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Finest Handmade Willow Products and Workshop using Traditional Methods |
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Willow & Craft History |
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Mike was born in Curry Mallet Somerset, but has spent most of his life in Chedzoy, Nr Bridgwater. Mike's Grandfather introduced him to basket making, where he made basket bases to pay for petrol for his motorbike - he became instantly hooked. Soon afterwards, he served a 5 year apprenticeship with a well known local firm, before starting out on his own. To date, his basket making career has spanned 25 years. After purchasing some land in 2004, we decided to plant out an acre of willow to allow us to be more self-sufficient. We built a new workshop to give Mike more room to work, run training workshops and also to display his products. |
Mike, his wife Ingrid and their family decided to move to Cornwall after planning restrictions thwarted their dreams of a live-in workshop & vistor centre. Unfortunately this meant that Mike reluctantly had to withdraw the oppportunity to run the workshop courses.There are no changes to other services that Mike has to offer.
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| Buff Willow – Harvested willows that are boiled and then stripped afterwards. The tannin stain left in the bark which has stained the inner wood the traditional reddish buff colour is stripped away. |  |
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Steamed Willow – Un-stripped willow steamed in the boilers. The steaming process releases the natural tannin which stains the bark black. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| White Willow – Willow that is harvested & placed in water and allowed to grow again. This allows the sap to rise up to the top of the stem. It is then stripped to reveal the white inner wood. This type of willow is traditionally used for cribs and bread and laundry baskets. |  |
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Brown Willow – Dried, harvested willows sold with the bark intact for use in sculptures and other structures like hurdles. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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