I took some dark red lilies to my friend Liz’ place a few weeks ago.  Liz returned them to me once they’d died.  She’d torn them up, complete with their yellow stamens, and wrapped them tightly in a piece of silk.  It looks like a 2ply Cambodian hand woven fat quarter.

Resisting the temptation to unroll too quickly, I left the damp lump in its plastic bag for a week.  On removing it yesterday I found a rich embellishment of mossy looking mould.

The white is alive. The brown is the silk and the green is the plastic bag around this ripe parcel!

It took quite a while to rinse, with a lot of vegetable matter for the compost being rescued from the sink drain!

The crusty roll unwrapped.

Lots of colour goes down the drain…

Drain full of “compost” material. This was a fraction of the total.

Finally and after much “picking” with finger nails of bits that had adhered tightly to the silk, I was able to wash in pure soap flakes and press.

Washed, rinsed and pressed. And gorgeous!

The one on the left is pinned to a blanket. This one is in front of a window to let light in.

Thanks Liz!!  Can I use this in another work for the MELD exhibition?