Rush Basketry: Weaving with Eight Makers

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Plants are integral to reweaving the connection between land and people. A place becomes a home when it sustains you, when it feeds you in body as well as spirit.’

There is a maximum of 6 students on the course. I can provide details of local guest houses. We start at 9.30 am and finish at 4.30pm. Rush Baskets are made from natural ‘Bull’ rushes, harvested from the marshes and worked while green and damp- each new rush being woven into the path of the previous one. The shapes are moulded over forms and worked without tools. As each rush is unique, the basket has a beautiful individual quality and lasts for years as its fibres stay strong yet pliable. Alternatively, you can concentrate on sculpture or structures for your garden. I can help you with designs or you may be inspired by an item at the workshop. These three day workshops are created so that you can spend time working on a project of your choice. You may wish to improve on a technique by repeating a certain basket or weave or you could remake a favourite basket. If you are a beginner you can relax and weave at a slower pace on a traditional or contemporary basket. Intermediate or advanced weavers may wish to use the opportunity to try a more challenging technique. These baskets, ‘fascedde’ in the local dialect, are made of Juncus maritimus. Dried rushes are soaked for 8 hours to give them the flexibility required for weaving. Wooden forms are used to keep the shape and size regular. Ricotta and cheese were made by the shepherds who tended the sheep all day and brought them home to be milked and penned up for the night. As the number of baskets required every day was high, they were produced by hand in specialist workshops. European Market changes in regulations for the production of dairy products have banned the use of these baskets in favour of plastic ones.

Basketry

The work leads me and stimulates me at the same time. The pieces that I forge create a sense of spaciousness and take on a life of their own. I try to express the complex in as simple a way as possible, the natural materials often having a quiet and still effect on the viewer. This will be quite an intensive course and will suit those with some basketmaking experience wishing to extend their skills.

Rush can be worked with the simplest of tools. Scissors and twine are essential and a tool for threading ends away is handy. Football lacers are suitable for this or any long tool with an eye at the end. I sometimes find suitable threaders at antique fairs or old tool In the enfolding landscape of Devon I spent those months learning to be still like the trees in the quiet wood; letting the wind play through my hair; walking barefoot on the flanks of the earth, rain on my face. I became more intimately acquainted with small woodland birds, tall trees on the hill, the waning moon behind bare ash branches. In time, at moments, I felt part of the weave, that I had a place amongst other things. Not foreground to them in the way we humans often behave…and not less important either. Rush grows in many countries and the different varieties have different qualities. English rush tends to have a very good colour and to be soft, pliable and broad. Dutch rush tends to be more even and hard skinned and travels well. It is excellent for chair seating particularly the variety known as Saltgrass. There is a Chinese rush which is imported as pre-coiled rope and this is also useful for chair seating. All of these require some experimentation to find the right amount of soaking and mellowing to render them workable. This course will teach flat plaiting methods using 3, 5, or 7 end plaits. The first day will be spent making a length of plait and the second sewing it into an open basket or tray. At the end of the course, you will have a basket to take home.

Rush Basketry Workshops

This is an introduction to the making of rush baskets. Rush is one of the traditional materials used for basketry in the UK. It is soft, and therefore easier to work with than willow or cane. You will be shown enough techniques for you to transform rush and similar materials into simple, traditional baskets. You will develop practical skills in working with rush and, if you would like, other materials, and have the opportunity to further explore the properties of rush. It may be old, but we think it’s one of the best books on traditional basketry and basket-making techniques, a great for beginners and an essential reference manual for more experienced basket makers. Widely recognised as the 'go-to' resource for traditional basketry techniques. It is recommended by the Basketry Association and by basketry tutors across the world. Written by world-leading basket making experts Sally Goymer and Sue Gabriel. In addition to illustrated step by step techniques, the book includes an inventory of materials and specialist tools, design possibilities and practical advice. The book mainly covers willow, but the can be applied to other materials.

This course is suitable for beginners but requires perseverance! Also suitable for intermediates and those wishing to improve their rush basketry skills.

Rush Bag workshop

HEN’S NEST Collection of JOE HOGAN Material is oaten straw and the method is a type of plait, a technique used in many Irish straw baskets Rush was used to make baskets, chair seats, matting and mattresses in the past and there are still rush workers who keep alive these traditions particularly in East Anglia and Ireland. This course is suitable for intermediate and advanced students, beginners may find this challenging, not suitable for complete beginners. Freeform coiling lets me escape the constraints of traditional coiling, and allows me to explore the potential of forms which can expand into differing planes. The result is exciting surface textures and decoration. Instead of the core of the basket being stitched over, the core is stitched together invisibly. In these three coiled baskets I have taken inspiration from seed pods and their dispersal by the wind.

A great course for everyone interested in gardening and wild fibres or the cross over between textile and basketry. You should take home at least one basket. The exhibition Basketry: Rhythm, Renewal & Reinvention is a visual slice across contemporary UK basket making. There are some 35 maker’s work spilling over all three galleries at Ruthin Craft Centre. The exhibition shows what is being made today – and by whom – across basketry’s beautiful variety of shapes, materials and weaves.’ Jane Audas, August 2021My sister, my dearest friend and myself attended this course last Saturday. I admit I wasn’t really looking forward to it. It also seemed quite expensive for a willow basket. Traditionally the rope material was of rice straw. During the feudal era of Japan, waraji would be worn by the Samurai class and foot soldiers. Waraji only lasted three to four days; distances were measured by the number of pairs required for each journey. Today they are mostly worn by traditional Buddhist monks. This pot is typical of the style used to catch lobsters in the Connemara region of the west of Ireland. These willow pots were widely used until the mid 1970s but have now been replaced by D shaped pots with a base of wooden slats, hoops of rod iron and a net covering. These newer pots are much heavier to haul and carry but since most currachs (wood and skin boats) now have outboard motors the lightness of the willow pot is no longer as important. Most lobster fishermen made their own pots but few would now be sufficiently skilled to do so. The weave is the same as that put on before making the base of a donkey creel and is exceptionally strong. Thursday 13th and Friday 14th June. Decorative Trays with Kirk and Multi-Strand Weave Baskets with Sue You should be able to follow simple written and verbal instructions to support demonstrations, hand-outs, recieve health and safety information, and will be invited to take part in group discussion. You should be able to use numbers and be able to do simple measurements and calculations.