Lovely day in East Harling today. We made small round baskets with a bow handle. Everyone worked very hard and produced lovely baskets.

So another rush handbag today. I am still refining the design to make it quick and easy to teach in a day. I really enjoyed making this for two main reasons. Number one I didn’t have a single snapper, number two I just love making those rope handles. 😊

Today i made these small foraging baskets. They are now gracing the table full of flowers from my garden but hopefully in a few weeks they’ll be full of elderflowers.

Another rush bag sample. For the handle I used the 5 strand plait I made last week. This was woven into the basket. It is really sturdy and secure but could have done with flattening a bit under a roller before use as it felt quite chunky to weave around compared to the stakes either side.

I have been promising my youngest son that I will make a bag for his inhalers for about a year. The paper prescription bag they came in has worn so thin there are holes developing so I decided it was time to fulfil my promise.

This little bag is plaited from rush. It is started with a check weave and then folded in half diagonally. The sides are plaited one row at a time. It really helps to make sure the check weave is as square as possible to begin with . When the sides reached the required height I did a level folded border and plaited a 3 strand handle secured with string bindings. Fingers crossed he likes it!

Well done everyone from the Norfolk Small Holders training group. They all made lovely willow bird feeders despite the willow being a bit snappy! At least when things go wrong it’s an opportunity to learn how to fix your work.

Another great afternoon at the Butterfly Art and Craft studio in Essex. This group made fabulous rush mats. This is a great beginners workshop to get used the material and how it behaves.

We started with a check weave in the centre and secured this with a pairing weave. After six rows of pairing we finished with a very simple border. The mats need to be dried before trimming.

Playing with rush this week. Making fresh samples for the class I’m teaching tomorrow at the Butterfly studio in Essex @artdays1

I’ve also started another tote bag by making a spliced 5 strand plait for the handle that will get woven into the base and sides of the basket. Watch this space!