Very Wild Berry Mead

Raw local honey
Blaeberries (Vaccinium myrtillus)
Brambles (Rubus fruticosus)
Geans (Prunus avium)
Ling Heather flowers (Calluna vulgaris)
Water
Wild yeasts from all of the above

The alchemy of wild fermentation transforming and interweaving these wild ingredients into The Blood of Life

The smell wafting from the airlock is promising, the outcome utterly unpredictable and unrepeatable... Only time will tell if this is something wonderful or something minging!

Blaeberry Mead step 2

Straining off the must

 Fermentation is properly under way and I have strained the the juice out of the berries. It's smelling good, looking good and bubbling through the airlock convincingly...

First ferment with airlock

Blaeberry Mead

Fermentation slowly begins...
Perhaps the wild yeast is shy? I will be patient, wait and watch, keep it warm and stir regularly.

Gathering Blaeberries

Testing birch polypore plaster

 Interesting to see how the polypore stood up to being worn in bed over night, wetted with blaeberry juice, scraped by heather twigs and generally coping with rough usage while I was out wild gathering. It's looking a little ragged and has lost some of its width, but its still covering and protecting the wee cut on my finger.

Blaeberry Gathering film still

Fine Art Foraging

Expanding on my exploration of primitive ways, a new aspect of my art practice this term is foraging. As I found last year, it's the Process that is the Art, any object is just evidence of the Work.

My plan is to make a Blaeberry mead, using wild yeast off the berries to start the process, local honey for extra sugar and some heather flowers for extra flavour... The magic of fermentation transforming ordinary to extraordinary. Another form of alchemy.

As usual while out gathering, my eye is open for anything I can work with or eat. This time I picked up a young Birch Polypore off a fallen branch, thinking that I would have a go at making tinder or a knife strop. However, as I dinged my finger off of something it came in handy as a first aid plaster instead!

Warp-weighted loom

My warp-weighted driftwood loom has been part of my practice for ages now, but has been rather in the background for some time. On bringing it back into my studio after the summer away I decided to finish weaving the length of fabric as I no longer need it part done in my installation. I am really smitten with the colour and texture of my hand-spun Zwartble yarn, and the warm, live feel of it under my hands from the tensioning.

New Highland Contemporaries 2

My loom and film installation is on view in the New Highland Contemporaries 2 exhibition in Nairn this week!

 For details of times and dates please see here

Blanket recycling

 Not fashionable, not attractive, but oh so WARM! Some Scottish summer days just call for that bit extra warmth and I had this lovely thick blanket, partly made into a cloak, stowed away in my fabric stash... A bit of chopping, sewed it up with my lovely old singer and slung it on! I don't think I'll be wearing it in public, but to curl up on the couch in the evening, yes.

Boro paper!

Boro - with a difference

I first saw this idea on pinterest (while hunting for images of fabric boro) in a fascinating picture of Japanese pawn shop wrapping paper made by pasting together old ledger pages. For images of the real deal please follow this link to Sri Threads.

I tucked the image away in the back of my mind for a rainy day, or even a holiday! Time was at a premium as I was in the midst of term time focus.

Finally I have some free time and got to try out this way of recycling paper the other day.

Boro paper

Piano hinge/coptic binding on my dye sample books

I really like the textural surface of these pasted layers, the random scraps of text and image that I allowed to remain or purposefully included, and the tone on tone of white, off white and cream.

I am smitten with the results! Here comes my next sketch book: 100% recycled from receipts, offcuts, old envelopes, posters, odds and ends, and old shopping lists.

My intention is to use a hybrid piano hinge/coptic binding technique which I developed as I find this emulates the flexibility of spiral bindings but has the added advantage of never sticking at odd angles when you try to open or close it. For me this is of supreme importance as it bugs me hugely when my sketch books don't open and close smoothly!

Good bye third year

Time to pack up and go home

I took down, packed up and emptied out everything from my college studio today and took it all home into my wee house. I will miss the lovely space I've had this year.

A Red Thread of Words

 Here's a wee glimpse of how my studio looked all set up for marking. Sadly I haven't got a picture with the projector on the go as I was sharing it with another student. It should be standing on the white platform hanging from red cords and projecting film onto the white silk warp.

Installation view