Ted Tinkler: Print Clan Artist in Residence 2024
The Third artist in our 2024 residency programme, TED TINKLER, documents TheIr month in the Print Clan studio creating A COLLECTIVELY MADE, SCREEN PRINTED AND NATURALLY DYED PATCHWORK QUILT. USING ONLY SECONDHAND FABRICS AND BOTANICALS GROWN FROM THEIR COMMUNITY GARDEN - THEIR PROJECT TURNED OUR STUDIO INTO A TRUE TEXTILE HUB WITH PRINTING, DYEING AND SEWING ALL UNDER ONE ROOF.
Places Everyone.
Ted’s story takes the form of a shOW STOPPING play, complete with stage directions, COLOURFUL DIALOGUE AND PLAYFUL NARRATION.
BRAVO TED.
Character #1: Rachel wears pink, in a variety of shades, but always a nice pink.
Character #2: Arianna knows how I like my coffee. There are many other more impressive things about her too.
Character #3: I decided to carry a plant in my backpack this morning, and subsequently accidentally showered the studio in soil. What a numpty.
Setting: Print Clan. My short walk from High Street station, now fully integrated into my routine. We know it will feel strange to not be around every day. But at least I know the pattern of the crossroads, that is, which green light is followed by the green man for me.
ACT 1
SCENE 1
TED “I met a jellyfish the week before my residency at Print Clan.”
“The moon jellyfish [left] is the most common jellyfish in UK waters. I’ve been thinking a lot about the compass jellyfish, which transitions from male to female as it matures. I suppose it’s a tad bizarre that I only ever get to meet these jellyfish after they have died, so that they float and glide to the shore edge. I met a compass jellyfish too [right], on Arran, its translucent cream rippled over the rocky seabed. They have these brown stripes which almost look like they’ve been printed on, how fitting.”
SCENE 2
TED “My favourite part of preparing the screen is when you have the trough of chocolatey goodness and swipe in up the screen mesh.”
ARIANNA “Not chocolate.”
TED “Smooth, smooth, delicious, very poisonous, chocolatey goodness”
SCENE 3
[Paper cut-outs workshop on a Thursday evening]
RACHEL “It’s a good, low-stakes way for you to play around with the screen before you properly get going.”
[Ted proceeds to create a multi-layer print, including labels to aid construction, right up to the last minute.]
SCENE 4
[Later that evening]
TED’s partner “This is the best piece of art you will ever make.”
High praise for the cat
ACT 2
SCENE 1
[Down to the business at hand.]
TED “Week one. The search for greys and brown dyes. Designing my ‘soft’ font and ‘chip fork’ font. Researching, thinking of how to physically manifest circular or non-linear stories, drawing quilt blocks, and spending hours and hours stirring the dyes bath. Cooking up a brew at the far end of the studio.
[cloud cloths: experiments in garden time by Nina Mingya Powles & Quilt Alchemy by Sara Larson Buscaglia & None of the Above by Travis Alabanza]
SCENE 2
TED “I had never had the time and space to do three solid days of natural dyeing. And even better – I didn’t have to do my washing up to empty the kitchen sink before starting. I’m a fairly blasé natural dyer. I don’t tend to use chemical mordants, so I don’t mind if the colours fade a little. I’ve been growing these plants in my community garden for years now, so, they are full of far more time. If I were to be precious about this time, nothing would ever live up to my expectations.
Luckily, I love all the many [many] yellows.
Yet this month I suppose I did have the dream – the temptation – to get some darker hues. Some browns and even some greys. And boy did I!”
I’ve never worked with silk before but had nipped into the Centre for Advanced Textiles with a cheeky grin: “I don’t suppose you happen to have any scrap fabric I could have? Ideally linen, or maybe even silk?”
[Laughter filled the room]
I had read of the browns and green of rust and silk (thank you to the moths).
MOTHS “Thank you to the moths for these little scraps of silk. Dyed with onion skin or buddleia then overdyed with rust. Left to sit on the windowsill for a few days.”
TED “When we dig out an old bed in the gardens there are sometimes bits of metal that get separated out. Dunk these in vinegar and wait for the rust to dissolve away. Thank you to the moths and the garden rust for the kahki greens, olive browns, bright browns, and muddy greens. I love them.”
SCENE 3
Chop, chop, chop. Sew, sew, sew. Iron, iron, iron. Cut, sew, iron, sew, iron, se.
SCENE 4
[Arianna and Ted try to make screenprint-able inks using the natural dye baths.]
They huddled, crouched on the floor. Mixing, laughing, coreopsis yellow faded, but bug purple stayed?
ACT 3
SCENE 1
TED “Those close to me know I love to collage. The repetitive process somehow frees me from that self-consciousness of creating something ‘worthwhile’. It produces the same freedom as when my partner draws something and then I get to colour it in. In a way, constructing quilt blocks is the same. Although I must admit that every now and then I may have let out a large sigh...”
RACHEL or ARIANNA “You okay Ted?”
[It was the constant need to make decisions (is it called decision fatigue?) that in essence held very little consequence.]
TED “It's the triangles!”
It was the repeated question of what coloured triangle goes next to what coloured triangle that really got me one day – and there is a rather unflattering photo to prove it.
“Quilts are good at holding stories, even difficult ones.”
“When I say queer, I mean hostile to the military industrial complex”
SCENE 2
[Learning how to use the repeat bar]
TED “These photos of us doing the repeat pattern are well cute”
SCENE 3
TED “The back of the quilt is done!”
“A good few lacy and embroidered handkerchiefs in there too.”
[The quilt block border pattern is on its way]
“Using the greys I am so chuffed by. Purple overdyed with rust.”
[Sewing, ironing, sewing, ironing, and loving the big table.]
[Figuring out the rest of the quilt front so that it’s the same size as the back]
[Please note: At some point during this process a highly scientific oreo taste test was conducted by Ted, Rachel and Arianna. This included both dry and post-earl-grey-dunk variables.]
SCENE 4
TED ***A 3 inch by 7 metre repeating pattern print***
RACHEL and ARIANNA ***Utterly consumed by trying to print a troublesome tote bag***
SCENE 5
[More *cinema* for Ted]
TED “Let me take you back to a pleasant Thursday morning. The cars gently honking outside, the sun may even have been shining through the big window, a shelving unit is ready to rock and roll. When lunchtime rolls around, putting the safety pins down, I sit down and get to experience the surprising pleasure of watching the live show: “Rachel and Arianna build some shelves”.
With rave reviews.”
SCENE 6
“To finish off my final week in the residency I basted (safety pinned) the three layers of my quilt together – ready for the hand-sewing that is the quilting itself. Whilst I had the big table, I reversed my usual order and sewed on the border before having done the hand-sewing. I find the hand-sewing is best done in bed or on a cosy sofa, so that activity can wait until it comes home with me.
And that brings us to a close.”
You can learn more about Ted’s work on their website, and at the Four Artists, Four Residencies Exhibition at the Print Clan Studio 7-9 March 2025.