ENGLISH WILLOW BASKETS THAT ARE FIT FOR A QUEEN
by Judith M. Fertig
According to his surname, Steve Fuller should be carrying on his family's ancestral trade of cloth fulling. But several years ago, when he and his wife moved to Longtown near Carlisle in the Lake District, he turned to dairying to make a living. Soon afterwards, Fuller took a locally offered basketmaking course and turned from what ancestry and necessity had previously demanded. He liked making baskets and decided to become a craftsman.
An old farmer, John Rome, taught the basketry course and was pleased that Fuller took such an interest. Although willow basket making is a traditional craft in the Longtown area, few young people are willing to learn it and carry it on. When the dairy farm where he was working was sold, Fuller was left without a full-time job. He decided to turn his hobby into a business, and Hedgerow Baskets was born. After several years of making and selling baskets from his cottage, Fuller began taking part in crafts fairs in the Lake District and Scotland. A craft store in Caithness, Scotland bought his baskets and it, in turn, made a sale to Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother. Now, Fuller says jokingly, he dreams of seeing the Royal crest and 'by appointment to H.M. Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother' emblazoned above his shop.
Royalty aside, Steve Fuller's baskets are special. He starts with good quality English willow that is grown and harvested for him in Somerset. 'I can't do the growing and the harvesting and the basket-making. It's all too labour-intensive,' he claims. He does, however, use some of the willow from his garden. The willow comes in three natural colours. Brown willow still has the natural bark. White willow has had the bark peeled off. And the buff colour results from the willow being boiled with the bark on; the tannin in the bark dyes the willow a soft brown. With only a knife and a pair of cutters, Fuller begins a basket by making the base first. He weaves the different strands of willow into a traditional design, and gradually he builds up the sides, sometimes adding a decorative border of three colours near the rim. Lastly, he weaves and attaches the handle. At least two hours are spent on every basket.
At a crafts fair in Scotland a few years ago, Fuller met Duncan Williamson, a 'traveller' or gypsy. A gifted storyteller who has had several books published by Penguin, Williamson nevertheless turned to basketry to 'fill in' the slack periods when income and outgo were not so well matched. Williamson taught Fuller the gypsy way of making baskets with a bare minimum of tools, using only hands and thumbs to split and cut. 'I'm very open to different ways of doing my craft,' says Fuller, 'but they must be traditional ways.'
Tradition luckily supplies a wide range of basket styles. Round shopping baskets, garden trugs, lag and washing baskets, baby cradles, apple pickers and oval baskets are all in Fuller's repertoire. His three most popular styles are the oval shopping, the garden trug and the log basket. But even though two people may buy the same style basket, each will have a different and unique piece. 'I seldom do a basket exactly the same way twice,' explains Fuller. 'I like to vary the style and use different types of willow and colours.'
The countryside around him is also an inspiration. 'I take my dog for walks into Scotland. The border is not far from my cottage and I love to get out and walk,' Fuller says. The muted colours of the hills and fellsides, changing in sunlight and cloud, give him ideas for new textures and weavings of colour. This area of Cumbria is the Debatable Land, once hotly contested between England and Scotland. Border reivers once plagued the region before Wordsworth and Coleridge had admired their first daffodils. But some things last. Steve Fuller's baskets are a part of the Lake District that you can keep for many years, and then pass on to the next generation.
Royalty aside, Steve Fuller’s baskets are special. He starts with good quality English willow that is grown and harvested for him in Somerset. ‘I can’t do the growing and the harvesting and the basket-making. It’s all too labour-intensive,’ he claims.
He does, however, use some of the willow from his garden. The willow comes in three natural colours. Brown willow still has the natural bark. White willow has had the bark peeled off. And the buff colour results from the willow being boiled with the bark on; the tannin in the bark dyes the willow a soft brown. With only a knife and a pair of cutters, Fuller begins a basket by making the base first. He weaves the different strands of willow into a traditional design, and gradually he builds up the sides, sometimes adding a decorative border of three colours near the rim. Lastly, he weaves and attaches the handle. At least two hours are spent on every basket.
At a crafts fair in Scotland a few years ago, Fuller met Duncan Williamson, a ‘traveller’ or gypsy. A gifted storyteller who has had several books published by Penguin, Williamson nevertheless turned to basketry to ‘fill in’ the slack periods when income and outgo were not so well matched. Williamson taught Fuller the gypsy way of making baskets with a bare minimum of tools, using only hands and thumbs to split and cut. ‘I’m very open to different ways of doing my craft,’ says Fuller, ‘but they must be traditional ways.’
Tradition luckily supplies a wide range of basket styles. Round shopping baskets, garden trugs, lag and washing baskets, baby cradles, apple pickers and oval baskets are all in Fuller’s repertoire. His three most popular styles are the oval shopping, the garden trug and the log basket. But even though two people may buy the same style basket, each will have a different and unique piece. ‘I seldom do a basket exactly the same way twice,’ explains Fuller. ‘I like to vary the style and use different types of willow and colours.’
The countryside around him is also an inspiration. ‘I take my dog for walks into Scotland. The border is not far from my cottage and I love to get out and walk,’ Fuller says. The muted colours of the hills and fellsides, changing in sunlight and cloud, give him ideas for new textures and weavings of colour. This area of Cumbria is the Debatable Land, once hotly contested between England and Scotland. Border reivers once plagued the region before Wordsworth and Coleridge had admired their first daffodils. But some things last. Steve Fuller’s baskets are a part of the Lake District that you can keep for many years, and then pass on to the next generation.
British Heritage Magazine, USA December/January1988/89
by Judith M. Fertig
According to his surname, Steve Fuller should be carrying on his family's ancestral trade of cloth fulling. But several years ago, when he and his wife moved to Longtown near Carlisle in the Lake District, he turned to dairying to make a living. Soon afterwards, Fuller took a locally offered basketmaking course and turned from what ancestry and necessity had previously demanded. He liked making baskets and decided to become a craftsman.
An old farmer, John Rome, taught the basketry course and was pleased that Fuller took such an interest. Although willow basket making is a traditional craft in the Longtown area, few young people are willing to learn it and carry it on. When the dairy farm where he was working was sold, Fuller was left without a full-time job. He decided to turn his hobby into a business, and Hedgerow Baskets was born. After several years of making and selling baskets from his cottage, Fuller began taking part in crafts fairs in the Lake District and Scotland. A craft store in Caithness, Scotland bought his baskets and it, in turn, made a sale to Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother. Now, Fuller says jokingly, he dreams of seeing the Royal crest and 'by appointment to H.M. Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother' emblazoned above his shop.
Royalty aside, Steve Fuller's baskets are special. He starts with good quality English willow that is grown and harvested for him in Somerset. 'I can't do the growing and the harvesting and the basket-making. It's all too labour-intensive,' he claims. He does, however, use some of the willow from his garden. The willow comes in three natural colours. Brown willow still has the natural bark. White willow has had the bark peeled off. And the buff colour results from the willow being boiled with the bark on; the tannin in the bark dyes the willow a soft brown. With only a knife and a pair of cutters, Fuller begins a basket by making the base first. He weaves the different strands of willow into a traditional design, and gradually he builds up the sides, sometimes adding a decorative border of three colours near the rim. Lastly, he weaves and attaches the handle. At least two hours are spent on every basket.
At a crafts fair in Scotland a few years ago, Fuller met Duncan Williamson, a 'traveller' or gypsy. A gifted storyteller who has had several books published by Penguin, Williamson nevertheless turned to basketry to 'fill in' the slack periods when income and outgo were not so well matched. Williamson taught Fuller the gypsy way of making baskets with a bare minimum of tools, using only hands and thumbs to split and cut. 'I'm very open to different ways of doing my craft,' says Fuller, 'but they must be traditional ways.'
Tradition luckily supplies a wide range of basket styles. Round shopping baskets, garden trugs, lag and washing baskets, baby cradles, apple pickers and oval baskets are all in Fuller's repertoire. His three most popular styles are the oval shopping, the garden trug and the log basket. But even though two people may buy the same style basket, each will have a different and unique piece. 'I seldom do a basket exactly the same way twice,' explains Fuller. 'I like to vary the style and use different types of willow and colours.'
The countryside around him is also an inspiration. 'I take my dog for walks into Scotland. The border is not far from my cottage and I love to get out and walk,' Fuller says. The muted colours of the hills and fellsides, changing in sunlight and cloud, give him ideas for new textures and weavings of colour. This area of Cumbria is the Debatable Land, once hotly contested between England and Scotland. Border reivers once plagued the region before Wordsworth and Coleridge had admired their first daffodils. But some things last. Steve Fuller's baskets are a part of the Lake District that you can keep for many years, and then pass on to the next generation.
Royalty aside, Steve Fuller’s baskets are special. He starts with good quality English willow that is grown and harvested for him in Somerset. ‘I can’t do the growing and the harvesting and the basket-making. It’s all too labour-intensive,’ he claims.
He does, however, use some of the willow from his garden. The willow comes in three natural colours. Brown willow still has the natural bark. White willow has had the bark peeled off. And the buff colour results from the willow being boiled with the bark on; the tannin in the bark dyes the willow a soft brown. With only a knife and a pair of cutters, Fuller begins a basket by making the base first. He weaves the different strands of willow into a traditional design, and gradually he builds up the sides, sometimes adding a decorative border of three colours near the rim. Lastly, he weaves and attaches the handle. At least two hours are spent on every basket.
At a crafts fair in Scotland a few years ago, Fuller met Duncan Williamson, a ‘traveller’ or gypsy. A gifted storyteller who has had several books published by Penguin, Williamson nevertheless turned to basketry to ‘fill in’ the slack periods when income and outgo were not so well matched. Williamson taught Fuller the gypsy way of making baskets with a bare minimum of tools, using only hands and thumbs to split and cut. ‘I’m very open to different ways of doing my craft,’ says Fuller, ‘but they must be traditional ways.’
Tradition luckily supplies a wide range of basket styles. Round shopping baskets, garden trugs, lag and washing baskets, baby cradles, apple pickers and oval baskets are all in Fuller’s repertoire. His three most popular styles are the oval shopping, the garden trug and the log basket. But even though two people may buy the same style basket, each will have a different and unique piece. ‘I seldom do a basket exactly the same way twice,’ explains Fuller. ‘I like to vary the style and use different types of willow and colours.’
The countryside around him is also an inspiration. ‘I take my dog for walks into Scotland. The border is not far from my cottage and I love to get out and walk,’ Fuller says. The muted colours of the hills and fellsides, changing in sunlight and cloud, give him ideas for new textures and weavings of colour. This area of Cumbria is the Debatable Land, once hotly contested between England and Scotland. Border reivers once plagued the region before Wordsworth and Coleridge had admired their first daffodils. But some things last. Steve Fuller’s baskets are a part of the Lake District that you can keep for many years, and then pass on to the next generation.
British Heritage Magazine, USA December/January1988/89
