Willow Basket Making

 

 everyone!

Yesterday, my friend Kalyn came to my studio and we had a fun day of basket making. We had made the basket base last week, so the sides and top were on the days agenda.

Getting started-the stakes are in and working on the upset

 

I split some willow and experimented with using that for weaving. I like the idea of it and love splitting willow; something I have only ever done in the springtime with freshly harvested willow. I found it to be just as easy with rehydrated willow. And just as enjoyable.

While I have the opportunity, I think I will split a bit more so I can experiment more with that over the winter. You can sort of see it the split willow (looks white) on my basket on the left.

  

Beginning the rim...

Kalyn was pretty pleased with her results! 

As always with anything willow related is for me, it was an enjoyable day.

Growing up I remember going to 'the dump' with my Dad. That was the terminology used for what we refer to as 'transfer stations' where I live now... a place to bring trash and recycling. Only, way back then we just dumped it all in one big pile, no sorting, nothing. This meant that if someone had 'dumped' something that my Dad imagined he could use, repurpose or that might come in handy 'some day' it would come back home with us, thus making my Mom sputter a bit. These treasures generally found a home in my Dad's workshop in the basement and yes, sometimes re-emerged in the future in their repurposed form.

I am my fathers daughter. After the basketmaking cleanup was finished yesterday I sorted thru the 'discard' pile and ended up with several small bundles of willow... some that can be used for lantern making, all the fine little tips that I will experiment with to make a coil basket this winter and some larger diameter pieces I have some ideas for. Then there was a small pile of various sized pieces that I could not imagine a use for, so into the trash they went. 

Awhile later as I sat drinking a cup of tea at my drafting table and thinking about writing this post I had an idea so dug some of those willow pieces out of the trash (they were just sitting there right on top after all) for this...

and the 'HI' at the beginning...

I cannot promise they will go back in the trash... I will let you know.

What creative stuff have you been up to lately? I would love to hear from you, leave me a comment!

be well-

susie

con·tem·po·ra·ne·ous

 /kənˌtempəˈrānēəs/

Learn to pronounce

adjective: contemporaneous

1. existing or occurring in the same period of time.
2. 
   

I am seeing light at the end of that downsizing tunnel I have been in these last 5 months or so. And, consequently have been spending less time trying to disperse belongings and more time in the studio with my creative cap on... finishing projects I had started, trying out some new things and in general, just taking a big deep breath in and letting it out slowly. Enjoying my moments. And. My contemporaneous activities.

Let me start with this. I stop at this sign practically every day if I leave home. I am not sure when the modification happened. It may very well have been there for a long while, but, if it has been, I have missed it in the addled brain state I have been in. So, I of course had to google Diana Ross and the Supremes when I got to my computer... This is a classic: Stop, in the Name of Love

On October 10th I spent the morning with a handful of others folks walking around Hartford, VT on a tree id walk with the Hartford Tree Board. It was just so, so nice to hang out with other human beings in real life for a change. It was sunny and warm. A perfect Autumn day. I got to brush up on my tree id skills and was reintroduced to Silver Maple, which I now realize I see often along my commute and never really new what it was! I remember Silver Maple getting a bad rap during my early days as a landscape designer, but the specimen we looked at on a historic property in the center of town was very impressive indeed. I picked up these leaves wandering around outside my studio. Can you identify what trees they came from?

Do you remember that I borrowed a loom back in March or April and was working on making place mats using my old gym t-shirts that no longer fit...Let's not talk about why the don't fit, ok? So, being my first time warping a real loom and not really knowing what I was doing I was about 1/2 way thru the first place mat when I realized I had things upside down and backwards. Maybe just upside down. Or, maybe just backwards. I'm not really sure. At any rate, this particular loom has little wood thingies on the sides that are meant to hold the heddle in place when its in the 'down' position. I think. Thereby making a gap (shed) in the strings (warp) to push the shuttle (holds the weaving yarn) through. Maybe go watch a YouTube video of weaving if this is not making sense to you, although, I will say I watched a YouTube video of loom setup and still got it wrong... so I don't know...

My first place mat turned out pretty good and I was anxious to use it, so, instead of weaving place mat #2, I CUT OFF place mat #1. Yes. This left all the warp threads dangling and in need of reattaching. (If I knew how to insert a little emoticon in blogspot I would insert here the one that has the big bug eyes and hair sticking straight up and is blue and looks like it is going to blow up.)

To make a long story, only slightly shorter. I did manage to get the warp reattached and the 2nd place mat woven with the last inch or so being very, very troublesome. (That emoticon again). But here they are. And it was time for a much needed cup of tea after tying all those strings to make that fringe. I did really enjoy the process of weaving; and found it relaxing despite the problems I created for myself along the way. Don't you love all the colorful fringe?!

You should know by now. I. Love. Willow. And, I am happy to report that I have a temporary relocation of my soaking tank so have been making up for lost time and weaving basket bases (they take up less storage space) and wreaths which I hope I might sell somewhere locally. I also have one student who is my guinea pig for me teaching basket making. We spent an afternoon last week for her to make a base and we will do the rest of the basket this week.

Also have been trying to use up some of my wool roving (dyed with kool aid with my after school kids last year!) felt, embroidery floss, beads and other embellishments. Here's some of my experimentation thus far.

 

And last but not least--in fact, saving the best for last. A thing of beauty. The Underwoodsman in England I was fortunate to spend some time with and learn from has been teaching courses on wood shingle making along with all the other traditional woodland crafts for 27 + years now. The last 10 years or so, he has been making and storing up wood shingles that are now beautifully displayed atop a roof!  A work of art. And, a testament to his traditional craft skills, perseverance and vision. Proper job John Waller. Hats off to you.

And that's all for now folks.

Love,

susie

(Recycled Plastic) ART IN THE PARK 'Something Fishy'

A few weeks back, on a beautiful Autumn day here in my corner of the world. I spent part of the morning with a few other artists installing sculptures on the South Royalton green.

The idea was to use recycled plastic, and while my piece is not entirely plastic, it is created from parts of previous sculptures that have been recycled. Multiple times.

In 2016 the Woodstock History Center hosted a community event where we gathered for an afternoon of willow hoop making and me sharing about the amazing plant species Salix (willow). I then created a sculpture “Spirit” for Sculpturefest 2016, in Woodstock.

That piece remained standing until I disassembled it in fall of 2018. By that time the willow hoops had weathered, but were still strong; the plastic ties had almost completely lost their integrity.

Then, I reused the same hoops, with new plastic ties to create another sculpture “Blobert Revisited” for Sculpturefest 2018.

And another reuse of that same sculpture last year for LandArt Lab 2019 at the King Farm in Woodstock “Blobert Revisited 2”. The balls are encapsulated in 100% wool netting, hand-made in the same way fisherman have created netting thru the centuries. 

Do you know about 'the great pacific garbage patch'? Here's a link to a national geopgraphic website about it...

https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/great-pacific-garbage-patch/

And another link about an innovative ongoing cleanup effort.

https://theoceancleanup.com/updates/wilson-update-tweaking-the-system/


I had originally, in my mind's eye the idea of a pod with the ball inside as the 'seed' (think GMO). But when all was said and done, and much to my surprise, there was no mistaking the shape that emerged was definitely animal not vegetable.

To create 'Something Fishy' I took apart the previous sculpture in large sections and then lashed them together using fresh willow withies to encapsulate the pink ball.

My intent, in this piece, and all the works before it is to provide an opportunity for people to think about their relationship with plastic vs. natural materials.

What words come to your mind about the plastic parts? What words come to mind about the willow? Are your thoughts based on the way they look? Their durability? Some other factor?

I would love to hear your thoughts. Leave a comment!

I will close with some pics of the other Art in the Park...

'til next time. Love to you, susie