This blog is not X-rated, but merely a new word that I learnt whilst working at Tissington today. This was the first morning of really getting our hands dirty. The designs for the Well Dressing had been marked on the clay & now we had to outline everything in either tiny coffee beans, which are carefully placed on their side, all facing the same way
or we had to use Black Knobs – in laymans terms the cones from the Alder tree, but this sounds far less exciting. It is a pretty painstaking procedure as the cones are only the size of the tip of your little finger.
There you are hunched up over the boards, back aching, freezing cold and covered in clay – it’s fantastic. After 4 hours of this the outline was finished and we started filling in the background, either with small pieces of parsley or with the minute head of the camomile flower – making certain that they were the correct way round. I’ve probably covered about 30cm in this way, only another 5 metres to go. Guess what I’m doing tomorrow!
PARWICH.ORG 
Jane: I’m really enjoying this series of yours on the well dressings. It’s such an fascinating and ingenious procedure – “low tech” in one respect, but also wonderfully precise in its execution, and truly dazzling in its effect. Looking forward immensely to seeing this year’s finished articles!
I agree with Mike – Having grown up in Derbyshire with the well dressings, I was only aware of the basic concept i.e. pressing flower petals into clay. This is certainly filling in the enromous gaps in my knowledge of this tradition. Great post Jane!