Wonderful Willow Weaving Workshop

Today I visited the new art and crafts space, Rum's Eg, run by the Hampshire Art and Craft Community in Bell Street, Romsey to attend one of their summer workshops with Linda Mills.

There are some astoundingly beautiful pieces in their gallery space too.

I love baskets and have wanted to try willow weaving and this workshop offered the perfect easy setting and class. Here are examples of the platters we were going to weave.

The willow was lying on the floor dressed in towels to keep some of it damp. It is necessary to soak some of it for up to 5 days to improve its pliability.

We started with a ring,

then cut pieces and taped them together to form the ribs of the platter

and began weaving the willow around them. Getting the first two pieces in place was the hardest part.

Bit by bit my weaving grew

and after a morning of great fun, I had one platter completed.

After lunch I began the second one

and had soon completed it too.

I left with two beautiful pieces after a wonderful day at play.

I highly recommend a visit to this lovely gallery if you have the time and I am keeping an eye out for their next workshop program as I will definitely be going to play some more.

For those of you in the area, on some Tuesday mornings there is a Threads and Yarn club where you can take your knitting, crochet, embroidery, (apparently anything you can carry in and do there) and enjoy some time with other crafty people. Check by telephone with them about the dates. Here is a link to their contact details on the website - Hampshire Art and Craft Community. 

Their summer exhibition opens next week and I enjoyed the sneak peak I got today.