Occasional blog about the workshops at MakeCreateCraft, things I have made and crafts I have tried.
Posted in: Willow weaving
Saturday 18th November saw a full day of willow Christmas decoration making, with Willow Angels in the morning and Willow Christmas Decorations in the afternoon.
Some of the little willow trees made in the afternoon
It was a very busy Friday and Saturday, with three Christmas workshops on the trot! Friday saw a full day of Willow Angels and Christmas Decorations, then Saturday brought Modern Calligraphy with a Christmas focus in the morning, followed by Rag Rug Christmas Wreaths in the afternoon. There was lots of great crafting throughout the two days and lots of cake eating too! The pictures below show a small selection of what was created over the two days. All three workshops will be returning in the run up to Christmas 2018.
Rag Rug Wreaths
Modern Calligraphy with a Christmas focus
Willow Christmas Angels under construction
We ran two workshops to make a willow tray last weekend. The tray is based on the traditional method for making a basket called the 'stake and strand' method. In order to finish it in a day, we made trays (so low sides) rather than baskets, but the method for a basket would have been identical, it would just have been necessary to keep weaving higher sides! There was a variety of types of willow available to use which resulted in different coloured stripes in the trays, which was very effective. There's a few images from the two workshops below.
Saturday 11th June saw the first Make Your Own Willow Chicken workshop. This was a full day workshop to make a more-or-less life size model of a bird of your choice. We had chickens, pheasants and a peahen made by the end of the session.
Willow chickens and a peahen (the peahen is called Pat and is on the left!)
Willow chickens and pheasants
The workshop in action early on during the day
This afternoon we ran the Willow Easter Baskets workshop, where we used a plaiting technique. Everyone made a number of baskets and then went on to experiment with the plaiting technique to make more sculptural objects. Some were abstract, others looked like chickens and dragonflies (see pictures below).
The group with all their creations at the end
A willow bird/chicken
A willow dragonfly
