My family is endlessly patient with me. Here's our sundeck strewn with kelp and with the gazebo frame festooned with a curtain of drying kelp. the very long green item on the deck is a hose, not kelp!
Thankfully the weather is warm and the kelp is almost dry enough for storing. It dries much more quickly on a rocky shore on a sunny Gulf Island so I have put just such a property on my wish list. I'll only need to make and sell about 200,000 fairly priced baskets to have sufficient funds!
The kelp is up to 6 meters long here on the cooler west coast of Canada. It can be 45 meters in the southern Pacific waters! I always find the drying process to be fascinating as the kelp shrinks to half it's original size and the colours gradually change based on the level of decomposition when the kelp is collected.
As the kelp dries it becomes crusted with salt which will be rinsed off when the kelp is re-soaked for weaving.
To be continued......
The kelp is up to 6 meters long here on the cooler west coast of Canada. It can be 45 meters in the southern Pacific waters! I always find the drying process to be fascinating as the kelp shrinks to half it's original size and the colours gradually change based on the level of decomposition when the kelp is collected.
To be continued......
That sounds like an exciting project!
ReplyDeletelol, just one more thing for me to collect (we have lots of kelp on the San Diego beaches), but I'll leave it to you. I find that I have too many supplies I don't even work with now, perhaps my creative bent is taking a vacation, but I love looking at your art and appreciating that you are doing well.
ReplyDeleteHi Ruth- glad to be reconnected!
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