Well Dressings, Tissington 2011 – Day 1

Monday May 30, 2011 by Jane B

The design is drawn onto paper, pricked out and then outlined with a metal pointer on the clay, so it is easy for us to see where to outline in coffee beans and black knobs.

The coffee beans are always positioned with the rounded edge facing outwards. This year we had to outline more in coffee beans because the black knobs or alder cones were unusually large. Once this has been finished we started filling out the background and this year we are using thousands, of camomile flower heads, and they are tiny.

The effect is certainly dramatic.

Apart from the regulars, like Christopher Carr, who owns the barn we are working in (he is also our parish representative on the Peak Park), we had some younger visitors today, who called in to see what was going on. Their little fingers were very nimble and surprising accurate for novices.

Stephen, Margaret’s father is infilling with parsley.

Margaret Carr the designer of Yew Tree Well and with some of her family she is taking a well earned break, warming up over a cup of tea. I always know when it is well dressing time, because the temperature plummets and out come my thermal vests; two were needed this afternoon!