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!

Using up leftovers from last weeks classes and my chewed up harvest. I made another shallow basket starting with a 6×6 slath. This produced 24 base sticks for me to stake up singularly, finishing with a 5 rod border after a few rows of waling.

Just finished some frame baskets in a mixture of different coloured willow and some seagrass.

Two willow hoops are attached together with a knot, in this case a god’s eye. The weaving is built up over a series of ribs using randing and packing from each side until you meet in the middle.

I have been playing around with different shallow baskets. The top design has a Catalan base, the middle picture is an Irish skib and the bottom picture is a standard stake and strand basket with a plaited border.

I love the variety in style and colour that you can achieve with relatively small changes to technique and willow choices.

Lots of weaving going on today at the Tickety Boo Garden Cafe. Plant supports and bird feeders. It’s a beautiful place to work in the middle of a garden centre with lovely views of the orchard and chickens scratching around.

Everyone did really well. All the folk weaving the bird feeders in the afternoon also made a plant support in the morning. The confidence they gained in the morning handling the material and getting to grips with the vocabulary really paid off in the afternoon. They made their pieces in super quick time.

It’s been a glorious day, the first of a few this week. I harvested my small willow patch a month ago. It was so sad looking that I’ve ignored the small branchy bundle until today. The sun made me feel alive enough to do something with it. So I made a spring wreath for the workshop door.

The muntjac have essentially been using the garden as a salad bar for months. There are so many breaches in the fence around the garden, the whole thing needs replacing. Clearly willow shoots taste yummy. I’m not impressed but their free snack days are numbered.