Willow Gathering 2019 with Maggie and Steen

I can’t believe that I’m actually doing really well with blogging about my summer basketry experiences. About two weeks ago I traveled to Iowa for the annual Willow Gathering in Decorah. This was my second time attending and I was so excited to take classes with both Maggie Smith and Steen Madsen. I also was able to meet Clare Revera, even though I didn’t get into any of her classes.

Willow Gathering for those that might not know it, is a week long opportunity to take classes with weavers from around the globe. Jo Campbell-Amsler and Lee Zieke are the two amazing ladies that have organized and run this gathering every year for the last 8 years. They have fostered this wonderful group of friends all who are super excited about learning all things WILLOW. It’s the one week a year that we can all geek out on all things related to growing, bark, baskets and our love of making!

My first three days of classes were with Maggie Smith from England. Maggie specializes in working with everything there is to do with willow. Most of her work is a heavy focus on using bark or making works of art that only utilize willow.

She showed us a few different ways that she collects all sizes of willow bark from fresh spring rods. Bark stripping is really only done a few months out of the year went the sap starts to rise. The best months being May and June depending on where you live.

So the first day was really just for gathering the bark that we would be working with over the next two days. We also started planning out the piece that we would be making. Pretty much everyone agreed that being “forced” to really sit and plan out a piece was something we didn’t realize would be so beneficial.

When Maggie was showing us some of her work to give us inspiration, I was immediately drawn to her bark coiling. I knew I wanted to give that a try and set out to plan a piece that would really showcase the coiling.

The second day I spent most of my time getting the shell of my piece prepared. The coiling was going to fit into a ring of willow bark that has a rim that is lashed together. I also took the time to prepare all the material to start coiling the next day.

On day three once the coiling was done, I put the whole thing together which you can see below.

The picture below you can see the bark is still a little green which is because we were working with the fresh bark. Ideally you should let all the bark completely dry before you use it but the piece is still beautiful now that it is completely dry. The bark is now a steely grey color.

One of the things that I also learned in my time with Maggie, is that I love to “pound willow.” Maggie takes the tips of the willow rods and pounds them with a mallet to release the bark from the wood. The pieces are very small so the main use for this type of bark is cordage. I made enough cordage to stitch together my whole piece. Maggie said she never met anyone in all her classes that liked to do this process as much as I did.

I loved how much Maggie was about using everything, she didn’t want to waste the tips or even the smallest fibres from break stripping the willow. I felt so validated because I’m the same way as her with not wanting to waste anything.

After three days of working with bark I had a day off. My boyfriend and I decided to take the two and half hour drive to the Amana Colonies. It was pretty much just one road south through endless fields of corn and cows. It turned out to be a beautiful day and I got to see the basketry shop and museum where I was lucky to purchase a traditional apple basket made by Joanna Schanz. We actually had a celebration for Joanna the night before, because she is receiving the National Basketry Lifetime Achievement Award in two weeks. This was actually the first time I got to meet Joanna and see how many lives she has touched in the willow community. She is truly a remarkable woman and well deserving of the award. We visited the Schanz furniture store where her husband works too.

I got to do some shopping and we ate some amazing German food at one of the local restaurants. We discovered a crazy delicious condiment made in Amana called, horseradish jelly. It was soooo good on top of ham stake.

These were meals we had the days before. Decorah has a great Mexican restaurant and 15 minutes away is one of the best BBQ places we have ever eaten at. We had brisket nachos that were made with Doritos and topped with coleslaw. I’m still dreaming about these nachos.

On my last day at the gathering I got to work with one of my favorite teachers, Steen Madsen. This class he was teaching a basket he learned to make in Azores. The story of how he came to learn this basket was very special, he stumbled upon a basket maker who didn’t speak English or Danish but through photos and hands the two men were able to communicate the language of basket making.

This basket was unlike anything I have ever done. It was so different in so many ways. The round base was done underfoot with a 10 by 8 slath with a slewed twining. The tip ends of the slath were worked as the first round of randing, and then the butts of the slath were turned down from the inside as the border. Then a roped handle was added in what was actually a very quickly worked basket.

The basket is actually a super sturdy construction so I decided it will now be my new tool basket. The size is perfect to keep all my bodkins and such standing up and I don’t worry about the handle breaking because it is also created by using two slath rods.

I really fell in love with this style of basketry despite the sore muscles and sweating from bending over to complete the base. I know for sure I’ll be making more of these in the future.

I’m also looking forward to working with Steen for another 4 days this coming September up at Lakeshore Willows in Canada.

So overall it was another wonderful year at the willow gathering. I can only hope that I can keep attending this each year but I know that I might not. For now I treasure every opportunity I get to work, learn and have fun with so many other willow basket makers. It is truly a special thing when you find such good friends who share the same interests as you do and you get to share invaluable time with them each year.