Willow Basketry Summer School

Join master basket weaver Anna Liebmann for three fun and sociable days of Willow Basketry Summer School and create a selection of willow masterpieces. With Annas expert help you will learn all the fundamental techniques of basketmaking, completing a traditional willow shopping basket and then a selection of other small projects over the course. Your completed shopping basket will be based on an extremely time served traditional design, and given due care should be outlasting you to hand down the generations! There will be lots of opportunity to experiment with colour in the sides of the baskets, using different varieties of willows grown for their varied bark colours. Once you've completed our shopping baskets you will move on to learn a few of Anna’s smaller projects such as platters, woven stars, or nut baskets.

You will work on understanding the structure of baskets, and practise selecting the correct grade of willow for each part of the basket, using Scottish and English grown willows. Techniques taught will include tying the slath, pairing weave, joins, staking up, pull down wale or foot border, 3 rod waling, randing, trac or rod border border, making a handle bow and handle wrapping.

Willow Basketry Summer School is suitable for both beginners and improvers. It’s a great place to start if you’ve never woven with willow before, or if you’ve taken one of Anna’s classes already this is a brilliant additional skill to add to your basket weaving repertoire.