I’m about to finish this tuft that was feeling way to random initially to me, until someone said that it looked like something from under the sea surface. I’ve been working on filing out all the gaps that were there from all the visitors that got to try out tufting – many tried for their very first time. I’m happy with having so many curious persons approaching me during the event – wishing to learn the process of tufting. It’s been time consuming as the fields were very scattered and small. Usually you’d like to create straight lines when you tuft, to get a cohesive and evenly filled surface. But really, when it comes to nature – everything is really random, and this time I’ve probably tufted in all possible directions when working with it. There’s still some gluing and touching up to do, but almost finished. This is what it looked like after the event in Vara. (oh btw a kiddo wanted to write I love cheese on the tuft! 🙂 )

So why naming the tuft Ålgräs?

During the spring I’ve started to paddle ocean kayak. I’m a happy newbie, trying to learn the most possible about the do’s and don’ts. As the fall is inevitably here, I hate to say that this years kayak adventures more or less have come to an end (unless I invest in buying more equipment – but that’s another story). Bit during the summer I participated a 2 day course, sleepover on an island and all was a very summery-vibe lovely event. Nice company, many new technique tips but also some sad info. One of the instructors taught me names of different kinds of sea weed. Common Eelgrass was one of them, but we never really spotted them.

The reason for not seeing the sea weed is that currently there are several threats to this flowy green under water plants, and it has therefore been diminishing. It protects many spices such as crabs against predators and also acts as nursery and protection for baby fishes among others cod and eel. The over fertilization poses a threat, and with that the waters becomes murky. This unclear water doesn’t allow enough sunlight to come through to the Ålgräs. The sea weed has several positive effects on its surroundings, such as decreasing erosion of the underwater surfaces, along with binding carbon. There has been trials when adding tons of sand has created clearer waters, and hence given better possibility for the sea weed to recover in fast pace. So there’s hope for the underwater meadows to continue their re-growth with some help and caring.

Being interested in animal life I wanted to give focus to this issue with the Common Eelgrass situation, it was hence a given name to this tuft. I’d like to create awareness about sustainability issues and maybe this let you learn a bit as well about the marine life. I’d be happy to hear you thoughts about this background story behind naming the tuft!

Also if you want to place a bid on this piece to make it yours, 50% of the sum of the profit will go to WWF for preservation of animals and natural habitats. Read more here.

Wishing you all a great start of your week, all the best!

/ Annika