It’s finished! This is a bonnet that I made for the Roses from the Heart project in Tasmania.
Roses from the Heart is a conceptual art/empathetic history project curated by the Tasmanian artist, Christina Henri. Participants were asked to make a simple bonnet for a convict woman, one of the 25,000+ that got transported for petty crimes, who often never saw their homeland, or their friends and family again.
I got Martha Slade, a young woman from Dorset, who was caught handling stolen goods (a few handkerchiefs), and shipped out on the Garland Grove in 1841,
Christina told me that she was given a ticket of leave in 1844, and freed in 1848.
That’s all I know about Martha. I know she was poor. I also guessed that she may have taken the blame to save her boyfriend from being executed. I’ve no idea what happened to him, either. The little information I had indicated that she was a plain, simple sort of woman, so I thought she might find an elaborately decorated bonnet a little too much. Also, there were time considerations here: I started my MA in October, and I’ve got choir/family/work etc.
- Charlie models the bonnet
So I decided on a simple rose motif, one either side of the brim, as specified. On one side I drew a cheerful red rose, with darker edges; and on the other we have a blood-red rose above the ship’s name and year of transportation. I copied a couple of motifs that I found on the internet, then had to dredge up my primary-age embroidery lessons, and remember how to do satin and long-and-short stitch. It was quite soothing, sitting in front of a movie with an embroidery hoop on a rainy evening. Maybe next time I’ll do something a little more ambitious.
This is the bonnet immediately after I finished it (modelled by Charlie – who is a proper Slade, so deserves to wear it more than me). I have a few finishing touches to do. Having sat around on my desk for months, it’s a bit grubby, so it’s being washed right now. I don’t think Martha would have liked a grubby bonnet.
They want my name in the back, so that’s another embroidery job, and I have to trim the loose threads. Then the bonnet goes off to join its sisters in Tasmania. I may see it when it and the other 25,665 bonnets come to London on their world tour in 2013.
Our cat, Frank, died this morning. He had been feeling poorly for a few days. The vet diagnosed a badly-bruised hip, but it became clear that there was something else wrong with him that had probably been going on for a while. Thinking about it now, he had been gettting sleepier and grumpier over the past few weeks. We put it down to age – he was a lot older than he looked. His appetite was still fine, and he still had the capacity to be super-annoying, especially in the morning when I was trying to drink my tea.
