Willow and the Willow Crafting Story

Sustainable

Willow is a wonderful work of nature.  It is one of the fastest growing plants and absorbs carbon as it grows making it the ultimate sustainable material!

 

Belonging to the Salix family, species of willow have been found amongst the earliest recorded flowering plants.  There are about 300 known species of worldwide of which 19 are regarded as being native to Britain. Somerset Levels, being wetlands are perfect for willow beds and still the heart of Britain’s willow industry.

 

Growing Willow

Willow cuttings are planted out in the spring and  the stems, or wands, are cut after the leaf has fallen in November through to March.   Willow can be harvested from the second year and then annually for the next 30 to 60 years! 

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Until quite recently willows were cut by hand using sharp hooks and, although most willows are now cut with machines, harvesting is still very labour intensive. Cut willow can be used in a variety of forms:

• Fresh cut or ''green'' willow can be used for living willow constructions and riverbank protection. 

• Brown (dry) willow has been dried with its bark on and requires soaking and mellowing to make it pliable and is most often used for basketry, outdoor sculptures and hurdles or fencing

• White willow has been cut and kept alive in water until April or May allowing the sap rise and leaves to sprout and the bark can then be peeled off and is used for basketry, indoor sculptures.

 

Traditional Crafting

Weaving with willow is widely believed to be the oldest craft in the world, dating back ten to twelve thousand years and before pottery. It is has been found in some form in almost every part of the world where baskets were essential to everyday life for containing, storing and transporting items and fishing.

 

The Romans often used willow for basket making and Britain was renowned for skilled basketry. Somerset, with wetlands suitable for willow beds, was the heart of Britain's willow industry. In the early 1800s the high demand of willow lead to the plantation of over 3,000 acres of willow and by the end of the 19th Century there were hundreds of willow growers, willow merchants, basket makers and furniture makers on the Somerset Levels and Moors. Sadly the number of skilled basket makers has fallen sharply from 14000 to just 5,500 by the mid-1930s and sadly to what is thought to be as low as just 200 today. 

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​Basket weaving is associated with a number of other associated craft including; willow sculpture, willow coffin making, living willow, chair seating and willow growing.  There are generally acknowledged to be seven construction methods in willow crafting: looping, knotting, plaiting, coiling, weaving, twining and assembly. 

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Other Uses of Willow

Being highly durable and resilient willow wood is used to manufacture many goods including shoemakers' lasts, ladders, boxes, cricket bats and furniture.  Being pliable also makes it perfect for fencing, fibre, rope and string.

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At one time the poor often ate willow catkins that had been cooked to form a mash and the inner bark can be eaten raw or cooked, as can the young leaves and underground shoots.

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Willow bark contains a chemical called salicin, which is similar to aspirin and has led to it being used as a natural remedy for reducing pain and fever.  It can been commonly used for back pain, osteoarthritis, fever, flu and muscle pain however there is no reliable scientific evidence to support its use in this way.