‘Hands in the Earth’ Weaves
‘Hands in the Earth’ Weaves
The Hands in the Earth weaves are a project made using locally sourced, organic Dorset Down wool – a limited–edition collection of handwoven jacquard pieces that celebrate place, process, and material.
I invited Kirsty McDougall, who runs the inspiring Re-Weave Textiles studio, to experiment with my field patterns on a handwoven jacquard loom. The wonderful Emily Luckstead brought the work to life, translating my marks into weave with extraordinary sensitivity.
The provenance of the wool was essential. I sourced organic Dorset Down wool from Ellen Simms at Tamarisk Farm, right on the edge of the sea at West Bexington, Dorset. Ellen generously sold me the last of her wool for the project. The Dorset Down has a beautifully warm, chalky tone – soft yet strong – some of which I dyed and painted with my Autumn 2024 walnut ink.
To create depth and contrast, I combined the Dorset Down with wool from a family Zwartble sheep, which brought the rich, dark walnut hue I was seeking. The raw Zwartble fleece was taken to David and Ruth at Rampisham Hill Mill in Beaminster, Dorset, where it was carefully cleaned and spun. They kindly guided me through each stage of the mill process – from raw fibre to spun yarn – before it was ready for weaving.
The collection includes four original designs: Winter Water, Sail Stitch, Seed, and Dancing Ledge. These weaves became the inspiration for the Hands in the Earth blankets – a continuation of the same story of land, material, and making.
Hand woven ‘Hands in the Earth’ Weaves, size: 30 x 36 cm
Please contact us if you would like to purchase one of these limited edition pieces.
“ I opened the box of jacquard samples, each piece wrapped in tissue - a quiet joy. Seeing my marks woven for the first time, in the deep chalk hues of Dorset Down wool, was beyond anything I had imagined. The wool carried its own smell and warmth, a movement of the mark, a memory of the earth - visible on both sides of the weave.”
