloths a double running stitch around the embroidery on the tea cloth.

I value this remnant of cloth so I am embroidering it.

The Japanese Saki Ori techniques of weaving, stitching and patching, recycles worn out remnants of cloth because they are viewed as still having value.

Dialogue 1 Compost Cloth

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.