| All you read in books is only half true, and all I know comes out of those books, so I think everybody needs to know my
opinion. This text was written in March 2004, so I am busy with basketry and growing my own willow for almost 6 years, and still I do not know
everything. -On this page are some of my tools I made myself.- |
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How you weave your baskets depends on which part of the country you live. If you are very creative then this also can make a big difference.
I weave on a table, but elsewhere they weave on a working board or they weave under their feet. |
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And when you grow your own willow?? You can just let it grow because when you have cuttings they grow very quickly. Soaking has to be done (Belgium red, Flanders red) for three weeks, but some miles from here it is only two weeks. There are so many different varieties of willow.
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And how long your willow remains in workable condition depends on where and how you store it. When I made my
big basket, Dutch page, use your browser back/forward
to navigate, I sprayed them (just like my granddad did) in the morning and evening, but after a week they where, in spite of all, too dry.
For the last few months I have been keeping them in a damp cloth. |
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| My second tool from 2002, because it freezed for my first time. | ||
| It depends on what you are going to do with your willow. Is it the close-weaving or you are going to make handles?? When you do the close-weaving they don't have to be that wet, but when you make your handles they have. In some places the willow is thrown away after one day and even I only soak as much I use in a day. Now I can do that with two tanks but with one tank I had to wait for three weeks to weave for one day. | ||
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| Pictures Jan-Jun '02 Pictures Jul-Dec '02 Diashow 2000 | ||
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