Cleaning out the basket willow.

 Today I began to clean out the basket willow I grew in the past to use as ribs in my rib baskets. The first step was to cut the six to eight foot "whips" that had grown on the willow stools since I last cut them down last year. I am retiring from basket-making, so will not be harvesting the willow again. The willow "stools", such as the one shown above remained after the whips were removed. Then, using a spade and an adze, I dug around each stool, and hacked away at the roots.

Three of the four remaining willow stools were removed in this laborious process. They await by the curb side to be picked up with other green materials on Thursday's pick up. The bundles of whips are also tied and ready for pick-up too.  I will remove the last of the stools tomorrow.

Propagating willow is very easy. From a selected shrub, cut off willow whips (branches). Cut pencil thick foot-long sections of the branches, bury them about half the length of the cutting by forcing them into the ground. Most of the cutting will self-root.  In the spring cut the shoots from the cuttings to just above ground level. More shoots will develop, and six to eight foot whips will grow by the end of fall. Cut them back again, and double the amount of shoots and whips will grow back. Repeat yearly and stools such as shown above will develop with a heavy crop of whips for annual harvesting.

If you harvest the whips in the fall, the bark will not be removable. You can use these as "brown" willow for your baskets. If you harvest the willow in the spring-time, after the first flush of leaves appear, you can then use the whips as "white" willow. At this time it is very easy to remove the bark to reveal the white flesh beneath.

If you do not harvest the willow on an annual basis, huge willow trees will develop very rapidly.

One further use for the willow is in propagating other plants. Place willow cuttings in a bucket of water along with other cuttings from shrubs you wish to cultivate. Willow will add natural rooting compounds  to the water in the bucket, and can stimulate root formation in the cuttings from these shrubs.

Not quite what I had in mind.

 When I began to weave the sides of my planned round market basket, I soon realised I could only weave with the very thin grapevine branches. The thicker ones either broke as I tried to bend them round the willow stakes or so distorted those stakes as to make the basket unworkable.

 I also had only six or eight thin enough branches. So my 12" high basket with handle became a 3" high tray.

In future years I will harvest only the thicker grapevine branches. The thinner will be discarded to the green bin. As shown above, the thicker ones make ideal hoops for rib baskets.

Progress in weaving with grapevine

 My original intent was to use the grapevine weavers to make a rib basket. However, as I focussed on the nature of the grapevine I could see I would have problems joining the two hoops of the frame together with God's eye weavings. So I decided to make a round shopping basket instead. I used "brown willow" as the stakes for this. (Brown willow is willow with its bark still on.) I cut six eight inch stakes to start, forming a cross by piercing three of the stakes and inserting the other three stakes through them. I then chose two thin grapevine weavers and wove three rounds around the cross. I then separated one stake from its companions in the four segments and wove three more rounds before separating the remaining two stakes. After three more rounds I inserted two long stakes on either side of  each of the stakes and wove three more rounds. A close up of the rustic weaving that resulted is shown above. The grapevine, with its brown outer bark removed, is a palish green in colour.

The next step was to do what my English basketry books call the upsett. In this I used needle nosed pliers to crush the willow stakes at the edge of the round base. I was then able to bend them upwards without the stakes braking.

My next task is to weave the sides of the basket using an English randing technique. In this i will use one weaver at a time and weave one round at a time. Each grapevine round will be woven starting at it butt end. Each round will be staggered one stake to the left of the previous round. With 24 stakes I will need to weave 24 rounds to achieve symmetry.

I will also have to remember to put in two thicker false stakes after I have woven several rounds so a handle can be inserted later.

Re-organising my storage room.

The old saying, "You cannot see the wood for the trees" applied to my cane and willow storage area. Masses of tangled cane sat on top of, inside and under the storage bins I had for them. I could not see what was there and what was usable. Now I have salvaged all I could and hung them in skeins that are not only visible but easily reached and brought down.



The remains of the unsalvageable mass sits at the roadside awaiting pick up for the City to compost.







The rolls of ready-for-use cane are easily accessible and ready for dying as I use up the remnants.







And the brown and white willow are also easily accessible for use in my rib baskets. Overall, yesterday was a successful day of re-organisation.

Preparing "brown" willow.

As Fall approaches, I am beginning to work on the willow at the front of my side garden. Two years ago, I cut these willow shrubs to just above ground level. Anne wanted them to form a hedge or barrier for privacy, so I did not cut them down to ground level again this spring. Instead, I let them grow. Lately, I have begun to harvest from this two-year growth. As you can see, I cut the willow down to waist level from its 8 -12 foot height. the willow on the left is as yet uncut and shows its two-year height.

Here are the remains of the cut willow that proved to be unusable for my basket-making. Most of these branches were too short or had too many branches off the main stem to be useful. I need long and straight "whips" for my basket ribs. I bundled up these waste products and put them at the curb for the green box compost recycling.



For the usable willow whips, I stripped each of its leaves. The green bin was a helpful collection container for these.







The end product after an hour or more of work: "brown" willow. These are now in my storage room where they will dry over the next weeks and months and lose their green colour. I will soak them in water before I can use them in my rib baskets.

The term "brown" willow refers to any willow, whatever its colour, that is harvested and used with its bark still on. "White" willow is willow harvested in the spring, stripped of its bark to reveal its white flesh beneath. "Buff" willow is willow boiled for 8 - 10 hours with its bark on. Its bark is then removed to reveal a beautiful buff colour .

Rib baskets added to replace sold items

After going through a dry spell with no sales through my Etsy shop for a few weeks, today I mailed several rib baskets to a buyer in New York state.

The baskets here are rib baskets I had on hand that I have now added to my Etsy shop as replacements. The one shown here is made completely from rattan cane dyed with home-made walnut dye.



This one features grapevine handles and white willow ribs.









And this one features brown willow both in the hoops and the ribs.

More setbacks to making a rib basket

After soaking the brown willow another 24 hours, I tried once more to bend it to form the ribs of the rib basket I am making. Once more the willow broke. It seems that it has become too brittle after a year or two in storage.

The trashcan full of brown willow is now outside in readiness for next week's pick-up of garden trash.

I now have some white willow (willow with its bark removed) in soak. I have had better success with using white willow as ribs in the past since it tends to bend without breaking. The reason I chose brown willow for this rib basket was because of the contrast between its colour and the colour of the walnut dyed flat cane. The contrast with the white willow will now suffice.

If all else fails, I will be cutting and stripping more white willow next week. It looks as if it is ready to strip since the first flush of leaves has come.

Delays in working on the rib basket

I tried to use the soaked brown willow as ribs for the rib basket frame I made yesterday. The first stake bent nicely and fitted in behind the God's eyes. The next two snapped as I bent them. The remaining willow is back soaking for another 24 hours. I will try again tomorrow.

Beginning to weave a rib basket

After the successful use of walnut liquor as a dye yesterday, I decided to start making a rib basket using the newly dyed flat cane. The fact that the weather is somewhat miserable with rain and thunder showers was a major influence in this decision too.

The first step was to collect the materials I would need. For the "hoops" of the basket I chose two grapevine hoops of approximately the same size and thickness.





I then selected around 30 brown willow stakes and cut sections to form the ribs of the basket. (Brown willow is willow with its bark on.) This willow is from last spring or even the spring before. It is dry and brittle and has to be soaked for at least 24 hours before I can bend it to use a ribs without fear that it will break. It is now soaking in the basement bathtub.



The next step was to join the two grapevine hoops with the flat cane by means of a God's Eye. One hoop was placed inside the other at right angles, and then the God's Eye was woven.






Here you can see the two hoops joined together with two God's Eyes. This frame is ready for tomorrow when I add the soked ribs and finish weaving the basket's body.

My "new" studio

At last I was able to move all my baskets down to my basement studio and set them up there. They were piled up in the upstairs living room pretty well immediately after the July 24th flood. 99% of the renovation work is completed. A cupboard still needs to be installed to box in the water meter and clean outs in my storage room. But that's about it.




As you can see from the photographs, the basement is newly painted in three shades of yellow. It is bright and sparkling. My baskets make a colourful display and I can now find a particular item easily. Any new sales from my Etsy shop will entail a short search rather than a long one.

Visitors to the studio are welcome. I could even teach students in this warm and inviting area.

Steps in making a rib basket

In a rib basket with willow ribs, it is essential to soak the willow before you begin. White willow, that is willow with its bark removed, needs perhaps an hour of soaking to make it supple. If I had used brown willow (willow with its bark still on) it would need to be soaked for 24 hours at least.



While the willow was soaking, I prepared the other materials. Two grapevine hoops of roughly equal size were found, and, in this case, pink rattan cane soaked in water to ready it for weaving.







With a long piece of flat rattan cane, I wove one God's eye to join the two grapvine hoops together. With a second long piece of cane I then wove the second God's eye. I then selected which segmant would be the handle to the basket, ensuring the horizontal hoop would be inside the handle hoop. This aids in developing the strength of the basket since that inside hoop is tightly held.


The next step is to place the initial sets of ribs in place held by the God's eyes. I usually place five ribs on each side of the basket at this stage.







After weaving several rows to fix these ribs in place, I added many more ribs. The basket-makers crede is, "The more ribs the better." For this basket I twinned the initial five ribs on each side and added two more to each sement too.





For these additional ribs, I decided to weave with natural, undyed cane. The end result is quite satisfactory.


Since I used 3/8" and 1/2" cane for this basket the weaving went much faster than in the case of yesterday's basket where I used 1/4" cane.

500 Baskets: A book to inspire.

When I need inspiration in my basket-making, I turn to "500 Baskets: a celebration of the basket makers art", Edited by Susan Mowery Kieffer, published by Lark Books of New York in 2006. the works there are awesome and awe inspiring.

Three examples are shown here. Brian Jewett's basket is made from garden hose, cable ties and valve handles. "Both the cactus form and the garden hose are strong water symbols, speaking to both conservation and consumption."

The work of Joan. E. Scantz, made from peeled and unpeeled willow, is much more traditional in style, but is a particularly striking example of how traditional styles can be so modern too.

Leslee Ann Burtt's work uses the traditional materials of seagrass, reed and cedar bark and couples them with a mule-deer antler in a striking and evocative manner.

These are just three examples of the works in this wonderful book. My work can only be a pale shadow compared to such expertise, design, and creativity.

The book that started it all.

(This is the first in a intermittant series of articles on basket-making books.)

There is a story I have told many times of how I began my basket-making journey. It begins over a half-century ago in arts and crafts classes in an elementary school in the little English village of Cheddleton (near Leek, Staffordshire). There, at the age of nine or ten, the class was introduced to basket-making. My twin brother, Frank, and I, as competative as ever tried to outdo each other in making the biggest and best basket. Soon the school's supply of basket-making materials was threatened with exhaustion. My elder sister, Mary, was the recipient of a large sewing basket (which she has no recollection of receiving!)

Many years later, I recalled this episode of basket-making in conversation with my wife, Anne, as we talked about what we could do after I retired. "Perhaps I should do more than golf and garden?" That Christmas the book shown here appeared as a Christmas gift under the tree. That is the book that rekindled my interest in basket-making and put me on the present path of being a basket-maker.

The book, Basket Making, by Olivia Elton Barratt, was published in 1990 by Charles Letts and Co. Ltd , London, England. It is a broad introduction to a variety of basket-making styles: cane basket making, willow basket making, straw boater making etc. It is filled with examples of the basket maker's craft and is a good book for inspiration.

My basketry studio: http://www.flickr.com/groups/etsyopenstudios/

Etsy has a collection of pictures on Flickr of studios of various etsy on-line shops. Today, I added photographs of my studio to this site.

My sign advertises the studio.

The wall of baskets welcomes you to the studio as do the baskets that spill into the basement living room.

Usually hiden from view, the storage area is a paen to organised chaos. I really do know, most of the time, where what I need really is.

Stripping the willow

Today I began by re-photographing, in natural light, most of the remaining baskets in my etsy shop.By the time I completed taking the photos, deleted the existing photos and re-installed the new ones, the morning was over. It was worth doing since all these photographs are in focus and have much truer colours.

For relaxation, my eldest son, Julian, and I began stripping the willow. The first step is to cut the willow down to about six inches. As you can see, the remaining willow is a "stool" of cut-off branches and a few small branches I hope will develop in readiness for next year. The cut-off branches are then carried to my large compost pile where the leaves are stripped. The photo shows that much of the willow suffered wind burn damage during the winter, much more than in previous years. Most branches had the top 2-3 feet "burned" so as to be useless.

The salvaged pieces then had the bark stripped off. At this time of year you can easily peel the bark off each branch. Julian is shown with the green willow branches at his feet ready to be stripped. The bark that has been removed is next to him while the stripped willow is in the foreground. It appears to have a greenish tint, but, as it dries, it will become white.

Today we stripped enough willow to make the ribs for two rib baskets.

New Photographs in my Etsy Shop.

I spent most of the morning retaking many of my photographs that appear on my Etsy shop site.

On the weekend, I spent about 15 minutes in a "chat" group on the Etsy site. (This was my first venture into real-time, on-line communication.) Among the discussion topics was that of how to take photographs that more accurately reflect true colours. Chatters (?)suggested the use of natural light. Later in that weekend, I happened upon a similar discussion in the "Business Topics Forum" of Etsy. There the emphasis was on the use of indirect or diffused natural light.

Today I put these lessons to practical use as I re-photographed 18 of my current 49 items in my shop. Over the rest of this week I will re-photograph the remaining items.

Three examples of the finished products are shown here. To me they appear much clearer, and do have better colour. For example, the Navy Blue of the Fanny Basket shows as a Navy Blue rather than a purply blue.

Maybe, I will find time today to finish off that rib basket I began last week. Its so easy to get distracted!

Progpagating willow

Just a brief note on the process on propagating willow.

Now (springtime) is the time to begin that process if you have access to any willow. All you need is a branch or "whip" of willow. Cut the branch into segments 8-12" long, and each about a pencil's or finger's thickness. Stick the thicker end into the ground to about half its length, water and wait. The photographs show segments I planted last week. I hope to have a good willow patch by fall.

Each willow that grows will need to be trimmed back in the fall or spring. It will then grow back double or more.