An afternoon in the willow workshop
The willow is a fascinating tree that grows everywhere in our country and receives hardly any attention. And certainly not the attention it actually deserves. Yet the willow can do so much and you can do so much more with it. To get to know the willow better and try out the basics of willow weaving, I’m taking a course at “Natur verbindet” in collaboration with “Naturmädl”.
The learning pasture
The course has the melodious name “The learning willow” and takes place in a very special place in Anthering – surrounded by hills, sheep, rabbits and nature, stands the wooden hut in which we will be working. The very sight of it will make you forget the stress of everyday life and awaken your curiosity about the traditional craft of willow weaving.
Bianca shows us the “Japanese knot”. I’m fascinated by how pliable the willow is, but I still find the knot quite tricky – I particularly struggle to hide the end behind the knot. Some of my course colleagues feel the same way – it’s probably the same as always in life: Practice makes perfect.
Next, we weave a willow spiral and I’m thrilled: it’s easy, quick and twists perfectly. Bianca tells us that she hangs the spirals on the trees as wind chimes. That certainly looks beautiful. The weaving technique is hopefully so simple that I’ll remember it until the next time I try it.
And now we come to the master class (for beginners): We weave a flower. To do this, we start with a ground cross and always weave in a circle with two branches parallel to each other. Sounds easy, but it’s not – at least not all the time. Because suddenly two branches are on top, which shouldn’t be the case. I cheat my way through a bit so that I don’t have to “unravel” everything again. Finally, all the participants put their flowers in Hannes’ raised bed, which is also bordered with willows. The flowers look almost kitschy in the sunset.
We were all so busy that we didn’t even realize how quickly the time had flown by. The afternoon is already over and we can take our new knowledge about the willow and our woven treasures home with us. It was a great afternoon where I met interesting people, learned a lot and possibly discovered a new hobby.