Creating a sustainable arts practice from nature...
My foraging so far has mainly been for food, health and natural beauty products . Gathering picking then creating recipes to eat, medicines to take and creams and balms to apply.
This left me with waste products of squeezed berries, chopped up leaves and trimmings of all types. As I am trying to evolve my arts practice and incorporate these acts and rituals into my making. As someone who uses all forms of creation within their practice, it is becoming obvious that I now need to look at the materials I am using to create work with.
When I am left with waste produce or pickings now, I am going to be looking at how these can be reused, to create inks, watercolours, oils and building or drawing implements. As I hope to buy fewer and fewer “man made chemical materials”
Here I am creating the mop brush with corn husks
Well it did, I took me some time to get the hang of it, as I needed to wet them so they would twist easy and then i had to think of how to assemble it. But it looks like it has worked, I just need to get the courage up to test it out. I just don’t want it to break because i love how it looks!
Making drawing & painting tools
The idea of making my own drawing tools really intrigued me and I though it was a good challenge to set myself, this would also go hand in hand with my home made inks.
I am quite impulsive and if i get an idea i like to test it out as soon as possible, one because i will be thinking about it until i do it, and two because I didn’t want to forget about it or put it off.
But what did I have at that moment to do this, I really wasn’t sure where to start except with the obvious feathers .
Then while preparing dinner which happened to have fresh corn cobs it hit me. I was already using the cobs for dinner and soups and the silks to make a tincture, what could i use the husks for that might be different to eating with them.
I said to myself “I would if I could make a paint brush ? I knew the husks could be made in to threads for making corn dollies and a type of rope or string. Would it work for a brush?
Breathing New Life into the Forgotten: Art Tools from Foraged Fir and Spruce
Every winter, countless Christmas trees, once the centerpieces of celebration, are left to dry and decay at the end of gardens or dumped in woodlands, which is where I found some of these. I want us all to see these as more than waste, we need to see potential or a new way of using our discarded plants. By foraging discarded fir and spruce trees, I am reclaiming this beautiful, aromatic wood and giving it a second life as handcrafted tools for my arts practice and I have found a few other uses around the home for these crafted branches.
Each branch and trunk is carefully selected, seasoned, and shaped into brushes, carving handles, burnishing tools, kitchen whisks, clothes pegs, and sewing needles. These tools carry with them the quiet story of a winter past, adding depth and character to the creative process. Fir’s straight grain and spruce’s soft resilience make them surprisingly versatile materials—ideal for tools that are not only functional, but also full of soul.
This is slow crafting with intention, rooted in sustainability, storytelling, and the tactile magic of nature. From tree to tool, every step is guided by respect for the material and the planet.
