We waited for Sarah, before we opened the lid of corrugated.
Were we completely mad, we asked? A sharp north wind, and there we were eating egg sandwiches under a parachute, hugging a fire, thankfully created and nourished by Peter, who arrived shortly after 9 to get the heat hot – such a pleasure to arrive and see the smoke.
Aldeburgh charity shop coat, scarves, hats, and charads kept us warm: A renditiion of all the moments in this term from apple fritters, to gall ink to fungi with Neil to samhain, to the beginning and ending of the clay project with Tamlin.
On our way to the field to the fire pit, we became woodland managers, anticipating the interpreting the woodland work needed in Kaliwoods this winter, and so doing some useful exercise for neck arthritis: Looking up interpreting the tree desire to reach for the light. The first was an Ash with Ash dieback, which once felled would prejudice (favour) the oak beside. The second was an oak, with die back at it’s top branches, at eye level, behind Caroline the tell tale signs of Acute Oak Decline, bleeding or weeping from inside the bark. (full woodland work described here)
The Reveal
We made it across the bridge, to the field, to the place, where one week before a fire was made and our creations were placed inside the fire, with an assortment of chemical hopefulls: coffee, avodardo and orange skins, salt.
Sarah and Tamlin opened up the fire pit for the reveal. (Doesn’t it look like an ancient Egyptian tomb?) The foot stood out, reminding Emily of images from Gaza. Mell made a movie of this moment, still to be uploaded. Sea horses, tea pots, cups bells, Serena’s cup, hand squeezers galore, beads, bears, mice, all collected from the ash.
We took all the ashed objects to the table in the watery sun by the cabin and washed them to find their colour combinations kaliwood clay, natural and sifted, porcelain clay.
Music greeted us on return to the parachute, along with remains of chai, and a display of our treasure: sea horse, a bear, a mouse, a frog, face, beads, buttons, dancers, figures, bells, and of course A FOOT. These we polished with bees wax, and took loving photographs, amazed and heartened by our creations. Sarah gifted her sea horse to the cabin in the wood, and a tea set to Meg and Ivy, for them to collect later. We all missed Kally, who had so wanted to be with us for the reveal.
‘You know Michael’s foot is a whole lot better now, now he’s made his votive foot’, said Jackie escorting Michael out of the wood
‘Yes’, agreed Michael. ‘I suppose I should destroy the foot now. Now it contains all the badness from my foot!’ But instead he took it home with him, on his way to America!
A bottle of oak wine awaited us all prepared for us by Nicky, as our departing gift. What a glorious day of revelation.
Thank you Tamlin for taking us on this adventure, from digging the clay from the land to creating hand hugs and beloved objects, just like our ancestors would have done, for thousands of years.
Finally Tamlin reflected on the Egyptian vessel, around 5,000 years old. Here she is describing her experience of holding such an object:
Kinda Elders in the woods 