Willow Weaving

[Oola]

Last week my mum went on a willow weaving course, and had a really good time. She said the time flew and only on her first lesson managed to create a plant teepee and some circular plant support grids for the garden. She's really got the bug, and she says you can use dogwood and hazel in the same way. Shame we cut our massive dogwood down!

Has anyone else tried willow weaving? It seems a fantastic way to get 'back to nature' whilst creating useful things that appear to be very sturdy and hardwearing...

[Crocus]

Hi Oola! No, I haven't tried this craft. In a CL magazine of quite a while back, there was an article on willow weaving. Like with most crafts, this also seem to be vere therapeutic as well as creative. Problem is where does one get the willow? xx

[jazzactivist]

'Glad that your mum enjoyed the course, Oola. I did a weekend willow weaving course a couple of years ago, and it was also great. First we cut some lengths of living willow from nearby trees then planted them in the ground to make a living willow fence in a criss-cross design, then we made a dome, and then a selection of fancy thrones around a lake for people to eventually sit on. Two years later I did go and sit on the one that I made, and it was very comfortable and stable. It is a very easy craft and looks good, plus you can also make baskets etc from the cut willow. You can buy the willow stalks online quite cheaply and then just have to keep what you made in shape with a bit of pruning. However, don't plant anything that you make near any drains as the roots get into them.

One thing that the tutor did tell us was that asprin is made from willow and if you have a headache going out for a spot of pruning and weaving usually gets rid of it. Also, working with it is quite drying so wearing a barrier like vaseline on your lips is very useful. In the Lakes there is bottled water called Willow which is apparently harvested from springs with willow planting and is meant to have extra health giving properties.

[eleanor2]

i love the old willow weaved baskets.they look so authentic.

[Crocus]

Here's quite an interesting link about willow weaving and perhaps a challange or two ...
http://www.bluestem.ca/willow-sculpture.htm

[buecherwurm]

It can also go the other way , Jazz. Some years ago I went to a basket weaving course and I really enjoyed myself. Only the next day I had this terrible headache and had to spend the day on the sofa (I just thought I had caught something). Some weeks later I went to another basket weaving day and as soon as I entered the room with all the willows inside (dried willows which had been soaked in water overnight) my headache started. The next day I was really ill.
Our teacher had been to special school (basket making) not too far from here to learn her trade and she told us that a lot of the pupils had to leave because they were allergic to willows.

[jazzactivist]

Goodness buecherwurm, maybe it is more intense if you do the weaving inside, or if the willow is dry. My course was all outside using living willow. Or maybe some people are allergic to asprin. I can understand that as i have a senstivity to paracetamol that makes my headache much worse rather than takes it away.