For many people, this must rank as one of the worst years of their lives; but I find myself thanking the stars, the fates, the spirits, that have made this year, for me, very special - challenging - but special. I feel blessed for many reasons, perhaps it’s the wee dram I’ve just had, but I am feeling very lucky to be where I am right now. It’s the evening of Christmas day, 2020. I’m sitting here looking back on the year, with a small glass of The Balvenie, Triple Cask, 12-year-old whiskey. After enjoying a lovely meal of local venison in a cream and mushroom sauce, with potatoes ‘dauphinoise’, sprouts, carrots, cabbage and cauliflower, I’m feeling very contented. But what a strange and busy year it’s been! ----------------------- Before Lockdown, in February, at short notice and after some gentle encouragement from Karen, I booked onto and attended Anna Liebmann’s weekend basketry course in Leith. In a fit of enthusiasm, I gathered together the few tools required for a beginning basket maker: secateurs, a sharp knife, a ruler, a home-made bodkin (an old screwdriver filed down to a sharp point), and a great big tyre iron! I would recommend Anna to anyone that wants to give basket making a go. She has a wonderful mix of expertise, patience, and friendly approachability. Over two days she covered all the techniques needed to complete a superb shopping basket. It was exciting to be learning a (for me) brand new craft, even the particular words associated with willow and basketry were special. It seemed marvellous to me that simple flexible sticks, could be worked together to form strong, lightweight, useful and beautiful objects. Willow (Salix - Viminalis, Triandra & Purpurea are the three species used for basketry), what a wonderful astonishing tree; it can be sustainably coppiced every year to produce long thin withies – and so many varieties! Maybe it was beginners luck, perhaps it was having an expert tutor on hand; but I was really pleased with my first ever basket. I was hooked! I couldn’t wait to learn more, try more, make more. Here is my first basket, a round shopping basket with flared sides and a wrapped handle. Made with Carl Jensen, Bleu, and Black Maul willow varieties. The very next day I remembered (from a couple of years ago) seeing bundles of willow stacked in an old stable a couple of miles from home. I hopped on my bike and rode out to have a look and met a quiet chap, Robin, who works a smallholding beside the River Eden. He grows lots of willow, but most of it is left to grow for several years and then coppiced for firewood. He still had some anonymous bundles of basketry willow however, a few years old and slightly the worse for weathering, in the old stables. He couldn't remember exactly which varieties they were. A deal was done, and I took home my first few bundles of willow.
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May 2020
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