Although I have woven on twigs/branches at home, with an aim to feel more connected to the environment I headed outdoors. My goal was to get out into nature, walk and weave within the trees. The only problem with this is that Lundy is a granite rock and doesn’t have many trees. However as we have a few trees in the sheltered valley of Millcombe, it was to there that I and a friend headed. 

As walked we gathered items on the way, that we could use in our weaving. Plants, leaves, animal bone. We found the actual gathering of materials was a very mindful a process that is echoed by KCET ‘Gathering is a mindset’ , (2016).

As Lundy is surrounded by sea, I wanted to be able to see the sea through the weaving. I also needed a tree that offered a safe place to weave from and a configuration of branches that would warp easily. Warping the tree with a natural twine, we then started to add the collected material. I used a weaving needle to weave with, that was made out of driftwood found the beach.

Once we had completed the weave, we reflected on the result.

The colours were muted, matching the landscape and reflecting the colours of the winter season. The horizontal layout of the weave linked to the view of the horizon through the weave. The spaces left in between the warp strings, were purposely there to let in the light and the view through the weaving. Using a variety of materials within the weave, meant that there were different textures. These all resulted in a calm atmosphere which represented the feeling of collecting material and weaving. The only negative was the amount of warp that we had to use, as we wrapped around the branches. A single warp thread might be better, (we did this in our next weave, see below). However a month later the weaving is still all intact, so maybe this double weave might help to keep it intact for the sailing season. This then, due to its location on the beach road, would create a living art installation, for everyone who arrives to the Island. 

As we moved to another site we decided to tie each warp thread to the tree separately. This would mean that we would not shield the view with extra twine, as before. This worked better but was very time consuming. I did like how we let the ends of the twine be free in the wind. Also the second weaving was warped vertically, which I preferred, but this happened because of the way the tree branches were oriented.

Reference:

KCET, (2016). Weaving Community | Tending the Wild | Season 1, Episode 3 | KCET. Youtube. [Online]. Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5E76JDnG_A. [Accessed on 26/01/2023]