On Saturday 12th July I went to the one day basket making course at the farm.
Our teacher was John Waller.
Here is his website.
He arrived with a truck loaded with willow wrapped in damp cloths, lap boards and lots of samples....a baby`s cradle, a hat, various shaped baskets and wooden spoons. It was very interesting to look through his album of photographs of his work.
We set ourselves up on the decking of the little house. Gemma, part of our group, had stayed
there for the night. The course was her birthday present.
My sister Paula and our tai chi friend, Sarah, made up the rest of the group.
After tea and introductions we got stuck in ..... with a base.... and that was not easy.
This is John`s demonstration base.
Once the base was made we worked on boards with the basket upright.
At various stages we needed quite a lot of space so we were able to expand out into the hayfield .
We used two different colours of willow. One lot would dry out in a very short time and was kept wrapped in damp cloth.
As the day wore on the sun came out, my concentration began to waver and it got very warm.
Gemma working hard on her creation.
Paula getting on with her sides.
Here is John`s demonstration basket, evenly spaced and nicely proportioned.
By 4.30 we all had a basket!! And we all felt very proud of them.
I did not find the course easy. The weaves are quite complicated. But, I did enjoy myself and
didn`t notice the time passing.
I look forward to a time when we can harvest our own willow and we can make our own
baskets from our own willow.
Thanks to John for his patience and expertise.
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