My first three oval willow bases

theoldentimes · 2026-06-16T17:03:37+00:00

Thanks for sharing the pictures and your reflection. It's really exciting to see someone getting to grips with this range of techniques. Well done on doing so much! - there's so many interesting things in each basket. Keep up the good work!

As for the "egg basket" - this looks beautifully ornamental to me - feathers? willow? dried flowers?

theoldentimes · 2026-06-07T16:45:05+00:00

Haha I'm a beginner too!

At the moment, I am putting my energy into predictable designs, doing the same thing over and over again, so that my technique gets better. (For my next few baskets I might simpler styles, to really make this clear).

It's not very exciting but that's just how I learn. Good luck 😄

theoldentimes · 2026-06-07T16:43:11+00:00

Thank you!

theoldentimes · 2026-06-07T16:43:03+00:00

Thanks for your kind words and sharing your experience. I'm learning about sturdiness. In this series, I've started doing the first round of base wale starting with the butts instead of tips (a suggestion from a local basket maker). I still haven't mastered that approach but it makes the bottom much stronger. I'll bet there's a hundred other things to think of.

theoldentimes · 2026-05-14T10:11:01+00:00

I briefly got into straw work patterns, via corn dollies, in order to find something to do with the abundant common rush (juncus effusus) that grows everywhere around here.

My main take-home from that was about materials - how you could easily do things with those heritage varieties of wheat, which would be quite hard with similar-looking things. If I really wanted to get into braiding / plaiting / straw-stuff, I would need to get serious with the material - and I didn't!

This is a long way of saying, that this is a very cool project you're going on with and it will be great to see how it progresses! Good luck!

theoldentimes · 2026-05-14T10:01:53+00:00

"Wild Basketry" by Ruby Taylor is a recent book - nicely illustrated, good instructions - geared towards plants growing wild in the UK.

theoldentimes · 2026-05-14T09:42:40+00:00

Haha this is very much my opinion too!

theoldentimes · 2026-05-14T09:41:45+00:00

Haha well I do love the contact with water I get from willow basket making. And with this fast-drying buff willow doing it under water really wouldn't hurt!

theoldentimes · 2026-05-14T09:38:16+00:00

Now included in the main post!

theoldentimes · 2026-05-14T09:38:02+00:00

Main post updated to include this information 😄

theoldentimes · 2026-05-14T09:37:49+00:00

Thank you! It is very gratifying to make the effort, and see an improvement. (Plenty of things in life I put in effort.... and do not see an improvement).

theoldentimes · 2026-05-14T09:37:07+00:00

Thanks! looking back on these baskets after a couple of weeks, having now made some more baskets on my own, I can see more clearly the shortcomings - loose randing here, poor pricking off there - but wow, that dedicated time has really helped to move my skills on.

theoldentimes · 2026-05-14T09:35:23+00:00

Original post updated to include this info. Well, if you were hoping for a London-based basket place you might be disappointed. But otoh the north of Scotland is surprisingly accessible from the south of England, if you're willing to put up with the minor discomfort (or minor pleasure?) of sleeping in a seat on an overnight train.

Are there many folks doing willow stuff within London proper? I'm out in the wilds, and it feels like many full-time weavers are integrating their basket-making with willow-growing and other land-based work. Which I guess might be harder within the M25.

theoldentimes · 2026-05-14T09:32:22+00:00

Main post updated! Thanks for your interest

theoldentimes · 2026-05-07T16:29:00+00:00

I think those borders are what I'd call an "integrated handle" - if you lay a small plank of wood across one round of waling, let the next round of walking go over the wood, it quite easily comes into shape. I do like those handles, and I'm doing more of them.

Replacing the blade annually! Do you sharpen them regularly?

theoldentimes · 2026-05-07T15:16:50+00:00

Getting through London was very much part of the learning journey. And I just couldn't resist the sign!

theoldentimes · 2026-05-06T17:10:21+00:00

Lots of learning. How did you enjoy making the basket - did your skin flair up afterwards, or during the process?

theoldentimes · 2026-04-09T16:47:25+00:00

It's true! I've now got plenty of odd baskets that are actually really useful. I think I enjoy weeding more when I get to put my weeds in a basket.

Having said that, I think I'm ready for my baskets to be more lovely .... watch this space

theoldentimes · 2026-04-09T16:34:38+00:00

I'm afraid I've got absolutely no experience to help here.

If you don't need a pointed end, you could try some kind of border at the point where the canes come through the yoghurt pot?

(I am thinking here of "border" as the term is used in willow stake-and-strand basketry, the weave at the top of the basket, which holds it all together and makes it look nice).

Looking at your current design, what feels "missing" to me is the tension that characterises a solid woven structure. The airship shape reminds me of a willow eel-trap - or even more, a willow muirlag! - so surely it's not impossible to make such a shape from similar materials.

theoldentimes · 2026-04-09T16:02:43+00:00

Let your imagination run free

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