Have you ever wanted to learn how to make a basket from willow? Willow weaving is a wonderfully therapeutic pastime, even as a beginner you can achieve great results.

Spend a day with professional basket maker Jilly Greig, from East Lothian, learning how to make a beautiful little berry basket with a simple bow handle. Perfect for foraging, Easter baskets, or just to gaze at and admire your handywork.

Jilly will teach you how to select the correct willow, tell you about the qualities of different types of willow and how to prepare it for weaving with. You will learn how to construct a round base, the beginnings of any round basket. Then you will prepare the uprights to insert into the base and tie them up to form the frame for weaving the sides around. We will use a pairing weave in the base and a simple waling weave on the sides. To finish off the basket we will learn how to use a simple trac border.

Once you have completed the basket, Jilly will show you how to add a bow handle, and how to peg it, to stop the handle coming out when you put weight in the basket. Perfect workshop for total beginners, and improvers who have tried a little weaving before.

Materials and use of tools included, along with tea, coffee and homemade cake.
 
Bring an old sheet or large towel to wrap up your basket in your lunch hour to stop it drying out.