Weaving Magic, Naturally Workshops

Introduction to Basketry Techniques
The weekend was a typical hill winters days. On Saturday the rain hung around most of the time but it did not deter the 6 enthusiast participants from Adelaide, the hills and Perth. They where well prepared for a full 2 day program of discovering the joys of basketmaking.
The Weaving Magic, Naturally introduction to basketry techniques started day 1 with the basics of rings, using a range of garden materials

. The rings then were manipulated into the ever useful tension trays.
Swapping materials to chasmanthe, the technique of making string had the conservation going like ‘it’s amazing’ ‘everyone should how to make string’ and ‘I’m addicted to making string’
 
After a warming lunch the next challenge was a garlic basket using dracaena Draco and iris. These all evolved into creative and wonderful baskets and by the end of the day were mostly completed.

Day 2 saw the sun come out. The day started with knotless netting, followed by a garden walk to check out the plants, how materials are dried, stored and rewet as well some garden basketry.

Back to work to create something using random weave, fortunately it was advantageous to work outside as the works got bigger. The newly learned skills flowed into these works as well.

 After another warming lunch it was time to build a fence in the garden using hazel and grapevine. Lots of chatter and more enthusiasm with new ideas for businesses building garden fences and sharing of materials.

 Before the day drew to a close there was time to reflect and finish off projects and many ideas for new projects.

The participants and I enjoyed the weekend. It’s always great to share your skills and very rewarding to see the excitement and enthusiasm when someone masters a new skill. I look forward to next weekend teaching rib baskets.