Dialogue 2 'The Tree as Verb'

Dialogue 2 is about a conversation with a tree using a textile.

I have been doing lots of sampling. First I buried a piece of cloth under the leaves of a big leaf maple and left it for a couple of weeks.

Then, every 2nd day I would cut off a small square and bring it inside to dry. I would label it and give it a verb from Bill Yake's poem 'The Tree as Verb'.

I put the squares of cloth up on my design wall and spent time each day looking at them, thinking about how I would respond now it was my turn.

The leaves had left some staining but not much. Several thoughtful people have given me suggestions to get more staining going on so I'll do more sampling.

My tutor liked all of the bits stuck to the cloth...

...so I tested lots of different products to find the best sealer that would leave the cloth soft enough to hand stitch into.

The winner was Krylon workable fixative.