December willows

Running late seems to be the thing for me in December. This week I finally made my winter planters - just have to ad some lights now.

Inspired by a customer who bought some willow globes from me for her planters, I have placed globes on top of a bed of greens in my planters at the back door. My customer has added strands of lights to her globes and it looks beautiful at night - I may just do that also, if I can find the time for it before Saturday that is. 

For the front door I have used lots of curly willow and dragon willow branches for a look similar to last year.

So far this winter we have only had a couple of days with snow. When we get the snow, however, it always gets caught by the willow in the field and I end up with large, deep drifts of snow among the willows - snow that doesn't melt till long after all the other snow is gone - and I scramble to get the willow harvested before it goes out of dormancy again and the bark loosens from the rods.

This year we have put a snow fence up hoping that most of the snow - if we get a lot - won't get caught up in the willows and I will be able to harvest earlier.

I could harvest at any time now, but am waiting for some frost so that it isn't so wet and muddy in the field and we can bring out the tractor to transport the willow to the barn.

The colours of the willow in the winter always amazes me, so diverse and vibrant.

Today is the shortest day of the year - we're on our way towards spring!
Wishing all a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year.

Words and photos by Lene Rasmussen,Willows.

Basketry workshops

As mentioned in my last newsletter, I am now offering my first workshops in basketry.

A beginner myself, I want to start with something simple - more rustic than refined - and a couple of people have asked me to teach them how to make the willow garden globe.

There is a bit of basic weaving on that project and it is something that beginners can participate in.

I have scheduled the workshop for Saturday January 14, 2012 - see details under  "Events" at the top - and that workshop is already filled.

A second workshop will be held on Saturday January 21st, 2012.

Living willow workshops for the spring 2012 will be planned and posted on my blog in January. 

Words and photos by Lene Rasmussen,Willows.

Christmas Markets

Thank you to everyone who visited my  booths at The HandMade Market and The Artful Treasures Christmas Show during the past two week-ends.

It was fun to participate and the positive feedback from visitors who purchased items or showed interest in future workshops has been very encouraging.

In addition to the bird feeders I had produced a few baskets, mini hanging planters, willow globes and some Christmas items such as angels, stars, "twisters" (for use in outdoor planters), Christmas trees and wreaths - and it was a pleasure to talk to people about my business.

I am looking forward to participating in future markets - in the meantime: Look out for postings about planned workshops.

Words and photos by Lene Rasmussen,Willows.

2011 Artful Treasures

The 2011 Artful Treasures Christmas show and sale in Niagara on The Lake is on December 2nd and 3rd from 10 am to 4 pm

The show is at the Pumphouse and held on the same week-end as the Christmas house tour in N-O-T-L

Take a trip to beautiful Niagara on The Lake and come and see me there!

Words and photos by Lene Rasmussen,Willows.

2011 Christmas HandMade Market

I have been busy preparing for the market, making
Baskets

Angels

Garden Globes

Wreaths

Stars

......and a few other things - come see me there!

Words and photos by Lene Rasmussen,Willows.

Flexible Willow Soaking Facility

When I was ready to use my first harvest of willow - dried for basketry - a couple of years ago, I decided to start small and my husband made me two pipes for soaking the willow.

The pipes are resting on a wooden frame in our utility room where the temperature is always around 20 degrees Celsius so it is not a problem to soak willow during the winter months. In the summertime I sometimes move the pipes outside in the sun where the temperature gets much higher which speeds up the whole process.

The pipes have screw caps in both ends. I open one end, fill the pipe with bundles to be soaked and cap the pipe again. Each pipe has a 5cm hole for filling it with water using my garden watering can and for emptying it again siphoning with a thin hose.

This has worked well except for the fact that the pipes are too small if I want to soak willow for more than one project. I really regret that I didn't invest in larger pipes as it can be a little tricky to get the bundles in and out when I stuff as much as possible in there.

This summer my resourceful husband made me a new, very flexible soaking facility.

A wooden box that expands as needed. The sides of the box are 8 feet long and the ends are 1, 2 or 4 feet long. The height is 1 foot.

The boards are easily assembled with large bolts.

After the box is assembled, I line it with a double layer of 6 mill plastic. Then I ad just enough water to cover the bottom which makes it easy to smooth out the plastic into all the corners and I can fill it with as much water as needed.

Even though the frame is just 12 inches high, it is amazing how much willow can be soaked in the smallest box.

The willow is weighed down with a few large stones.

Several batches of willow can be soaked without changing the water. It is, however, easy to empty the container for water and afterwards the plastic can easily be cleaned outside on the lawn.

When not in use, the boards require minimal space for storage.

The Danish blog 'Piletossen' has a great, very thorough post about soaking willow. It is written in Danish, but I believe that you can use Google Translate with a decent result.

Words and photos by Lene Rasmussen,Willows.

Transplanting your potted willow tree to your garden

As the summer is slowly fading, the colours change and the leaves start to fall, it is time to transplant your potted willow tree to the garden - if you haven't done so yet.

When you first made your tree at our workshop (or bought it) in the spring, the willow rods didn't have any roots yet and you had to leave it in the pot to root and start growing.
It would look like the one in the photo on the left.

When the roots have developed during the summer, you can transplant it to your garden - and by this time of the year you have to do so. First of all the roots may not make it through the winter in the pot above ground, and secondly the woven tree is really 32 willow plants in that little pot - so it really wants to get some more room for its feet.

This morning - still a bit of fog in the air - a woven tree waiting to be planted looks like this one in the photo to the right.

Words and photos by Lene Rasmussen,Willows.