13-11-2021: Winter Woodland Workshop 2021

Willow Workings in the Woods

Saturday saw us back in the woods at Kingston Hill on our biannual woodland workshop event. 

We continued to build on our skills using willow to weave – and created a number of items perfect for mini Christmas presents; all while learning different basic skills.

First Mark talked the group through the different types of processed willow and what they could be used for. 

• Brown Willow – willow which has been cut and allowed to try with its bark on
• Steamed willow – willow which has been cut, and steamed and then allowed to dry with its bark on
• Buff willow – cut willow which has been first boiled and then pealed before drying
• White willow – cut willow which has had the bark removed and then dried without boiling
• Green – freshly cut willow that remains fairly flexible until dry – and can be planted in the ground and it has a chance of growing again.

We saw this when we used willow bundles in our river bank at Knights Park (created manually with volunteers in 2014) This willow wasn’t planted – it grew out of one of the willow bundles that makes the bank!

7 years after creating the bank, we have a willow tree

Dried willows have to be soaked and then mellowed (left wrapped in a damp cloth etc. somewhere cool) to get them to be flexible again.

Different type of willow have different soaking times before mellowing, to reactivate the flexibility of the willow. 

• The benefits of buff/white willow is that no bark = shorter soaking times. 
• The benefits of willow with bark = retails the moister longer after mellowing, making it easier to work with. 

Mark started the group off making some of the simple items, each using a different skill to work the willow. 

The first was a simple hoop – which is the basis for lots of things from simple dream catchers to  more complex baskets.

Starting off by firstly showing the group how to warm-up the willow to make it more flexible before working it (demonstrating in this short video).

He then talked us through making a hoop and also adding to it to build up the layers. 

Once we finished one of those, he moved onto showing us up to make a simple shooting/hanging star. 

This involved deliberately kinking the willow in places (after warming up) to make it bend in specific points, manipulating it to make the shape you want, and then using the tip end of the willow to bind off the end of the work to hold it all in place. 

These three videos show the process in full (and hopefully in the right order :) ). 

Denise completing her shooting star

Following this we created a simple bird feeder using the same principle of bending the willow over each other to form a shape, but using a wooden former to hold the base of the willow in place, allowing it to be manipulated while retaining the opening that you started with. 

Cat and Louise starting their bird feeders

Louise finishing her feeder 

After this we then were shown how to make a simple fish shape – here the key skills were both the folding of the willow and the warming of it, to weave it around the fish shape that people created. 

Cat and her fish

We started this off with the green willow, which was very flexible compared with some of the processed willow, but the issue with using any green willow/wood, is that it shrinks over time with drying, and leaves the finished product looking gappy. It was interesting seeing how the green willow did compare with both the buff and brown willow and the fact that folk had to remember to warm up the brown willow before using it, as forgetting meant cracks in the bends. The technique used is the same one used to make bigger baskets.

Meining with her nearly completed snail

Kayva with the tightest plaiting and best curl of the day

And lastly on the day we used a platting technique using off numbers of same sized willows to create a complex plait which could be shaped – the end product can be used for lots of different ways, but the way we all used it was to create a simple garden snail (though I think with some extra creative platting we might have ended up with a scorpion!

We ended the day with different people taking one of the projects (either one already done or trying a new one) and then seeing if we could improve or work out the method. Many of us decided to make a Swedish style star (the large start hanging off the handle bar below) – it’s one that was a bit of a headscratcher to start with, and a helping hand for the very first unit was often needed. But we all manged to get one made in the end. 

As demonstrated by our bicycle model, we manged to pack in a lot into the day. And with the left-over willow given to the participants who wanted some, we hope to see some of their new creations in the near future. 

Our next event is our rhodo bashes starting on the 27th of Nov - find out more and sign up by clicking here to our eventbrite listing. 

Til next time.

All the best

Sivi