Horn of Plenty...

Other wise known as a "Cornucopia".

Heading over to Wikipedia for a second...

"The cornucopia (from Latin cornu copiae) or horn of plenty is a symbol of abundance and nourishment, commonly a large horn-shaped container overflowing with produce, flowers, nuts, other edibles, or wealth in some form. Originating in classical antiquity, it has continued as a symbol in Western art, and it is particularly associated with the Thanksgiving holiday in North America."

Last week, while my favorite underwoodsman John and his trusted apprentice Jake were weaving willow to their hearts content as resident 'medieval' basket makers during a re-enactment at Arundel castle in England (www.arundelcastle.org/), I spent one afternoon sipping iced chai tea (yes, with cream) on a breezy front porch across the pond in Vermont, doing a little willow weaving of my own...

and voila. 

A cornucopia!

This is one of the first smaller, basket-like pieces I have designed, and made... all by myself. And I am well pleased with it!

I am very excited to say, that I will be doing a bit of teaching starting this fall at the Helen Day Art Center in Stowe, Vermont!

My first workshop will be Saturday, October 11th and we will be making a cornucopia, more or less like the one pictured above.

I have a couple other slightly different designs in mind too, and hope to make and sell them this fall... somewhere in the Green Mountains of Vermont.

If anyone has any ideas about where, please send me a note!

Oh my gosh! It's almost time for tea!

until next time...

susie

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens...

Bright copper kettles with warm woolen mittens,
Brown paper packages tied up with strings,
These are a few of my favorite things.

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels,
Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles,
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings,
These are a few of my favorite things.

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes,
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes,
Silver white winters that melt into springs,
These are a few of my favorite things.

When the dog bites, when the bee stings,
When I'm feeling sad,
I simply remember my favorite things-
And then I don't feel so bad.

(music and lyrics by Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II)

Now, that is a song to cheer up a soul, isn't it? I was reminded of this because we've been having thunderstorms and rain, rain, rain the last couple days.

In the movie, The Sound of Music, it is during a thunderstorm that Julie sings this song to the children, to calm their fears.

I was reminded too, because January in England we had record breaking rain, (it was the wettest January in recorded history, I do believe).

We sang this song alot... at least some of us did.

Okay.

It was me. I did.

And Romain too, not so much for the sheer joy as for the fact that it was stuck in his head.

Apparently his kids had been watching the movie over and over.

And over.

Being the nice guy that he is, he let me borrow the movie.

For several months.

And I suspect it still might be sitting on the window sill in John's shop, where I left it for Romain before I came back home in May...

Funny thing... The Sound of Music reminds me of home when I am in England... and England when I am home.

And so... back to this blog post.

A few more of my favorite things... some of which are not things at all... they're people...

Having opportunity to spend time with, and be in relationship with, well, my relatives (!) and also people from different countries and backgrounds and belief systems is by far one of my most favorite things on earth.

Recently, my nephew and niece were visiting from Cali and we got to spend an afternoon together wandering around Stowe, checking out the EXPOSED 2014 sculptures.

If you have a chance yourself, please go. The exhibit is organized so you can collect a map at the Helen Day Art Center and do a self guided audio tour.

All the sculptural works will be on display until October 15th.

You've got plenty of time!

While we were there, they wanted to see my piece from last years EXPOSED, which is still standing.

It really tickles me that people like this place of shelter enough that they continue to go there to sit and reflect, or have lunch, or drink a cup of tea or have a chat... the ground near the log seats continues to be worn by so many feet, it is just bare earth.

And some folks do more than sit, they actually interact with the structure in visible ways. The day we were there I noticed that someone had tied blades of grass together, making delicate ropes, and had tied them onto the inside of the structure, one on either side.

My picture does not really do it justice.

This really made my heart sing. Thank you to whoever felt lead to sit a spell and add a bit of your creative self to the structure.

And then. In case my heart was not full enough already. Lookey here...

morning glories... in all their splendor. Somebody loves me... that's all I can say.

And a couple other pics sent by friends visiting my piece. Dawna.

and Ron... looks like he has spotted the grass rope...

So, there you have it...these are a few of my favorite things!

Will you please take a moment, right now, to think about a few of your favorite things?

I would enjoy hearing from you what they are... or just hear from you!

Love-

susie

Three Hurdles and a Sheep

The Sheepfold 
EXPOSED 2014

Helen Day Art Center

www.helenday.com

90 Pond Street

Stowe, Vermont, USA.

July 12-October 15

Opening reception and walkabout with progressive Hors d'oeuvres
July 12, 2014

4 pm

Somewhere around the middle of March, while I was still in England I learned that my proposal for another woven willow piece made the cut for EXPOSED 2014!

I was, once again stunned by the news.

This is no small potatoes for me you know.

It is big. Really, really big!

So. After I got over being stunned, I got excited. Then nervous, because it meant alot of work to do between the time I would get back to Vermont at the end of May, and installation at the end of June.

My proposed piece was a sheepfold. So I would need to locate enough willow of the right sizes to make some hurdles and a sheep... cut the willow, find a place to work, lug the willow there 'work the willow up'... and make jigs.

All that before I could actually begin weaving!

You might have heard me talk about 'working the willow (or hazel) up' before. Or maybe you haven't. It's definitely an underwoodsmany term. Essentially it means getting the small trees you've harvested into a 'ready to use' state. You do this by skillfully removing all the side branches that will get in the way when you try to weave it, or split it or make a stake out of it.

Technically, this process of removing the branches is called snedding; in an English woodland it is done with a billhook, and you start at the base of the tree and work your way up towards the top.

(Secateurs and loppers will suffice in a pinch too.)

Maybe this has something to do with why we call it 'working it up'?

Maybe it doesn't.

I did locate enough willow  between Morrisville... Waitsfield... Jericho... Essex, and discovered (thanks to Bernie) that my back car seats fold down! So, I can fit quite a bit of willow in my 99 Chevy Malibu and can even fit 10 + footers in, sliding them in thru the trunk and all the way up onto the front dash!

I've got new admiration for my little ole car!

I spent a day with my brother Lee cutting down the willow and alder encroaching on his driveway. He and his chainsaw made short work of cutting the trees down, then we spent the afternoon together in the shade, snedding.

It was fun spending time with my big bro!

Kathy and Bernie donated 2 rough cut 1X6's and Lee spent a morning with me drilling the holes for my jigs.

After all that prep work was accomplished, it was me, nose to the grindstone weaving willow to my little hearts content.

I started with my sheep...

She took shape quickly, and I was just so into the sheer pleasure of it, I forgot to take pictures.

And then, I was done!

"Rose" spent the next couple weeks drying on the front porch in Jericho while I got on with the hurdle making.

That's my little ole car loaded up with willow from my brothers house. And then, on the way home...

a moose in the field!

the willow...

the tools...

(ouch! I just got a serious pang of homesickness for England posting this last picture... I remember like it was yesterday the day JW dug around in the landrover and came up with that yellow tape to reattach my cushiony 'tennis grip' to Betty's handle... it was a cold, rainy day in Bushy Wood, November or December during my first visit to England in 2011! JW, myself and another volunteer, Nick were coppicing hazel...

I realize a normal person probably wouldn't long for cold rainy days in the woods. So. You have found me out then. I have a brand new red cushiony grip thing to replace this old tattered one... just haven't been able to bring myself to do it.)

and my cozy little work space under the old apple trees at the Duncans...

And then, before I knew it it was June 29th.
Installation day...

details...

The whole rod hurdle... the white weavers have had the bark removed... it was the absolute perfect time of year to peel the bark. Came off easy as pie. Man oh man. I could peel bark til the cows come home. Saving the bark for something special... tell you about that another time.

baa baa black sheep...

I am pleased to say all three hurdles turned out straight (enough) and sturdy... I do believe the underwoodsman would be proud of me.

Heartfelt thanks to the following human beings:

Rachel Moore, curator of Exposed along with Katharine Longfellow, Nathan Suter and the rest of the folks at the Helen Day Art Center.

The jurors: Samantha Cataldo, DJ Hellerman, Amy Rahn.

Kim Komer and LCCD, Dinsmore and Leo, the Connerty's, Duncans and Grays, for their show of support, allowing me to harvest willow, and helping in numerous other ways.

My 3 big brothers.

And, of course, John, my favorite underwoodsman (and his trusted apprentice Jake) in England. For sharing the days and work with me for the goodly part of six months, during 'Episode II-the sequel'. I miss you guys a ton. Every single day.
And my other British accented peeps too, who helped make it possible for me to even be in England... and fed me curry on a regular basis...Tina, Duncan, Julia, David and Maddie...

"Oh my gosh! Look at the time! It's late..."

posting with a heart full of love and gratitude-
susie

Kindling...

Sigh.

I learned a lesson the hard way recently. And am less likely to have to 'relearn' this one.

Recently spent a couple days with John 'demoing' spoon making at the Penshurst Place Craft Show. We went over Friday afternoon to set up the tent and bring all the big things.

Yes, that actually says 'John Walker', which I thought was funny. It gave me opportunity for yet another nickname.

John Walker, Texas Ranger.

We brought plenty of spoons and spatulas and ash burr bowls to sell along with other products including: various types of hurdles, woven willow flowers, baskets, hazel walking sticks, an obelisk (that I made!!), two types of chairs and pea sticks.

After we got the tent up and the shave horses, chopping blocks and logs unloaded from the truck under cover, John made a couple pea stick plant supports, which was fun to watch. I've been cutting, stacking, bundling and delivering pea sticks all this time, but had never seen what to do with them!

(oh! behind the peastick creation JW is working on you can see a few things on the ground... that's a couple hurdles John made and an obelisk... I made that!)

Then it was back to the shop to load up all the rest of the goods.

Sadly, I failed miserably in picture taking for the rest of the weekend.

Not one single photo.

But, I was busy making spoons, as was John. My first spoon of the weekend... along with a spatula!

Spoon number two below...sort of a failure, except not really because I learned that knots are a no no. They totally mess up the grain of the wood making it very, very difficult to carve against the grain... because it is going in various directions. There is a knot on the bottom side of this spoon, right where the bowl meets the handle. Originally, the handle was longer too. It was one of those things when a person has to know when to stop, and I didn't. Until I suddenly realized I'd gone deeper with one pass of the draw knife than I intended and had shaved too much off.

Oh well. Still a usable spoon.

John, this whole time is making 5 or 6 spoons to my one. And his spoons are really, really creatively carved. Nice shapes and sizes. On the last day he started making spoons with a hanging hook at the end of the handle. They are awesome! I tried to make a similar one, and ended up with what I felt was going to be my best one yet.

see that hook at the top of the handle?!

All that remained to do was carve out the bowl of the spoon...

Ok. So. Backstory. All weekend John had his spoons lying on the floor, drying, but was very, very careful to keep them out of the direct sun so they would dry slowly. Lest they crack.

Tuesday when I got to the workshop I gathered together my spoon, and tools I needed to finish carving the bowl. I was heading out to a quiet, shady spot to sit and whittle. On the way there I was sidetracked by something that needed doing, so, I set my things down on an outside table while I tended to it.

Then, was further distracted by the call for tea time.

Probably 25 minutes had passed when I got back to my spoon. During that 25 minutes, it had been sitting in the sun, and yes, you guessed it... to my dismay, a big crack had appeared along the entire right side of the bowl I'd been preparing to carve out. There was absolutely no saving it.

That was 2 or 3 hours worth of work down the drain.

And one very nice piece of kindling.

I shan't make that mistake again!

living and learning-

susie

Otford Primary School Maintenance (January 27, 2014)

Two years ago when I was here we installed three living willow structures at Otford Primary School. One as part of  living willow course (a small dome with 3 entrance tunnels) and the other two (a bower and a large dome) by John, Nigel, Mike, myself and my friend Sharon. Sharon and I had met during the living willow seats course that John ran at Bore Place and had also participated in the living willow structures course at the Otford school.

I will direct you over to my blog post from last time to see those installations...

Well, huh. Guess what?

It looks like I never got that posted. Goodness me... here they are

All three structures had done very, very well, don't you think?!! Each had a significant amount of growth in the last 2 years!. It was truly exciting to see something I had helped install still alive and well. Not only alive and well but growing vigorously!

The bower, pictured below had a lot of growth on the top that needed trimming off as well as a lot of growth on the sides and top that needed weaving in. 

Jake and I set about doing that while John tended to reattaching the end column that had been chopped off during the electrical work for the new school building.

This first picture shows very clearly the willow that had been cut off... never mind the fact that John is either texting someone or lamenting the fact that he's 'in another bad cell area'.

John set to work...

 and had it repaired in no time flat.

Jake and I tended to the trimming and weaving of the side and top growth.

That's the bower finished. Big, big smile. Can you tell I am thrilled to be here?

Jake bundling the willow harvested from the top of the structure.

Next up, the weaving in on the smaller dome with the tunnels... you can almost make out the new growth at the top of the dome with a bit on the tunnels...

a sarny break and then off to work on the large dome...

A wonderful day, weaving willow. I couldn't have been happier. I hope I get to see these three structures again sometime in the coming years...

love from amidst the willow-
susie

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