Salt Vessel 2 - Tide Line
Object Summary Artefact 2 combines natural preservation and colour, exploring the potential to alter the properties assigned to a woven cloth – its malleability, strength and surface texture. By dyeing the cloth as a revised finishing technique, the vessel is transformed from two-dimensional into a three-dimensional object that is held up by a tideline of salt. Considering textiles in this way, a narrative starts to form around the context of the museum.
Production The colour in this vessel was produced by submerging the lower half in a dried madder root and saltwater solution for two weeks. Madder, or Rubia tinctorum, is a common plant dye that produces varying shades of red depending on the processes used. The salt acts as a mordant that extracts the colour from the madder over time, creating a dark liquid that soaks up the cloth and leaves crystals on the surface of the weave.
Materials & Techniques
Paper yarn weft
Cotton warp
