Have you ever wanted to make a beautiful focal point in your garden?
Discover the pleasures of working with willow and create a stunning structure and sculpture at this one day workshop.
Enjoy a unique and satisfying experience learning to work with locally sourced willow in the beautiful surroundings of Hanwell Wine Estate. Chris, your tutor, will take you through a journey teaching you the basics of making sculpture from English willow. She will share with you her years of experience and knowledge of tools and materials to use. Chris exceptional experience will guide you through, so by the end of the day you will have learnt different weaving techniques using a frame to create a bird feeder and a random weave to make a chicken, ready to take pride of place in your garden. Both techniques will be useful for any future work with willow and give you useful experience of the material.
This workshop is suitable for both complete novices and people with experience of using willow. All materials and tools are provided along with refreshments throughout the day and a two-course handmade lunch served with a glass of wine.
By the end of the day you will have made one bird feeder and a life size Chicken to take home
We can’t teach you to make a basket in a day, but you can take home a Chicken !
“The beauty of this once commonplace craft, is now an increasingly rare craft”
A relaxing opportunity to get away from it all and do something different in the beautiful country side.
Outline of the day
9.50 Light refreshments and settle in
10:00 Welcome
10:15 Introduction on the history of willow
Get hands on with willow and make your bird feeder
Refreshment break with snack
Start preparation for your Chicken sculpture
12:30 Lunch is served – 2 course homemade lunch served with a glass of local wine
Continue where you left off
Refreshment break with snack
16:00 Home time, ready to take your completed bird feeder and Chicken home to show your family and friends
To ensure the quality of your personal experience, group size will be limited to 9.
For more information about this event or other Rural Antics workshops, contact Hanwell Wine Estate, events@ruralantics.co.uk or 01949 81393.
About Chris Baxter
Chris has an exceptional talent and skill as a basket maker. Expressing her art genes originally through Fine Art she then turned to working with willow. Tutored by Jane Jennifer in Diss on the Norfolk/Suffolk border, her teachings has come from a confirmed heritage that began over 100 years ago starting with Ronnie Woods family. A member of the Basketmakers Association she shares their aim “to promote the knowledge basketry, chairseating and allied crafts…”
Working locally she produces bespoke commission pieces and regularly teaches willow workshops. Working in willow that is harvested in the UK (Nottinghamshire and Somerset)