Sharing Treasure #2

Next Sunday I will be posting another story about Anglesey and some of its historical treasures. I will place the Mr Linky box at the bottom of the post and invite you all to add your own web link for your own posts introducing us to the magical wonders on your doorstep.

Sharing Treasure is a place where we can share the magic and wonders of our local history, folklore, ancestry, customs and nature with each other and rekindle the appreciation of our own environ. Anyone can join in by adding their blog link and name to Mr Linky. The posts can be as long or as short as you like and expressed in poetry, creative writing, art, textiles, photography or other creative media. The important thing is to enjoy unlocking the treasures of this shared journey.

To view Sharing Treasure #1 please click HERE.

Nuno Felt and Solar Dye

My washing line shows projects that I have had on a back burner for quite a while now. To the left is a solar dyed silk that I created in the Spring before moving house. To the right you can see a large nuno felt that I have made with tussah silk and Blue Faced Leicester curls detail.

I have really liked the textured detail that can be created when using curls in nuno felt and thought that it would be a great effect for a net curtain/blind for a window.

I live in a traditional cottage with low ceilings and big black beams. The windows are cut out of 3ft thick stone walls so not much natural light gets through. Even if it did, the view onto the street is not so attractive and the weather to come will be wet and windy.

I thought plain nuno blinds would offer a warm comforting feel to the room, while still allowing natural light to diffuse into the room. I like both the curly and the silk side so this fabric offers a versatility to suit different looks and moods.

Initially I had planned to make the blinds out of the solar dyed silks, but I late felt that the patterns would make the room feel too crowded (it is a very small room).

Back in the spring my camellia tree blessed me with so many flowers. The picture to the left shows the colour the camellia's gave. It was very surprising to see such a deep purple come out of these red/pink flowers. The colour was initially much deeper than this, a rich violet, but it degraded so quickly. I left the fibres in too long. Next Spring, I intend to put the fibres and silks into the dye solution and take them out within ten minutes in order to capture this wonderful colour. I won't know how fast the colour will be, but even if I only have it for a short while before it fades I will be one very happy bunny.

The second picture shows the wet petal pulp remains from the dye pot being laid out onto silk before being rolled into a bundle, popped in a jar and left for a month to solar dye on the window sill. I much prefer this method of solar dyeing bundles to the filling the jar with water. I find the watery solution grows mouldy very quickly and gives a terrible smell and the results aren't as good as this. But I have seen other artists achieve wonderful things with their wet solar dye bundles so I will give it another go soon.

The picture to the left above shows the rust and purple tones of the silk and the picture to the right hand side shows the solar dyed silk being held in front of the white nuno to give a better idea of how the colours will mute if nuno felted. I think I will make something with double layers of silk over lapping for contrast. Watch this space :)

Celebrating 10 years of Woods on your Doorstep across the UK

This morning has been busy and exciting for me. One of my favourite charities, 'The Woodland Trust' is celebrating the tenth birthday of their 'Woods on your Doorstep' Campaign. The campaign is actually 15 years old but it is 10 years since the campaigns first woods were planted.

To celebrate the 10th birthday of the campaigns community woods, the Woodland Trust are giving away 250 packs of trees to schools and community groups across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Sounds fantastic doesn't it? An opportunity too good to let slip by. So after first running the idea past some friends and family in the area I wrote to Anglesey Council and North Wales Wildlife Trust to ask if they could spare some land in which a community can plant a woodland and Sacred Grove on.

The North Wales Wildlife Trust were the first to get back to me offering contact names within the council and suggesting other organisations that may be interested in helping out. Aren't they wonderful! So after resending my original email to the named contact within the council , I called a lady at Mentor Mon who was very helpful and has offered to discuss the proposal with Anglesey Council to see if a suitable piece of land can be found. If land can be found, Mentor Mon will see if they can assist the project too.

Feeling very optimistic about the matter, I then decided to call the local school to see if they would be interested in helping plant a community woodland if 1) an appropriate piece of land can be secured for planting the trees on, and 2) we are successful in an application to the Woodland Trust. The school are very interested in getting involved.

So, now that the first tentative steps have been made into securing land for the creation of a community woodland and securing support from vital members of the community I am waiting with baited breath to see if we will be able to make an application to The Woodland Trust for one of their free packs of trees. Here is a list of the information required by the Woodland Trust which should be included on all applications:

* Where you are planting your trees - public / private land?
* What arrangement you have with the landowner - short-term / long-term lease? Please do not apply unless you have the landowner's permission.
* How many people will you involve in your project?
* How will you care for your trees in the long-term?
* A FULL grid reference (or full postcode) showing where the trees will be planted. Identifying your planting location is critical for us to process your application.

Right now, I don't know if this project will be given the green light or not, but it is exciting that it is being considered and we have community interest in the idea. Wish us luck!

If you are interested in creating a community woodland why not make an application to The Woodland Trust yourself? All applications must reach The Woodland Trust by the 30th September 2010. Good luck!

Apples

Green apples, poured full

of density, of crispness, float unmoved

under leaves on the slope. Brown

fallen apples nest

in secret whorls of grass. The apple tree:

alone in so much space. And below

in the woods by the water

a sweet dead branch

cracks lightly

in the shadow in the wind.

Taken from 'One With The Sun' by 'A. F. Moritz'

I have this marvelous apple tree. It may even be an Anglesey Apple Tree, which according to Gardeners Question Time is one of the four original apples and has a strong gene pool making it hardy and high yielding. This apple tree is full of fruit. I'm not sure how to tell when they are ready to pick.

The apple tree is weather damaged and has been neglected. It is suffering from storm damage where a limb was cruelly ripped from the trunk leaving the tree rotten and spongy in parts. I don't think there is anything that I can do to prevent the rot from spreading, but would very much like to assist this tree in which ever way I can.

Can anyone advise the best way to prune this beautiful tree or provide other tips to help this tree on the way to recovery? Can I take cuttings?

All advice is greatly appreciated x0x

*fairy/red star angel tag by Lynne Hoppe*

Cobweb Shawl

Yesterday was the perfect day. The sun shone, the wind was out of town and I made felt in the garden before visiting Cemlyn Beach where the tide was in and people waded up to their waists in the sea.

I had intended the above piece to be nuno felted and then to dye it with blackberries ready to be made into a dress for my little girl, but I experimented with some silk like fabrics that I bought in a sari shop back in Birmingham. The fabric nuno felted just fine but felt so synthetic that I was not happy with it at all. I peeled off the silky layer which took a while but was worth it. I was left with a very thin felted shawl which I manipulated holes into the thinnest parts in a cobweb effect. I really like it so will leave it white for a while. Lets hope this Indian summer is here to stay and I get many more breeze free days ideal for setting up in the garden. I still want to make a dress for my little girl, and have ideas for nuno felted, solar dyed blind/curtains for the windows.

The Season of Change

Today, I collected 3 of my felt paintings which had been on display at the Ucheldre Centre in Holyhead for the past 5 weeks.

I did not win any prizes in the 'Art for All' competition or sell any work, but it feels like a big step forward to actually enter competitions and display work at an exhibition.

My pieces were the only felted items at the exhibition. I'm not really sure how well my work was received as I was unable to attend the opening evening.

There were over 600 entrants to the exhibition and some of the work was outstanding.

Tomorrow is the last day of the summer holidays and I will be preparing my little girl for starting her first day at school. In many ways, we will all be returning to education. Me, P and my granddad will all be learning conversational Welsh at the school in the evenings, and my daughter will be taught entirely in Welsh by the end of the school year.

I have also enrolled on some part time art courses at Bangor University so will have a lot to occupy my time these next few months, and hopefully, a lot more to share with you here than I have had this summer.

My Granddad will be joining me on a short 'writing with intent' course hosted by Bangor University. It will be fun discussing and sharing homework with him. As it will be learning Welsh from my daughter who will inevitably pick up Welsh at a faster pace than us.

September has always felt like a time to renew energy, to stimulate the mind and learn new skills. Who knows what is in store for me on this new adventure!

Sharing Treasure #1

Welcome to Sharing Treasure #1. Sharing Treasure is a place where we can share the magic and wonders of our local history, folklore, ancestry, customs and nature with each other and rekindle the appreciation of our own environ. Anyone can join in by adding their blog link and name to Mr Linky below. The posts can be as long or as short as you like and expressed in poetry, creative writing, art, textiles, photography or other creative media. The important thing is to enjoy unlocking the treasures of this shared journey.

The first place I wanted to share with you today is Cemlyn Nature Reserve on The Isle of Anglesey (Ynys Mon). Cemlyn is an 'Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty'. The history of this nature reserve is unusual and a living chronicle of one mans life work to create a haven for birds. A wealthy eccentric man, Captain Vivian Hewitt had a passion for wildfowl, and all other birds. He created the first ever dam in the weir of Cemlyn to create a lagoon as refuge for wildfowl. Inside the large walled gardens of his ominous house, he created a woodland for small birds, using the imposing walled gardens as wind breaks to shelter the birds. When Captain Vivian Hewitt died he left everything to his house keepers who subsequently sold the land to The National Trust to continue with Hewitt's work.

It is funny how local stories often differ from the real history of a place. Locally, Hewitt is known as 'The Reluctant Millionaire' and it is rumoured that he was the first man from Wales to fly to France. It is also said that Hewitt would buy all sorts of machinery that he did not understand and would take it to pieces, put it together again and then store it in sheds behind those huge wall. Who knows if any of of this is true. The only thing that I know is that Hewitt has created something fantastic and his services to nature make him a hero.

Today, Cemlyn Nature Reserve is a SSSI of geological importance, an important breeding site for Terns and other sea birds and rich in wildflowers and butterflies. Next month, I will need to watch my step for all of the big red and black caterpillars that will be carpeting the earth. I need to find a good field guide to help me identify them and the butterflies of this place. It would be a delight to understand and know all of the wildflowers here. Yesterday, as I walked along these shores for the second time this week, I noticed orchid like flowers, sea kale, land cress and sea radish.

On one visit, a geologist friend broke open some of the beaches pebbles with a hammer to identify the minerals in the stones. We found quartz, iron pyrite, red sandstone and more. So beautiful. I could collect pebbles and gaze at their purple,pink, red, green, grey , white and orange hues all day.

As I walked along to the oyster catchers anvil collecting shells with holes in them to string into wind chimes, I gazed out over the Irish sea looking towards Skerries Isles, watching the sun sparkle over the waves. I could hear the far off wolf like howl of the wind, the crashing of the waves and the barking of the nearby seals that could be seen glistening with silver and grey on the rocks. If only my camera could show you what I could see. I felt so calm and contented in that wild environment, reminding me of a different experience during a visit to The Farne Isles where I wrote this poem last May:

Air raid attack with a rattle clack-clack
Dive bombing Terns on maternal crack

Flapping hands, scuttling feet

Running for cover from the pointy beak

Nesting Terns under feet

Cache of eggs, indiscreet

Quickly pass by, run and hide

Best not tinker with mother's pride

Feeling overpowered by hormonal souse

Seeking refuge by an old light house

Safe at last, exhale and sigh

Sun beats down from a cloud free sky

Puffin mysteriously weaving about

Up and down from burrows,bustling in and out

Grey Seal beaching or bobbing along

To the whoosh and the swish of the ocean song

Igneous rock yielding natures display

The Farne Isles breeding seasons finest array

Puffin, Guillemot, Razorbill and Shag

Gracefully adorning these crags

On the way back home we stopped off at Nanner Farm for a 'Full Monty'. The full Monty is a cake tray to match the best cheese board. The home made ginger cake with rhubarb jam is the best I have ever tasted, the cream scones and Bara Brith (recipe HERE) were the perfect victual treat to draw a close to a wonderful afternoon.

Whilst looking around the Nanner Farm shop I got chatting to the bee keeper. The farm, once 117 hives strong is now down to 7 hives. Most bee keepers are experiencing the same levels of losses as a result of pesticides. It is not the pesticides that kill the bees, the pesticides wipe out the bees immune systems which then leave the bees vulnerable to grubs, and disease.

Hopefully, this farm is turning the corner as the 7 remaining hives seem strong. We can only wish them luck and remember to support our own local beekeepers by buying their honey and produce. Not only is locally produced honey good for fending off hay fever and boosting the immune system, but by buying the honey, we are helping the bee keepers bridge their financial losses and doing what we can to help them protect the endangered honey bee.