Vicky Putler

Staying Alive, an exhibition of endangered crafts of the Southwest of England, co-curated with @HeritageCrafts , opens tomorrow in our Jubilee Gallery.

This exhibition shines a light on some of the Southwest’s most endangered crafts. Thirteen master makers share their skills, tools, and stories, showing how traditions shaped by the region’s land and sea still have relevance and beauty today. From boatbuilding and ropemaking to hedging, basketmaking, and tanning: these crafts connect past and present, keeping centuries of knowledge alive in the modern world.

The distinctive geography and location of the Southwest have greatly influenced the region’s traditional industries and crafts, from boatbuilding, sailmaking, ropemaking, and lobster pot-making, to wool crafts: spinning, dyeing, and knitting. The area’s rich natural resources also supported industries such as stone quarrying and carving, along with metal mining and processing. Moreover, the Southwest’s relative isolation has helped preserve its unique regional identities, dialects, and longstanding traditions, including thatching, dry stone walling, and hedge laying.
  Exhibitors:
• @AaronValentineStephens , reverse glass sign making
• Alex Mears, boatbuilding
• @Amy.Goodwin.Signwriter , fairground art
• Andrew Cockshaw, @CrestCornwall , Cornish hedging
• Greg Rowland MBE, @WheelwrightGreg , wheelwright
• Jessie Watson Brown, @rekindled.hearth , oak bark tanning
• @johnwilliamson.dartmoor , Devon stave basket making
• Nicholas Jarvis @lacebynicholas and Pauline Cochrane, bobbin lacemaking
• Robert Ely @papilionaceouspuresilk , ribbon making
• Sarah Liscoe, sailmaking
• Sue Morgan @crabpotcellars , withy pot making
• Vicky Putler @flax_project , flax processing Staying Alive opens tomorrow, Saturday 2 May, until 4 July 2026. Open Tues-Sat, 10am-5pm.
Free entry.

📍MAKE Southwest, Bovey Tracey, Devon, UK #EndangeredCraft #HeritageCraft #BritishCraft #GroupExhibition #CraftExhibition

It’s time!! Getting ready to sow more of this gorgeous stuff #flax #linen #southwestflaxhub

This flax was actually grown in Cornwall! Just on the border and brought into Devon for this workshop. A wonderful look into traditional flax craft by Vicky of the @flax_project - a community farming and textiles initiative on a mission to bring linen production to Plymouth and the Tamar Valley. I work with cloth and leather everyday. But the most important contribution to my practice begins way before I bring them to the worktable. Where and how the fibres were grown and animals raised. A chapter that is sometimes hard to see and understand. But it’s becoming very clear, good design begins and ends with good soil. So I’m keen to learn as much as possible. Personally I learn best by making something with my hands. Theoretical research doesn’t always land… So I’m very grateful for Vicky’s lesson. To see, hear and touch this side of the fibre journey. And chat about the trials and rewards of her farming project and textile aspirations. I’m really excited to see how The Flax Project and the Bast Fibre Network will continue to explore and celebrate abundant fibre crops in the UK such as flax, hemp and nettles. I will be following and learning so I can continue to adapt my sources and techniques. So that one day we can become a fully regenerative design studio 🙌🏼🌱

Some photos from Saturday I had a very lovely day making flax straw plaits and dollies with people visiting the Staying Alive @heritagecrafts @makesouthwest exhibition. The idea was to add to the Giant Flax Corn Dolly we started last week and decorate her with more dollies and ribbons. I had lots of interesting conversations. Someone asked if we could name it ….someone else wondered if we were going to set it on fire. So now I really want to set fire to Flaxy McFlaxface…dramatically on a hilltop. 😉 Thank you to Prof. Peter Oakley for the photos, he will be there again on Thursday evening giving a talk ‘Carbon Literacy: Looking at Kilns and Furnaces’ which promises to be very fiery. (More info in the @makesouthwest linktree.) And thank you to everyone who came and had a go at flax straw weaving, some of who are pictured here.

Saturday 9th May 10am - 4pm Collaborative Corn Dolly Making Free Drop In session I’ll be at @makesouthwest adding flax dollies, plaits and weaves to the Giant Flax Corn Dolly in the amazing Staying Alive exhibition. Join me! Anything goes! And see the exhibition too! #heritagecrafts #stayingalive #endangeredcrafts #redlist

Chuffed to be included in this wonderful exhibition Staying Alive - Endangered Crafts of the South West Co-curated by @makesouthwest and @heritagecrafts opened 2nd May until 4th July As part of my mission to explore everything that can possibly be done with flax, I made a Keep Net, a fishing net used mostly for fresh water, river bank fishing, the basket submerged and the neck above the water to pop your catch in and keep it alive, traditionally made from flax twine. It was a definitely a challenge! … an all in one net made in the round. We are also growing a container of flax in the courtyard and so, as has become tradition, we have made a Giant May Day Flax Corn Dolly which is standing proudly in the gallery. Thank you Flora and Fin for the Giant Dolly making assistance. Next Saturday I will be in the gallery for a Collaborative Corn Dolly making drop in session - make a corn dolly of any shape or size and add it to the Giant Dolly. 10am - 4pm Visit@makesouthwest for more details. Thoroughly recommend a visit, so many amazing craftspeople! Exhibitors:�• @AaronValentineStephens , reverse glass sign making�• Alex Mears, boatbuilding�• @Amy.Goodwin.Signwriter , fairground art�• Andrew Cockshaw, @CrestCornwall , Cornish hedging�• Greg Rowland MBE, @WheelwrightGreg , wheelwright�• Jessie Watson Brown, @rekindled.hearth , oak bark tanning�• @johnwilliamson.dartmoor , Devon stave basket making�• Nicholas Jarvis @lacebynicholas and Pauline Cochrane, bobbin lacemaking�• Robert Ely @papilionaceouspuresilk , ribbon making�• Sarah Liscoe, sailmaking�• Sue Morgan @crabpotcellars , withy pot making�• Vicky Putler @flax_project , flax processing #EndangeredCraft #HeritageCraft #BritishCraft #GroupExhibition CraftExhibition

Want to learn how to make dye and ink from trees? Well join Vicky from @flax_project for a workshop where you will find out how! Oak galls were used to make black ink from Roman times until the 19th Century. This 2 hour workshop is on at @theplot_unionstreet on Monday 11th May and is subsidised to keep the cost affordable! The Plymouth Urban Tree Festival is organised by @plymouthtreepeople and supported by @psdcommunityforest

The flax seedlings are starting to come up The Seed Guardian is looking resplendent and so are Jan and Jess 🙏❤️ Oh and the Echiums !!!

I'm in this! Staying Alive - Endangered Crafts of the South West - Co-curated by @makesouthwest and @heritagecrafts visit either of their Instas for all the details I can't wait to see everyone’s work. It opens next Saturday 2nd May photo by Joya Berrow

She’s still standing! We’ve kept her quite open at the sides because there is flax sown under her and hoping it will grow up inside .