Une étape cruciale nous attendait aujourd’hui, ainsi qu’une rencontre extraordinaire.
Nous allons découvrir le premier élément des roulottes livrés par l’unique femme au monde qui à redécouvert les techniques de teinturerie du Bleu des rois de France!
A crucial step in our project was to happen today, alongside with an extraordinary encounter.
We were about to have the first elements delivered by a unique woman who rediscovered an ancient and forgotten technique for dying the blue pastel of the kings of France.
We told you, in a previous article, how September was a starting and kicking point in our project.
At this time, we browse through local craiglist to find parts of a chassis, advertised by Denise.
This Franco-Belgo-American lady (a true melting pot!) arrived around midday with a trailer carrying, not 2, but 4 axles.
Her project was to renovate a horse drawn caravan with them. She also gave us two more smaller axles that might just be what we need for an Irish type of caravan. The price was also very attractive (350€)
For sure, these moments are ideal pretexts for sharing our histories around a cup of tea.
Our story is rather short and simple whereas Denise is very rich and just about extraordinary.
Educated in Belgium, and the Usa, she married a Belgium man and they both ended up near Agen.
What were they doing there?
Why not try to find out how the Bleu pastel was made? Is what they decided to research.
You know this blue that was called the blue blood only allowed to be worn by French kings. It was originally the colour that frightened the Romans away and was the colour of Napoléon’s troops during the Russian campaign.
The discussions quickly took the form of an alchemist conference searching for an impossible natural colour to obtain.
From historical research to plant magical powers anecdotes, we learned a great deal about this lost knowledge associated with the “mat de cocagne” that bares the same name as the ball of fermented dried plants hanging atop a tall greased wooden pole. It was so precious, the local bookmakers were bidding on its year and a half long fermentation success.
This afternoon flew by and it was soon time to part.
But you can get to know a lot more about this unique enterprise from this article or Denis’s website.
Soon, we will start building!
This will be a great opportunity to have a “roulotte” party, gathering all of you who might be able to help along the process. So get your agendas ready, steady ….
