Day 2

Off rubber collecting at 6am. The rubber latex flows early in the day - so we had to leave early.

A gorgeous morning, in a beautiful rubber plantation, watching the sun rise through the trees.

And rubber collecting is AMAZING! You just scrape the sharp tool around a nick in the tree - and out oozes white latex. The nick is diagonal - pointing downwards - so the white goo just pours out and down and into a small tub, perched just below the lowest point, balanced with a twig.

So - you gouge lots of trees; have some breakfast, then return to pick up the tubs of latex.

Easy - if you don’t plough into a nest of giant killer, red ants.

I knew we were in trouble when Tony, the camera man, dropped the camera to the ground and began swearing. He’s tough as nails and regularly kneels on thorn bushes to film without even a flinch.

Soon enough - we all knew what was going on. Enormous red ants, which climbed unnoticed up your trousers, then began biting - viciously - your calf, knees and inner thighs - almost simultaneously. They were agony! And seemingly unstoppable.

Rosie - the director - shrieked “I’m so sorry - I have to take off my trousers”. I only had a couple of bites, so not too bad. Ellen - true to form - once free of ants - went back in for more to let Tony get some on film once he’d recovered.

Next we had to just wander about, tipping the latex into a bucket. It was such a good feeling! It felt like one of the dreams I have, where I’m collecting masses of something lovely.

Freshly oozed out of beautiful trees was this white, somehow “healthy-looking” liquid. It looks just like creamy milk. And we just got to collect it up and take it away and make it useful. What a joy!

Tempted to get bucketfuls. But figured we probably only needed 5 litres.

Back at the set, we had a monster afternoon from hell. We had to coat the material with the latex, then smoke it. We added some sulphur, which, when heated with the latex, gets the rubber to “vulcanise” - becoming stronger, more elastic and more durable.

The lifejacket we’d sewed at such length quickly scrunched up irreversibly into a tacky ball once the latex began to dry. Clearly - that was not the way! We’d have to start again with sheets of material – and made sure they stayed flat. If the material folded over - the tackiness would make it stick to itself - or to other bits of material.

So - making smoky fires all afternoon. Then standing in smoke, turning hot sheets of material over and stoking up the fires. Really hot, exhausting work, on a really hot day. So easy to almost have a sheet done, then add a last layer of latex - and lose the plot and allow a bit to stick to itself.

Deeply satisfying though. Ended up with thick sheets of what looked and felt a bit like leather. Left it out to dry overnight.

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Content last updated: 26/01/2005