On Wednesday, March 26th 2025, we started the day at the Kaap Skil Museum in the small village of Oudeschild. They had built a new building a few years ago and the inhabitants of the village were not really too fond of the idea… For the entrance hall, the artist Erna van Sambeek was asked to make a sculpture for the ceiling: she had the idea to make a big map of the island Texel using mainly wool from Texel sheep. The final ‘rug’ is called Tessels Lant and measures nine by four meters and all the materials are from Texel.
We were very fortunate to listen to Erna personally how her project developed: So, when she needed the Texel wool spun into yarn (nineteen kilos) and then dyed to the colors she needed, she had to ask people from the villages to spin the wool for her and an experienced dyer to dye it. That way, the locals were incorporated in this project and the acceptance for the museum increased! The artist organized coming-togethers frequently with all these participants so they worked together while having a chat. The woolen map of Texel was partly knitted, partly felted and after organizing each patch where it was supposed to be, the pieces had to be stitched onto a backing which also had to be fixed onto the frame. This frame is hanging on the ceiling at the museum right now.
This cotton dress on the left is a replica of one of the garments that were found in the famous Palmwood wreck close to the island in the Wadden Sea. The most famous dress is the so called wedding dress made of silk satin decorated with a woven floral motif.
After a visit to the museum with all its ‘treasures’ that were found around the island in the wadden sea, we stocked up our yarn stash with real Texel yarn in one of the local yarn shops. The brand is De Witte Tesselaar but I think that Renske isn’t producing this yarn anymore and we were only able to purchase some stock yarn. Hopefully, someone else will continue the brand…
After lunch we were driven to the duvet factory where the owner gave us a guided tour through the production facilities: The factory processes almost all the island’s Texel wool into their products, 25 tons a year, plus about 100 tons of wool from the mainland. The wool is scoured in Verviers, Belgium. (I have linked to a company in Verviers, but cannot swear that it’s the correct one…) We were not allowed to take photos of the machinery but only of the products:
Our next stop was Renske’s former skincare business that is now run by her son: Noordkroon. In 1999 Renske started to sell pure Lanolin filled in glass jars on her sheep farm. Since then, the products have diversified and are now sold in the shops on Texel and online, of course.
In the evening, Renske invited us to her house and we received her new book about ‘Living with wool on Texel’ that she had just finished writing. There is also an English version (a bit shorter than the Dutch one) and we were all given a book as a present. Thank you so much, Renske, for all your work and your gifts!
