The Craftiest Workshop

I wrote this entire blog post and then had to come up with a title. For some reason a song began playing in my head “A-tisket, a-tasket, I found my Easter basket. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 eggs that I have in it…”. A nursery rhyme from the late 1800’s which has been adapted into different Easter versions for preschool. Ella Fitzgerald recorded a jazz version of the nursery rhyme too.

I was in the mood to make a basket so I went out in search of the building material.
There is a short window of time to collect the best willow branches to be used for weaving wreaths, baskets or other similar projects. The willows seem to get new growth in the chinook type weather we often have in January. Sometimes, like this year, the sunnier spots actually have the catkins burst out of those new branches; once fully emerged, the catkin can’t retreat when it gets cold again. It is hard to weave with willow branches that have catkins.

In the past few weeks, I have gone out searching for branches that were 2-7ft long of new growth. You can tell it is new growth by the maroon red or yellowish branch. A seasoned willow branch looks more grey in colour

New growth Vs Old Growth

I cut branches with pruning shears until I couldn’t carry anymore in one hand. In February and March, when there hasn’t been as much snow, you can explore everywhere and get deep into the willow thicket. We have three separate Willow thickets and each is about 50m X 50m with individual willow growths about 3 ft apart. They growth out from the ground in many shoots so they become intertwined and it makes walking through them challenging. Getting hit by a willow branch that springs back is very painful.

This is the edge of the willow thicket which is visible from the house.

This is what it looks like in every direction when you are deep in the willow thicket.

I searched through the thicket until I got enough branches, carefully stepping through the knee deep snow so as to not trip on any deadfall that might be underneath. All the branches that got collected were brought back to the house and were put on the work table that my brother built in the fall along side the garage. That table has already been very useful.

This is me working on a different willow project.

This week, I decided to try to make a willow basket using this picture by picture tutorial which was easy to follow. Whatever type of willow was used in the tutorial, it was thinner and more pliable but I think I managed well with the branches I had.

https://www.jonsbushcraft.com/basicbasket.htm

One good thing about making a basket is that the branches don’t need to be really long. The base branches were only 12”. Three were spliced in the center with the other three pushed through the splice.

Branches were then woven around the square center and then in and out of the individual spokes of the base. You add new branches by weaving the ends in and then continuing on.
Once the base is large enough you take 12 similar length branches, sharpening one end, and jam them into the base in a weaved fashion.

The long branches are kinked at the base so they all will come together upwards. The best option to keep them together was to use a zip tie. I took a lunch break at this point, determined to return to finish the basket when I returned.

Two hours later, weaving in and out of those upright branches, I completed the basket. Maybe next time I attempt to make one, I will be more patient and take step by step photos.

And a view of the inside.

Although this basket is not very light, it would make a perfect Easter basket to collect plastic eggs. The handle was just something I added and I am not sure that it would hold if anything heavy were to be put into the basket.
For this first basket attempt, I am thinking of maybe putting a pot into it with some flowers and setting it out on the deck. I am happy with my first woven basket.