Basket cases

Cherie Mirko with the end products of the willow weaving workshop (following).

TWO crafty Gizzy girls went wild last month, and came home sporting bruises. Cherie Mirko and Mary Davis slipped quietly out of town for a weekend and popped up in the tiny coastal settlement of Collingwood in Golden Bay.

They were there to attend an annual two-day workshop entitled “Go Wild With Weaving”.

“It was a great adventure — including getting there and back,” says Cherie.

“I’ve always wanted to learn weaving, especially with willow. We had two instructors, Peter Greer who taught us willow weaving, and Anita Peters, who introduced the ‘wild’ element, incorporating lilac roots, seaweed, feathers and supplejack into the weaving process.

“There were 14 in our workshop and five other classes going on simultaneously so there would have been 50 or so participants. People came from as far away as Raglan and Australia,” she says.

“As learners, we were told we could make two small baskets or one large one. I chose to make two small ones because I wanted to master the technique, especially the skills involved in making the base and border.

“Before the workshop. I had imagined myself creating a basket or trug with handles but I discovered that handles are quite complicated so I decided to keep it simple. I made two bowl-type vessels to carry things in from the garden.”

Willow factsThey learned some interesting facts about willow.

“You don’t just grab branches off any old willow tree. They need to be smooth, slender rods without too many knobbly bits.

“Ideally you need to find cultivars of basket willow grown in a coppice especially for basket weaving. A coppice is a bit like like an asparagus field.

“Peter grows 200 or so basket willow plants which he harvests once a year at a metre or so. The branches are best harvested in spring when they are most supple.

“Once picked, the branches are stored for four weeks to dry out and then soaked for a few days before being woven.”

Cherie was surprised at the different effects obtained by processing.

“If the willow branches are soaked and woven wet, they turn an olivey green colour but if boiled and peeled, they end up a warm reddish hue.”

A day for a basketAn average-sized basket takes an experienced weaver a few hours to finish while a beginner can usually make a small basket in a day.

“I’ve always enjoyed working with my hands and love the idea of making something useful from natural materials — creating a basket from just a bundle of sticks is very satisfying,” says Cherie.

“I like willow because it is such a functional and durable material. In days gone by, people had to use whatever was available to make vessels for various purposes. Think of the willow baskets lying around the place like grandma’s old shopping and laundry baskets. They endure for generations.”

At the end of the course, Cherie was “blown away to see the finished products of everyone’s work”.

“I loved the flax baskets and Anita’s wild weaving techniques of incorporating all sorts of random things from nature,” says Cherie.

Back in Gisborne, Cherie and Mary are keen to find a supply of the right kind of willow so they can pursue their new craft.

“I still want to make a nice flat trug which would be a useful means of carrying flowers and vegetables. I haven’t yet mastered the art of handle-making so will probably have to resort to YouTube for further instruction.”

So how did Cherie and Mary get the bruises on their thighs?

“Weaving willow takes a surprising degree of strength — all that bending and twisting puts pressure on your thighs. We ended up with sore hands too,” says Cherie.

But they are not complaining.

“It was a wonderful experience and we learned so much. Basket weaving is such an ancient craft. It’s a great skill to learn.”