Simultaneous Mordant on Tree Cloths Insitu

To encourage staining on the tree cloths I made up a tannic acid solution....

...and sponged it on the cloths while they were wrapped around the trees...

...and after it had rained while the cloth was wet.

Staining did appear to be most active on the tannic acid soaked parts of the cloth.

Checking the Tree Cloths

Over the months I checked the sheets for signs of staining.
Animals continued to run up and down this cedar trunk.... 

...moving the sheet and leaving their marks.

The Maple sheet worked loose but I decided not to disturb it ...

 

...because staining was happening.

Wrapping Another Set of Trees

On my tutor's advice I wrapped another set of 4 trees with bed sheets.

Arbutus

Tying the sheet on with a hand made jute twine.

The Maple I selected is a wild life tree, essentially a dead tree in the next phase of its life as a host to a whole network of life: nesting holes for birds, insects, fungi, mosses.....

Maple

Douglas-fir - the optimum species in this ecosystem.

Douglas-fir

Cedar

BA(Hons) Studies Continue in September

My BA(Hons) studies resumed again in September. I told my tutor, Sarah Burgess, of my decision to continue with the tree cloths for my graduating exhibition work. She suggested I wrap 4 more sheets around trees as insurance. I bought 4 single-sized bed sheets and scoured them to remove all sizing.

I pre-mordanted them in the nearby sea.

 

 

 

 

Wrapping the 4 Trees Again

Arbutus


Maple

Douglas-fir

Cedar

Decisions Decisions

Throughout this term of my studies I had continued to move along about 8 other dialogues out in the forest that I had established during the previous term. By the end of the winter term I decided my final degree exhibition would be about the tree cloths - a big decisions when I still had so much to resolve. This meant I needed to wrap another set of cloths around the trees and I needed to do it now to give the trees as much time as possible to get busy staining the cloth.

I liked the idea of pre-mordanting the cloth in sea water just a short distance away from where the trees are growing. Sampling had shown sea water to be an effective pre-mordant on cotton. A pre- mordant was likely to stimulate the staining process.

I made another decision too. The cloths would be bed sheets my 3 children slept on while growing up. 

I liked the idea of using the same nurturing cloths being used to express my need to get to know these trees.   

An important part of my work is to use textiles with an accumulated history. During a research module I had written a paper looking at how different artists worked with the human imprint on cloth.
While I soaked the sheets in the sea, 2 men  threw a ball for their dog and watched me. When I walked back towards them they said, 'We have to ask. Art or science?' I said, 'both.'

Repair and Mending Tree Cloths

 

 

 

The obvious response was to repair and mend the holes and tears in the tree cloths. Mending techniques by their nature aim to be invisible so this would be a necessary but not obvious response. I needed to do something more to the tree cloths.

Adding My Staining to Tree Cloths

I am at the stage in my dialogue with the trees where it is my turn to respond. I need to make a mark reflecting the development of my relationship with these trees. I sampled dyeing with a Cedar branch  extraction but wasn't enamoured with the colour nor the overall even covering of the tree's marks. Next I sampled more textural dyed marks using Procion MX colours.

Successive randomly scrumpled immersions in various greens built up the colour complexity.

Results were OK but while I was spending hours in the kitchen (natural dyeing on stove top) and in my dye studio, I felt quite removed from the trees. I didn't know what the trees were doing. The dialogue had shifted to a monologue. I needed to find another way to respond to the trees.

Making My Mark on the Tree Cloths

After noticing Cedar stems left a print on cotton, I decided to make a dye with them. I collected windfall branches, cut them into small pieces....

...brought them to a boil, simmered for 2 hours then left the pot to cool overnight. I poured off the liquid as the 1st extraction and repeated the process twice more, making 2nd and 3rd extractions.

I dyed 2 sea-water, pre-mordanted cloths in the 1st extraction with a copper simultaneous-mordant. The cloth on the left had an ammonia post-mordant.

These 2 cloths had ash water pre-mordant with a copper simultaneous-mordant. The left hand cloth had an ammonia post-mordant. The results were a yellow-orange colour with the ammonia post-mordant shifting the colour more towards an orange. Interesting results but i wasn't enamoured with the colour. Even though the dye was made with material from the same tree that made the 1st stains, I couldn't see a connection between the two.