It’s veryyyy tempting rn to make like this bear and lie facedown in a pile of leaves cos the news on what is going on in Palestine is beyond heartbreaking ………And tbh am gonna spend solstice onward with my phone off and hanging out in a hedge but until then I will continue to email my MP donate what I can and keep going to the protests . #ceasefirenow🇵🇸
Moth data collection for garden
I’ve been experimenting with different methods to track what moths are around atm /using knitting machine to knit ropes, yarns from old fashion projects and materials lurking in shed to create a series of observational tools .
Method :Sugar roping / using knitted ropes soaked in a wine and sugar solution to attract the moths drawn to night pollination rather than light
Materials : machine knitted ropes with a linen cotton mix , old tarp, metal eyelets for hanging on washing line
Conclusions: first attempt and not much luck but did see a hypena proboscidalis (the snout) it was a 🌕 so that wouldn’t have helped, moths generally are not so drawn to traps or lures during full moons …. Did get bitten by plenty of🦟 when I went out to check thou….
One way to open your eyes is to ask yourself, ‘What if I had never seen this before? What if I knew I would never see it again?’”
—Rachel Carson
Tools for observation- making wonky field notes and recording encounters as documents and data of sorts
The hottest summer on record making weekly notes on some chance encounters as climate shifts and slowly changes landscape and expected patterns of life …..
Intro”ing Raised Bed Residence
Basically a collab in growing, and an exploration of sharing land labour n time
Every growing season I will be sowing planting and growing a mini crop for n with another artist / designer / maker /do-er that needs something growing ….
And documenting (sometimes badly lol) the process …ups downs n plant chat
My first in-residence and co-labber for this season has been @craiglawrenceknit ,knitwear designer extraordinaire and all round icon in turning threads fibers and even glittery curtains n barrier tape into stunning creations … We”ve been exploring growing dye plants for his knit studio ….There’s been more dramas than the Archers ,we lost the indigo in the heatwave and a rabbit 🐇 nearly killed our woad but we’ve come throu with enough dye grown to at least experiment with some yarns !
#watchthisspace
🐝🐝 Beeessss🐝🐝 have arrived 🐝🐝
Been waiting for my 💖 neighbours bees to swarm …they were caught and brought over in skep on Saturday night which was hardcore and we spent a nervous night watching and hoping the queen would take residence and give the seal of approval- so far so good 🤞🏻🤞🏻 am loving the sounds they make and watching them organise and scout the area -
Have plans to make top bar hives which are supposed to be minimally invasive (if anyone has any knowledge on this do hmu ) will make them when I know what I’m doing more // have joined my local beekeeping association and my lovely neighbours that have kept bees forevs are incredibly generous with time n knowledge which is stunning 💖❤️ #bees #multispecies #beekeeping #multispeciesentanglements
A photo dump of stuff that caught my eye at the biennale last week as I zipped around with @crab_studio I’ve heard a mixed bag of reviews but ngl it’s been one of my favourite years…..the themes are right up my street but a huge amount of stuff which was a tad overwhelming & and it did feel like you’d been whacked around the chops with a Donna Haraway // MA material futures manifesto 🙃
A surprising amount of knitting as well which is always a treat …….
SO-IL necto
Serbian pavilion
Danish pavilion
Spanish pavilion
Slovenia pavilion
Natural materials lab. British pavilion
Recent studies show the fur from pet cats or dogs used by birds for nest building is killing them due to the chemicals found from flea /tick treatments
nest building time in the garden at the mill so Ive made some knotless netted bags to hang on the @crab_studio sculpture with moss, leaves & bits of my cats fur who has no chemical treatments cos of his age and bad kidneys …. I love a Bronze Age textile technique and thanks to @j__maybury for recommending @sallypointerheritage as the place to get bone needles from and other brilliant supplies …..🪹🪺🪹🪺🪹🪺🪹🪺🪹🪺🪹🪺🪹🪺
🪹🪹🪺🪺🪹🪹🪺🪺🪹🪹🪺🪺🪹🪹
Last February I put my hand into a gardening glove and got stung by a cross queen wasp that was hibernating there /
Few years before I grabbed an old tote that was hanging in the shed to take shopping and unleashed another bunch of cross sleeping wasps in the supermarket
This year I crochet a glove to hang in the shed to hopefully offer them an alternative to my gloves and bags -
I looked at images of burrows and holes to help inform the wonky shape
I am keeping an observation to see if it gets used / will fully inspect as weather gets warmer and I can look for evidence of any habitation. #fieldstudies #multispeciesethnography #crosswasps
Ayeeee I’m not one for posting often / sosh meeds as a whole is kinda grim plus the state of it all …. However here is a time lapse of sorts of the seeded offerings being eaten away / All that’s solid melts into air as Marshall Berman Karl Marx n Friedrich would say ….this too shall pass
“Species loneliness in a wounded landscape moves us to want to restore our relationship with place and others;” - Michael V. McGinnis
Thinking about species loneliness when setting up the camera and the what ifs of no visitors ?
The mill used to house barn owls 🦉 - gone now and I miss the loud screeching
And this year I’ve not seen that many bluetits
But here they are ! They’ve been obvs lurking some where and same with the robin
My homemade camera is being tricky (!) so I borrowed a trail one and these are some of the images captured so far
#bluetits #greattits #robins
October is my birthday month …Big libra energy time 💥
I’m inspired by @lucy_j_wright and her ideas of dusking / the making up of your own rituals & traditions (Go check her work it’s 💥❤️)
So I’ve made birthday votive offerings in the form of bird seed sculptures and dedicated this to the visiting bird population as gifts, and a communal sharing of this bit of land
The votives take the shape of known factors in the decline in bird populations (intensive agriculture, habitat loss cos of humans and over consumption) which are causing dramatically plummeting numbers across the uk so Im using the seedy sculptures to do field studies and look at who’s visiting …an ongoing log book and record. 👀👁️🐦🐧🐦🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛🐦⬛
