As the name of this project might suggest, I have a particular interest in goddesses and mythology. This interest is most definitely due to my bond with my friend Connie, and also my partner, Danny, both of whom were my flatmates when I lived in Edinburgh, and both of whom are artists whose practice is influenced by mythology, folklore and associations with goddesses. Danny and I always joke about our differences and how he is interested in the past, and I am interested in the future, but rather than seeing this as a point of contention, I’ve found so much inspiration in the parallels and similarities. Particularly, I’ve explored the tension between cyborg and goddess feminism, as in my film project The Empress, and other writings here (although in not too much detail). 

Connie was a huge inspiration for me during my project, The Empress, and we continue to share resources and motivation with one another. In this way, I appreciate the collaboration and construction that comes with this friendship, and I wanted to make her an inkle band as a material emblem of this mutuality. I actually have an amazingly thoughtful, although rather ramble-y, interview with Connie on the benefits of friendship in collaborative research, which I will edit and share in the near future!

Danny lent me the book, ‘The Language of the Goddess’, by Marija Gimbutas, through which I found inspiration for Connie’s band. I was so surprised by how similar some of the symbolism was to the patterns in my Susan Foulkes book, but welcome this coincidence in order to imbue my bands with a more meaningful conjunction of theory and practice. Connie is interested in water goddesses, and loves wild swimming (or ’ritual cleansing’ as she calls it), so I turned to the section on ’Zig-zag and M sign’, and ’Meander and Waterbirds’. This symbolism feels particularly pertinent, also, because I am staying at Danny’s house along the Thames, and we’ve been swimming in the river in the evenings. 

As for the colours, Connie mentioned she wanted something summer-y, and I remember sending her a picture of some naturally dyed green yarn that she loved, so I used a similar green wool, with a turquoise-ish wool and some grey and ecru cotton thread. I was reluctant to use wool on the inkle as it tends to bunch up when you whack it with the shuttle, but actually this worked out fine, which I’m very pleased about because it means I can incorporate my wool/crochet yarn into my weaving stash and have so many more colours to chose from. I really need to be more brave with my colour choices though, and steer away from using the ecru cotton for my background every time. 

I’m looking for places to buy cotton, and some help on what cotton is good to use for this type of weaving, as although I will remain loyal to my local The Handweavers Studio, they’re running out of some of the colours I want. 

The greens pictured below are the naturally dyed ones. I promised to send Connie the larger skein of green in the photo on the left as she also crochets and has been making the most amazing patchwork blanket with different yarns. You can find some more (bad quality) photos of naturally dyed yarn by me or my mum here.