This year's first basket making workshop scheduled

I am still in Hungary, but have been busy preparing my return to the UK.

The year's first basket making workshop will be held in the Oxford/Abingdon area and is scheduled for Sunday, 21st, April. Details of exact location coming soon.

As usual, the one day (approx. 7 hours) workshop is designed to guide total beginners step by step through each stage of the basket making process.

On this course you will learn how to weave a medium sized vegetable basket with a simple handle.

Price per person:  £49

(all materials, tools, step-by step handouts, plus tea and coffee included)

For further details and to book your place please contact Borbala at: borbalahidvegi@gmail.com

Booking is on a first come first served basis.

Beware! Basketmaking is highly addictive!

EcoHouse follow up

So my first (but hopefully not last) workshop at the EcoHouse in Leicester was over yesterday afternoon.
I felt lucky again to have such enthusiastic, good humoured people attending the workshop; everybody went home with a finished, medium sized wicker basket and the basic knowledge to be able to start making a second one!
The EcoHouse is an amazing place with lots of interesting activities going on; it is definitely worth a visit if you live in the area and are interested in organic gardening, recycling and other green activities!
I am definitely planning to have a second workshop here, and next time we might be able to work in the garden if the weather is nice.
Although we used mainly grown buff willow on the course, I made sure we had some colorful green willow and red dogwood to make the baskets a bit more colorful; this is Monica, preparing the dogwood sticks for weaving. The best time to harvest your own material is between late November and early March, but you can still collect dogwood in the summer if you don't mind getting rid of the leaves.