Lakeshore Willows with Steen Madsen #3

At this point I’ve almost lost count of how many times I have been up to Lakeshore Willows to take classes with either Lene or one of her visiting teachers from Denmark. This time Steen was available to teach classes and it would be my 3rd time working with Steen at Lene’s place.

The fun thing about working with Steen at Lakeshore is that he allows you to make whatever your heart desires. We correspond months ahead and send photos or pictures of the baskets we would like to accomplish.

There must always be a trip down to the lake to gather driftwood and rocks. This particular class was extra special because two of my favorite friends were attending as well and we all rented a small cottage right on the lake. We were able to walk down to the beach and have the sound of the waves lull us to sleep at night.

Of course there was some drinks and willow gossip talk among close friends. I decided to grab a sampling of Canadian hard ciders. The Lemonade was my favorite.

We chatted for hours into the night and traveled together to class each day. It was a girls willow weaving retreat and I enjoyed every minute.

So for my projects I had a very particular basket in mind. I really wanted to try making a hen or chicken basket. I’ve seen examples of these types of baskets in pictures and paintings as well. Steen had a few examples of this type that he had in his files and we tackled this basket a little at a time. Overall it took me three days to complete and I’m so glad I took the time and really went slow.

The basket is a round construction with very open sides. Fitching and slewing were the highlights of this work for me. That and the wonderful lid that I made to fit the top. I pulled my inspiration from many different pictures and added what I wanted to add when I wanted to add it. All while being able to choose from the lovelies colors of willow that Lene has to offer at her farm.

Once I was home I grabbed the closest chicken and threw her in the basket for pictures. She hated every minute of it but I have to say I loved it. Carrying her around in this basket I could have been walking through the streets of a town hundreds of years ago trying to sell my very unhappy chicken for someone’s dinner!

The second project I tackled was an Irish creel. And tackle is the correct word to describe this process. You use very thick long pieces of willow. Traditionally this basket would have been made with the willow getting pushed into the earth to hold everything in place as you weave this basket upside down. Instead of doing that and getting probably very dirty and tired from bending over we took a large board and drilled holes into it. The board was then placed on top of the table and I was able to weave with ease standing upright.

I managed to get most of the way up the sides, but I was out of time for the day and decided to finish things up on my last day. The basket, still stuck into the board was placed outside in the willow garden to stay overnight.

The next morning and my last day I finished up the basket and started on my long ride back home.

These types of baskets would sometimes be placed on the back of a donkey so they are sometimes called donkey creels. I decided mine would look rather handsome holding some logs for the fireplace.

This was a basket I was wanting to learn to make for a very long time. My ancestry is mostly Irish and I still have family in Ireland, but I haven’t been there myself yet. It was a nice way to make this style of basket without having to take a very long plane ride.

It is so wonderful when Steen teaches at Lakeshore Willows. I hope that next year I’ll be able to attend workshop #4 with him.