West Clare Willow - Handmade Baskets

West Clare Willow - Handmade Baskets The shallow baskets are idea bread baskets or for mince pies! The large baskets are perfect for keeping your craft materials or for shopping �

The equivalent of a bad hair day today - this morning’s effort ended up in the fire! With encouragement from Al, I didn’...
26/02/2018

The equivalent of a bad hair day today - this morning’s effort ended up in the fire!
With encouragement from Al, I didn’t give up (I was going to) and here’s the afternoon’s result. I had big ambitions this morning for a potbellied basket with handle. By afternoon I was very happy with my shallow basket ‘sans’ handles. 😀

Using some willow from our first harvest in this basket. The colours will become a little less vibrant as the rods dry. ...
06/02/2018

Using some willow from our first harvest in this basket. The colours will become a little less vibrant as the rods dry. It will still be beautiful though!

The rope weave shows off different hues of willow beautifully.
10/01/2018

The rope weave shows off different hues of willow beautifully.

Continuing our basket making story: Weaving the sides of the basket always begins with two rounds of waling. This is a s...
10/01/2018

Continuing our basket making story: Weaving the sides of the basket always begins with two rounds of waling. This is a strong weave which secures the uprights. There is a German wale and an English wale.

The weaving continues by pairing, ranging, or slewing, or a combination of these, depending on the style and effect you want. With pairing you weave two rods in turn, randing is inserting as many rods as uprights (usually!) and weaving each in turn, and slewing involves weaving with two or more rods side by side. There are other weaving techniques but these are the basic methods. Go examine your turf, log or laundry basket and see the different weaves.

We finish the weaving with two rounds of waling before doing the border. The photo shows the waling at the base and under the border.

This is my Rare Bear, the only one we saw while in Canada some years ago!

Moving on to part two of how I make my baskets - inserting the uprights.Willow rods that are not quite as thick as the 6...
21/12/2017

Moving on to part two of how I make my baskets - inserting the uprights.
Willow rods that are not quite as thick as the 6 base rods are inserted at each side of the spokes, a total of 24 uprights. A rod has a belly and a back, you can feel this when you hold the butt (thick end) of the rod in your hand and rotate the rod. There is a natural curve to the rod. We insert the uprights with the curve going upwards or downwards, depending on the shape of basket you are making.

This looks like a long-legged creature that you imagine will take off across the floor! We do it this way so that when the rods are turned upwards they are not falling in towards the centre of the basket and will remain upright.

The rods are kinked and turned up. How you tie them depends on the shape you want, in a hoop for a straight-sided basket or in a curved shape for a shopping basket

Thank you to all who gave me support, compliments and advice at the Chapel Lane Market in Ennis at the weekend. I apprec...
18/12/2017

Thank you to all who gave me support, compliments and advice at the Chapel Lane Market in Ennis at the weekend. I appreciate it as this was the first outing for West Clare Willow and your support made it a very enjoyable experience. The regular crafters at the market were very welcoming.

Aisling and Sean Lyons from Clarecastle provided beautiful music on Sunday afternoon, playing the uileann pipes and the harp. If you’re in Ennis next Saturday drop in, you’re in for a treat!

‘To market, to market, to buy a fat pig’ or better still, to sell some baskets at the Chapel Lane market in Ennis tomorr...
15/12/2017

‘To market, to market, to buy a fat pig’ or better still, to sell some baskets at the Chapel Lane market in Ennis tomorrow and Sunday. Call in and say hello!

Here’s a brief description of how I make my baskets.The first step is selecting 6 willow rods of appropriate thickness f...
12/12/2017

Here’s a brief description of how I make my baskets.

The first step is selecting 6 willow rods of appropriate thickness for the size of the basket. Using a bodkin I split 3 rods at their centre just enough to insert the other 3 rods crosswise.

This provides 12 ‘spokes’ around which the weaving is done to make the base. The base will be slightly convex to ensure it doesn’t collapse downwards when the upright rods are inserted.

More soon ...............!

Look who's checking out my willow. He's choosing a colour to match his bib!
06/12/2017

Look who's checking out my willow. He's choosing a colour to match his bib!

03/12/2017

Welcome to West Clare Willow. I learned to weave baskets about three years ago at a weekend workshop in Spiddal run by Ciaran Hogan and was smitten by the craft. The small baskets have a double-sided quilted insert, making them ideal for use as bread baskets and for seasonal mince pies. These are very durable baskets, made from natural materials.

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Doonbeg
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