Between my last visit to Cooper St Grassland (with Brian Bainbridge for the MCMC's quarterly Bird Survey- 26/2/2012) and this one about two weeks later, a controlled burn had taken place. The landscape had transformed from thigh high grasses to blackened stubble. On this occasion I had come to collect gorse - an invasive weed that is actually highly flammable thus a potential hazard when executing controlled burns. I saw a bird of prey attempting to hover in the wind, but eventually giving up and settling on the down pipe of a nearby factory.
I've done a few tests with gorse dyeing. The Scots use(d) gorse flowers and bark to make a yellow dye for their tartans. The gorse growing along the Merri is barely in flower at this time of year, so, coupled with the fact that I like to 'extract' the essence of the whole plant regardless of hue, I cooked up the whole plant, bark, leaves and prickly leaves.
Brian Bainbridge's press release of 2007 highlights the relationship between weeds, native fauna, and regvegetation. The balance between planting indigenous shrubs and allowing them to become established, before removing weedy shrubs, so that the birds and other animals will have somewhere 'better' to go when the weeds are eventually removed is a delicate operation requiring expert knowledge (as well as community muscle and enthusiasm of course!).
http://www.mcmc.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=81:a-thorny-issue&catid=19:press-releases&Itemid=119
Rigging gloves, secateurs, gorse and a big bag through which the gorse can still prickle one's leg.
Gorse, prior to cook-up.
And after it has had hours of simmering and a night and day soaking (the colour is not very strong even with this additional soaking).
The original tests with the gorse were on silk, calico and hemp. So, true to form, the fabric I wanted to use was an old piece of linen.... which in the end took the colour less than the silk and hemp.
I'm not sure what this fabric would have been, it has a drawn thread detail along one edge, it is a sack or case of sorts.
Screenprinting two designs onto the dyed fabric. One design is drawn from a William Morris Gorse design, the other from a needle run lace design of kangaroo apple (Solanum laciniatum).
(c. 1910 - lace made by Ada Grey Wilson, designed by Patty Mault. Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery Collection.
While my interpretation of the gorse (weed) / kangaroo apple (indigenous) plants is literal, I wanted to consider textile designs and how I could incorporate them into the interconnected gloves that this fabric would eventually become. The fingers of the gloves join to another pair, both connecting the wearer to another, or their other hand, rendering the hands tied, joined, bound in the never-ending task of regeneration. The gorse connected to the indigenous eco-system probably forever, changing its relations to itself and human action within these sites.
Design printed, not yet steamed.
I'm still sewing the gloves.... images will follow in the next post. Due to the nature of the fingers they gloves are hand sewn. They cannot be turned inside out, nor would a sewing machine needle be able to avoid passing through too many layers of fabric...... so the task, like weeding and planting has set its own pace.
These gloves will be shown in the UMWELTEN show at RMIT Project Space in May. I plan to include a 'booklet' - probably with images and no text, as a means to make visible my process, and to perhaps include images of the creek that are relevant.
My other idea was for the booklet to show the gloves being worn. But not sure about that. I also originally thought the gloves could be worn in the gallery by visitors, but the hand sewing probably makes that a bit tricky - and they won't fit many of the visitors. But this is an idea I would like to pursue.... and the ill-fitting could come into play then.
Oh, and finally a snap shot of a pair of test gloves:
