On my visit to Orkney I was fortunate to speak with Neil Leask, custodian of Corrigal Farm Museum and Kirkbuster Museum for Orkney Islands Council. He is extremely knowledgeable about old craft skills, objects and how people used the local materials. When discussing ropes he showed me this wonderful photograph which shows six hay stooks built by his grandad’s brother, John Leask, who was very particular and careful. The stooks were for the champion cup which he won in 1930, the wall in the front had to be taken down a bit in order to photograph them. You can see the care and detail, they are all the same size with only an inch difference between them. For the cup they are measured both in girth at key points and in the height, a real skill getting these dimensions to match with natural materials and by eye. The simmens for the stooks is very precise and of good quality.
I find there is something mesmerising about this image which makes me keep looking and I think it lies in the accuracy of these beautifully built structures. There is also something about the underlying skill and deep knowledge about these materials which comes across, something which we just don’t have nowadays.
My photograph of the picture was taken quickly on a small work desk during the Neil’s lunch time as we followed up on ideas and things discussed the previously.
One thing I noticed is that the older baskets had immense quality, care and skill which the newer baskets made in the same materials and techniques seemed to lack.