The slow process of making the digitally knit, lichen dyed vest became in integral part of the piece. The work was developed whilst playing with ways to make material witness garments that capture traces of spectral ecologies and the knitting together of stories, knowledges and senses.

Starting with undyed wool yarn, the spool was separated into hanks ready to mordent & then dye. The yarn was organised and dyed into three main colours; 

Yellow – boil dye from windfall lichen gathered around the area of ancient temperate rai forest I’ve been work with. 

Blue – industrial lichen derived litmus solution 

Pink/ Browns – litmus dye reacted from being buried in the peat bogs at the same site.

The yarn was then dried, waxed for strength and re-coned ready for the digital knit machine. The coordinates of where the yarn was buried for three nights is worked into the vest design. 

Lichen Oil

Lichen scent was extracted from windfall lichen slowly gathered primarily from around the edges of the ancient temperate rainforest on Dartmoor. The process of distilling produced a small and precious amount of oil. This lichen essence was displayed on a metal plate engraved with a constellation of ways to approach thinking with the figure of the lichen.