Wednesday 18 August 2010

Erosion Bundle Project

At the beginning of this year, I joined the Erosion Bundle Project and quickly selected some items which I made into two bundles.  One to hang in a tree in the garden and one to bury in the compost heap.  The idea was to the leave the bundles for three months, open them up and then create something from the recovered items.  

As it turned out, I could have been a bit cuter about what I bundled up in order to manipulate the results a bit. I had hoped that fabrics and papers would transfer their dyes and make marks on each other and that weather and ground conditions would cause significant deterioration. Certainly there was some leeching of dyes, but the weather and underground conditions had less effect than I anticipated.    And I had to make quite a lot of insect-life homeless in the process.



The main piece of fabric here is a 6" x 6" section of a large piece of screen-printed wool which I bought at a thrift shop.   The dyes helpfully moved themselves around a bit and the wool began to speckle and rot during its three months exposure.  
The little black specks on the wool made me think of hundreds of tiny seeds and some of the pieces of lace and crochet suggested the shape of seedheads and an idea was formed.   I added some beads, embroidery and one of my favourite stamps of a cow parsley seedhead.  It's quite a tactile piece, and soft, being sewn through two backing layers of old much-washed wool blanket.  

The base for the three hangings in this 'tryptich' was a linen napkin.   It, again, didn't show major signs of erosion after three months exposed to the worst of England's weather.  A few dirty marks and some pink dye, but nothing to make much of a feature of.  

The paper has lost most evidence of its original incarnation. It was pages from a rent book from the late 1940's/50's, each receipted entry being validated by a tuppeny postage stamp. The stamps, though they came unglued, were in almost perfect condition after their time in the compost heap - Her Majesty completely unblemished.   And the black fountain-pen ink, although a wee bit faded, still speaks out well from the pinky-paper.

 
At this point I would just like to mention that I wrote this with a packet of frozen peas on my head.   I am such a clutz that I stood up quickly under an open cupboard door and cracked my skull, so now I've got a big lump, a headache and a very stiff neck, not to mention double vision.   So it didn't help that Blogger seems to have devised a new way of uploading photos .......... or is it just me?

(OK sorry, just looking for some sympathy...)

Anyway, this is just some other thing I made, not with eroded stuff, just having a play to make a postcard-sized piece with scraps and old buttons and a print from an old French postcard which I bought in Saffron Walden when we went to Audley End House.
And this is the beginnings of a journal cover which I started while we were away on holiday.   I followed a link from Arlee's inspiring blog to Teesha Moore's, where there were some little tutorial videos and fabulous examples of quilted pillow journals and bags that she had made in this style.   This is just the front cover, so a way to go yet.  Actually I could have made the back cover while we were away, if I'd been careful enough to make sure the little pillows were all the same size.   Unfortunately, I had four biggish ones and four not-so-biggish ones, which serves me right for not taking my Dad's advice to "measure twice and cut once".   Gaahh, knew he'd be right!!

And thank you to everyone who took the time to leave a comment and visit Cathy and Lesley's blogs to look at our Seaside tag swap.   It looks like we may have some more friendly bloggers to join in on the next one, whatever that turns out to be.  Isn't that great?

Hope you're all having a good week!


19 comments:

Gina said...

You've managed to do well with your erosion project. I have to confess the idea didn't appeal to me at all so it is fascinating to see what someone else makes of it. Hope your head recovers soon.

ELK said...

such beauty in the span of time ... i think that you and mother earth make a wonderful team!!

Jill said...

It is wonderful to find out how fallible we all are - bumped heads and not measuring twice ... I can still hear my dad nag - You just didn't think!!! I think your erosion bundle pieces look great, maybe having to stretch you imagination a bit more than you thought, but it was an experiment so if you do it again, experience will help.
PS lots of sympathy for the bump.

Kris said...

Your erosion art is quite lovely and I am fascinated that the postage stamp looks so new.
I will feature your art on the Erosion Bundle Blog in early September.
Having come up under a cabinet hitting my head...
I feel your pain! Get someone to ice your head and serve you some tea!

Anonymous said...

Love what you've done with your erosion bundles, especially the seedheads one. Good luck with the rest of the quilted pillow journal cover - can't wait to see the end result. I find I am inexplicably full of cold today and hope that I did not unwittingly pass it on .............!
Anne

Anonymous said...

Meant to say - you don't need a cold on top of a lumpy head! Hope you feel better soon.
Anne

LOVE STITCHING RED said...

Your erosion pieces are stunning and a wonderful use of your pieces. I'm still to show mine ... still in progress and very late but I've stopped worrying ;o)

Tania said...

Hi Chrissie
Your erosion bundle pieces look absolutely great. I also tried doing the erosion bundle project but wasnt very successful. One must have been pinched by the squirrels because it completely disappeared. The other two did not do anything at all!!! So I buried them in a plant pot for the summer! I think it was the weather in London, mind you there was enough snow!! Many thanks for sharing.

LAC EMP 2020 said...

I'm torn between sympathy for your lumpy head and laughter at the image I've mentally created of you wearing a bag of frozen peas. You need to take care. I hope you are all right! The postcards are to die for and the erosion bundle work is excellent. It reminds me of Cas Holmes. I love her work. I think you've come up trumps with this. Gosh, what's next? Lesley xx

gerfiles said...

I´m very fond of all your latest production - but especially of the hangings...! - take good care of your head...

menopausalmusing said...

The erosion project is work is lovely in the way it is so delicate, and I LOVE the little wire hangers. Beautiful postcard too..... don't know how you get so much done. Hope that head is better ..........

Uta said...

Oh Chrissie, what absolutely delightful new work you have here. Thanks for sharing. You have really lifted my spirits (still winter here and I'm over it)

Anonymous said...

Beautiful, sensitive work Chrissie!. Hope your poor head is better... glad you had those frozen peas to hand... much better than 'vinegar and brown paper' x

Sue said...

What an interesting project, and glad to see the Queen is not diminished by a bit of rotting. Thanks for your comment - seems everyone is a bit dippy about Scandinavia! x

Ticking stripes said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ticking stripes said...

Very late but I have just been checking out the tag project - what a lovely introduction to your blog! I'll be back!

BadPenny said...

I totally love what you have created from your erosion bundle - you have inspired me to get on with mine !

BadPenny said...

Hi again... can I ask you -where did you get your seed head stamp please ? Looking for similar. Have posted some erosion bundle pics but haven't made my pieces into anything yet. I just love yours !

Katie said...

The erosion project sounds really interesting. I love what you did with it. You have a really nice blog to look through!