willow vikingships

we have been busy this week with ship building,we have sent 3 viking ash urn sfireships to the good ole US of A and one to the UK.

At the moment,9 out of 10 ships end up in the states,there seems to be a lot of viking ancestory over there.We have been adding coloured stripped willow for a bit of colour,The ships that we send to the states have to be made of buff or white or dyed willow,the willow cant have bark on it aas there is a risk of sending deseases over there…apparentley.

willow ash urn fireship for a 22 year old

COLOURED HOMEGROWN WILLOW

Its nearly that time of year again to get out the electric secateurs and start cutting our willow.it sure has gone crazy this year,up to 12ft in length growth in just one year.we will be making coloured willow wreaths and plant supports during the next few weeks

New willow beds

Here at withysmythe meadow, cradletogravewillowcoffins.co.uk w are putting down some new willowbeds, to expand our growing area.we have 20 different varietys of basketry willow at the moment, to see which varietys grow best on our heavy clay soil,so we will be planting packing twine,,brittany green and dicky meadows,all my favourates and they all grow so well here

RAF Happy landings coffin

This is our new masterpiece the ‘happy landings’RAF willow coffin.we made it beyween us and our friend danny whos father passed away.a very fitting tribute made with love

Willow harvesting

For yhe next few months we are harvesting all our homegrown wllow by hand we cut it back to about 10 cm every year .there is 1st 2nd and 3rd year growth.the first years growth will have 2 to 10 rods,2nd year will have up to 20 or more rods and 3rd year 30 to 50 rods .each new willow cutting planted will take 3 years to start producing useful lengths of willow for weaving.

We are growing around 17 different varietys and colours atm and will continue planting for another 2 to 3 years.

The colours we have this year are stunning so we will be able to make some very colourful baskets

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Do we repair well loved old baskets?

One of our favourite jobs is repairing a well loved old basket and to give it a new lease of life.Today we have repaired a really really old laundry basket ,the willow was very brittle and had woodworm but it was strong enough for us to cut away the broken woven piecs of willow and replace with some new pre soaked buff willow,The laundry basket is now serviceable and looks great

basket rebuild

Willow Harvesting

We here at withysmithe meadow are harvesting our willow.we have been growing willow here on our land for 3 years so this year we are cutting by hand 1st second and 3rd year growth.We have 17 different varietys of basketmaking willow ,all at different stages.

Most of the 1 year cuttings will be used for creating wildlife habitat as its too branchy to use for weaving.so we will be making piles of willow for insects.The 2nd and 3rd year willow of which most of it casn be used for weaving.

We will also be planting a few more varietys over the next 2 to 3 years .

The willow cuttings take 3 years of growing to get to the stage where the stool is established .We cut the willow back to about 10cm each year in order for it to regrow.

you can get anything from 3ft to 9 ft lengths in a year from some of the varietys.We are now able to sell some cuttings ,and hopefully over the next few years we may be able to sell small amounts of our homegrown willow aswell.

Bespoke log baskets

We are now taking commissions for bespoke made to measure and choice of colours and design log baskets to go next to your wood burner,Order now before winter sets in