Woodland Animals and Willow Cutting

Yesterday we delivered the woodland creatures to Woodland Trust's newest wood Heartwood, near St Albans. There was the first tree-planting event happening at the wood and there were local dignitaries and volunteers attending. We chatted with the Mayor of St Albans and listened to the speech by the director of The Woodland Trust. The speech was very inspiring and reminded us that we have planted many thousands of willow trees during the life of Willowpool Designs.

The willow animals will be treated with linseed oil and then installed around a woodland trail at Heartwood.

Today Ryan and I had to harvest willow in the wind and rain in readiness for our jobs in Liverpool, Newcastle and Chorley. We cut and bundled about 800 giant willow rods in about 2 hours.

Living Willow Maze, Whale Hill Primary School

We have nearly finished the maze at Whale Hill. Amazingly we have not been rained on at all  during the construction of the maze despite grey skies every day and very strong winds. We only saw rain when we drove back to Cumbria tonight when it was very wet.

We have one more day at Whale Hill in December when we will plant some different willow varieties in the maze and generally tidy up. Mazes are probably the most physically challenging living willow sculptures to make as there are so many planting holes to make even with the children helping.

Willow Badger

despite suffering from the flu we have had to continue making the woodland creatures for the Woodland Trust to be installed at their new Heartwood in Hertfordshire. Steve has been working on an owl and a squirrel. Its very hard to weave a good likeness. Simone has been working on Broc the Badger and its looking very good. We are having to work in our conservatory and the rain is pounding on the glass but we are happy listening to Waulk Electric on our minidisc player.

Whale Hill Primary School, Willow Maze

We have been working at Whale Hill, near Middlesborough this week. We avoided the rain and floods of Cumbria and stayed in Saltburn-by-the-sea. The weather was very windy and overcast but not the torrential rain of Cumbria. We worked with years 5 & 6 to start marking out the maze. Despite suffering from flu we struggled on all week and ewven visited the seaside at Redcar. We will have to spend the weekend recovering in bed drinking honey and lemon and sucking throat sweets.

WILLOWPOOL BASKETS

Here is an old price list that I found in an old pc that we used to use

WILLOW POOL BASKETS, STEVE FULLER BA HONS, 9 WESTON HOUSES, DOVE NEST LANE, ENDMOOR, NR KENDAL, CUMBRIA LA8 0HA

TEL. 015395-67056

Willow Pool Baskets began as 'Hedgerow Baskets' in 1979. Steve Fuller was initially taught by John Rome, a Cumbrian farmer who was a noted basketmaker who grew his own willow and specialised in fishing creels. Willow basketry has a strong tradition in the border regions of Cumbria and Dumfriesshire. John Rome was taught by his uncle, and local farms used to be supplied with 'swill baskets' [frame baskets for harvesting potatoes, feeding livestock etc] by itinerant craftsmen using willow and hazel from local woods and riverbanks. I aim to continue the tradition of sturdy, durable country baskets for a variety of uses and also will be offering some baskets made of recycled contemporary material.I am also interested in using living willow for environmental sculpture such as tunnels and mazes, and can advise or assist on living history/countryside/environmental projects. I welcome enquiries for repair and restoration/reconstruction work. I can also advise on willow cultivation and obtain cuttings for planting.

Demonstrations, workshops, talks etc can be arranged for schools, museums, art centres and countryside venues. Some of my past events have been at Tullie House [Carlisle], Durham Dales Centre [Stanhope], Bluecoat Display Centre [Liverpool], Carlisle Castle, Primervera (Cambridge),Althorp [Northhampton], Bede Museum [Jarrow], Woodland Event [East Cumbria Countryside Project], Tweeddale Museum [Peebles], Seatoller Barn [Keswick] and the Great North Forest (Tyne and Wear/Durham).

Traditional Log Baskets - 15" base, 15" high ..........£35.00

Low Log Baskets - 15" base, 12" high..........£30.00

Slender Log Baskets - 11" base, 15" high..........£30.00

Oval Washing Baskets - 12" by 18" base, 9" high..........£32.00

Round Linen Baskets - 14" base, 24" high (with lid) ..........£44.00

Willow Cradle - 30" by 16" base, 14" at head..........£50.00

Oblong Shopper - small, large..........£19.50, £22.00

Round Shopper - small, medium..........£15.00, £18.00

Oval Shopper - small, medium, large..........£15.00, £17.00, £20.00

Short base Oval Shopper - one size..........£17.00

Flower Basket (trug shape)..........£22.00

Apple Picker - 9" base, 5" high..........£22.00

Blackberry Basket - 8" by 5" base, 5" high..........£12.00

Egg Basket - 11" base, 4" high..........£17.00

* Please note that Carriage is extra.

LIVING WILLOW MAZE

We are loading the van with willow for the Living Willow Maze at Eston, Middlesborough. The construction begin tomorrow morning with groups of year 6 children. They will be doing the initial digging to form the shape of the maze. Its nice an sunny here in Kendal at the moment after much torrential rain so now is the time to get the will loaded on the roof.

Our good news is that Simone passed her ‘Life In The UK’ test that she had to take in order to get a UK passport. This is despite having lived here for nearly 30 years, owning a house here, having 2 children educated to degree level here, paying taxes here and running a business here. Now we have to find nearly £1000 to actually get the passport.

Grange Primary School and Surestart, Bootle

We are working at Grange Primary for 3 days this week. We have built a living willow tunnel in the Surestart Garden and are building a dome and a tunnel in the Reception garden.

We have worked at Grange on several projects over the years and the living willow domes in the main playground look fantastic. We built these domes about 6 years ago as part of the Sefton Living Shade Project. We returned 3 years ago to overhaul the domes and since then the site manager has done a great job of looking after them ie pruning and weaving in.

The weather was fine for the morning but began clouding over at lunchtime. We decided to go and cut some willow in Maghul after finishing at the school and by the time we had cut several bundles the heavens opened and there was a massive downpour. Luckily the rain had stooped when we got to Endmoor and had to unload the van.