Willow wall pot workshop (all day)

What you will make

Break up a featureless wall or fence with a willow planter.  Like a hanging basket, it can be planted up with trailing and bushy plants for a beautiful display, either planted directly into the basket (in which case you will need to line it first), or simply place an already potted plant into it.  The flat back is made like the base of a normal round basket, with the basket uprights being formed into a curve, creating the body of the basket.  

What you will learn

• The eventual size of the basket will be dependent upon your speed of weaving, but expect the back to be approx 25cm diameter and the opening 20cm diameter.

• What you will learn: 

• How to weave a round ‘base’ using pairing weave.

• Stake up with 24 uprights, holding these in place with a 3-rod wale

• Packing weave to create the body of the planter

• A basic ‘trac' border to finish off the top edge

• A roped handle

Meet your tutor: Louise Brown

Louise’s interest in basketmaking was sparked more than 20 years ago when she enrolled in a local basketry course. “From that moment I was hooked;  the possibilities for creativity out of, essentially, a pile of sticks were endless and I wanted to learn all the techniques”. Since then she has deepened her  knowledge through attending as many workshops and courses by as many different basketmakers as she could find or afford. The City Lit College in Covent Garden, West Dean College near Chichester and Westhope Craft College in Shropshire have all provided her  with inspirational teachers and teaching.

Louise has been a member of the Basketmakers' Association from her earliest days in basketmaking. “This inspiring voluntary organisation opened my eyes to the incredible diversity within basketry, both traditional and contemporary, and to the many makers in this country and overseas. I have just completed two years as Chair of the BA”. Gaining the City & Guilds qualification in basketry, followed by a teaching certificate, gave her the confidence to share her passion with others through teaching. “I now run a comprehensive range of workshops and progressive courses in the Winchester area, as well as adult education classes in Winchester and other venues," she says. "I love sharing my craft with others which is why I so enjoy teaching basketmaking. Class sizes are always small so that I can give plenty of one-to-one attention, but this means that some workshops fill up quickly.”