Dialogue 1 - Compost Cloth

As part of my studies I am working with different ways the natural environment can leave its mark on textiles. I am calling each of these attempts - dialogues.

The first dialogue is a quickie - with the compost. I put a length of unbleached cotton in the compost, undisturbed for a month. This was the result.

Here is the textile out in the understory of a maple.

Looks pretty decayed and stained...

...but when I washed it most of the dark staining came out. There is some left so the cloth has changed colour.

The soft decayed edges are the best parts.

I have a desire to preserve this textile so I am researching darning and patching methods and will next do some sampling.