• Willow Workshops

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    Craft Room Life -January 2024

    willow

    Cutting the willow

    After a very wet autumn and flooded winter  in Lavenham, 781mm for the year,a lot for dry East Anglia. We have had the most glorious, sunny ,cold frosty weather. I have been outside wrapped up well cutting and sorting my willow beds, a friendly robin beside me and buzzards mewing overhead.  At the end of each day I bring the bundles back up to The Craft Room, I store them on pallets against a north wall where it gets no sun. This is what we will be using green in our workshops.

    Once I have cut all the rods I revisit each stool and take the nobbly bits off sometimes using a chainsaw to reduce the crown. I have already cleared the bowl of the plant of all leaves ,often finding grain and eaten acorns and the tell tale teeth marks of voles. After checking the fence for gaps my final job is to spread straw  carefully around the plants and across the whole area. The hopeful aim is to suppress the weeds and keep the moisture in the ground.

    I love working with willow while it is still green, it has amazing flexibity. I have some really long rods , 8 or 9 feet tall perfect for plant supports, one years growth. I am taking bookings for workshops and really looking forwards to meeting folk, and sharing my love of willow .

  • Stoneware pots

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    Craft Room Life November 2023

    Cacao Bowls

    Cacao/ herb tea bowls

    I have spent some time making a batch of small pots and bowls. I have also created a couple of new glazes using my wood ash.

    My weeks are beginning to get into their winter rhythm, clay days usually coincide with lighting fires, warming Wendy Wagon up , getting it all cosy and toasty for Emmy to offer out her reflexology treatments and having a chat between clients. I love that at this time of year I  get to see both sunrise and sunset.

    My latest firing was a success, a long slow fire up to 1260 degrees c  in the electric kiln.

    I have a collection of ceremonial bowls for Cacao or herb tea, some hearts and small pots and soap dishes. All my pots can go into the oven, sit on wood burners and are food safe and go in the dishwasher.

    I welcome visitors to The Craft Room to come and handle the pots and maybe buy one or two if they please you.

    I will be at Hartest Farmers Market selling on December 2nd.

    Stoneware pots

    Willow Workshops.

    I’m waiting for leaves to drop before I start cutting, I will be offering out workshops in making random weave nesting balls , plant supports and trellis’  These will be sometime in February and March

    Please contact me if your interested in more dates and details or would like to order a plant support or nesting ball .

     

     

     

     

     

  • Rainbow

    Welcome to my Website

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    May Blossom Welcome to my website,

    I am really grateful to Abbie at Polyspiral for her patience and knowledge in getting this website up and running. I am hoping that if your interested in my work , workshops or booking to stay in Wendy wagon you will join my mailing list, contact me or find me up on social media. My aim with this journal is to post details of what is happening up here at the top of the hill in Lavenham as the seasons unfurl. At this moment in May we are enjoying watching the grass in the hayfield growing away,listening to the skylarks overhead, there are a flock of goldfinches on the dandelion seeds, all crops are in, The willows have been mulched, The hawthorn is in full bloom and the veg garden is beginning to feed us. The wild areas are getting wilder with increasing numbers of wildflowers. Already we are wondering when it will rain next.