Recently I attended a
willow weaving workshop. The workshop took place in a huge
greenhouse in a small garden centre out in a Cheshire village.
Before I attended the workshop I was asked to choose which animal I
was going to make and to bring a photo for reference to the event. I
chose a hare because I love them and it seemed like an interesting
animal to make. The 5 hour workshop was run by a willow weave artist
called Juliette Hamilton. My mother had discovered her when she had
attended a basket making class and when she told me about it I was
eager to try my hand at willow weaving. There were 10 of us at the
workshop. I was the only young person there. I seemed to grasp the
technique fairly quickly unlike some of the others and because I got
a few steps ahead they were actually coming to me to see what to do
next.
Juliette had soaked the 4'
and 5' long willow withies for a few days. She told us that for every
foot in length they had to be soaked for a day. The first step was to
create the base for the legs. We were given a wooden board with four
holes in it. This was for holding our creatures until they were
stable and also for getting the legs in the right place and all the
legs to match in height. We all chose around 12 willow withies and
rammed them into each hole making sure they went right to the bottom
of the hole. We repeated this till all four holes where filled. We
attached a cable tie around an inch from the bottom of each leg to
hold the withies in place. We then tied another cable tie further up
the withies where we wanted the top of the legs to be.
Next we took one willow
wisp from each side and shaped them to create the side of our animal.
We wrapped them together making sure they did not spring undone and
then repeated for the other side.
To create the middle and
the shape of the back we made a circle using two willow wisps. To do
this we gently shaped one of them into a circle and then we gently
wound another willow wisp around the first one. This strengthens the
circle so it can hold the willow that will be weaved around the base
in later steps.
Next we had to create a
chest and a bottom for our animals. To do this we took four of the
willow wisps from the legs and crossed them over themselves. We did
this at the front and back of the body. This is a hard step as you
have to make sure they stay in place and do not move. You can hold
them together using cable ties if you can't keep them in one place.
The cable ties will be removed later.
Next we started weaving
the spare willow wisps from the legs. They do not have to be neat or
go in any direction. They can be as random as you want them to be.
We had to leave around three willow wisps on each side where we
wanted the head to be.
To create the head we had
to make two small circles again - one larger circle for the main
structure of the head and a smaller one for the nose. To attach the
head we took the left over willow wisps from the legs that had not
been used and weaved them onto the head. This holds it in place and
also starts to shape the head and neck. To fill in the gaps we
weaved in more willow wisps. To make the ears I followed the same
steps as creating a circle but instead of a circle I formed the shape
of my hare's ears. This is done twice but being careful to leave
some ends loose so that I could weave the ears into the head. The
same is done for the tail. I chose to over-emphasise the ears,
making them larger than they would be in real life.
Now for the last step. I
had to remove my animal from the board. Once I had done that I
wrapped a willow withy around the base of each foot to keep the
withies together and for an attractive finish. I also trimmed the
feet to make them all level and to ensure that the hare would not
fall over. My hare was now completed. You can weave in more willow
wisps to the body, head and tail if you think that they are not full
enough. You can also remove the cable ties. The cable ties were
only there to keep things in place while we made our animals.
I am really pleased with
my hare. It stands at around 4'6” and I am using it as a bedside
table. It is sturdy and looks fantastic. I plan to take this willow
weaving technique and apply it to my mask making project.
You can see some of the
artist's work on her website here:- www.juliettehamiltondesign.co.uk
