Working with Ash

I have been working with Ash over the last few months, first by making a candle stick to honour the Ash Fairies and more recently looking at the health and medicinal things it can be used for.

I went for a long walk on the first of January and found an avenue of Ash trees, all of them had these lovely 'doors' as I see them.  This was particularly relevant as the first of January is also the celebration day of Janus the roman god of doors and openings.

I found a tree that had partly fallen over and there were lots of branches lose on the ground so I took them back home to make something special with - an ash bark face wash.

I shaved the soft bark off into fine slivers then crumbled them up further, they were very soft with all the rain we have had. In the Summer it is possible to simmer the bark to soften it a little.

Then I took an egg white, whisked it up and added the bark. Such a simple but lovely treatment.  It felt lovely as I rubbed it gently into my skin and when I washed it off my face felt glowing and smooth