World of Bushcraft Seasonal Wreath Workshop

And so the sixth trip out of six to the World of Bushcraft Centre in Bedford had arrived and constituted my last organised outing of both 2016 and indeed my sabbatical (which is taking a bit of getting my head around). As  I arrived and saw evidence of pre workshop activity.

There was a hive of behind the scenes activity with a meeting of several instructors happening, Christmas orders being sorted and then I turned up to pin Joseph down for two hours. We had a quick chat and  this included a lot  of Scout talk as we are both leaders, then he ran through knife safety; he felt a bit silly doing so as I am competant with one but credit to him for sticking to his guns and covering that base anyway. I did say that an individual could give the impression of competancy on social media and be a total liabilty in the flesh so had no problem listening.

We then looked at the previously steam bent Hazel lengths that I saw on the way in, discussed the bending technique and how one should look, and indeed could look with the risk of elbows (angles) forming.

And then over to the homemade steamer to retrieve another Hazel length

Annnd a quick dash to the stump to start working it. I expected wood that had been subjected to steam to be hot but it actually surprised me just how hot the wood was. It certainly made it very biddable though.

We then trimmed and tied off the Hazel to form the frame's shape after tapering both ends to fit snugly together.

And then it was onto systematically loading the foliage onto the frame. In a way it was similar to the  Coil basketry workshop in that once the initial prep was done it was doing the same stuff repeatedly, starting with the base foliage which in this case was Leylandii. It's not really a fault but I think that sometimes I'm a bit  too precise and  methodical with some projects   (the Willow basketry workshop springs to mind too) and I spent too long laying down the base foliage. 

I decided to spend the remaining time that I had placing the fancier greenery roughly in place and then finishing it off at home, especially as we were losing the light. I'm pleased to say that Joe did make a decent amount of tea for us (for a change!) and we scoffed some Diam bars that I'd brought with me. 

 

As I got ready to depart I briefly saw Jason Ingamells to say 'Hello' to as he moved between meetings and Joe presented me with a gift voucher to book another weekday workshop in recognition of my regular visits during 2016, a nice touch indeed.

After a bit of shaping trimming tying and the addition of some Mistletoe I purchased from Waitrose I now have a fulsome and colourful seasonal wreath loaded with Pagan symbolism!

Suggested further reading:-

Kuksa Workshop

Map reading workshop

Coil Basketry Workshop

Willow Basketry Workshop

Net Making Workshop

Bushcraft and Scouting

World of Bushcraft Net Making

And so a cold sunny Wednesday saw me head to the MK41 district to my fifth of six World of Bushcraft workshops, this one being net making with senior bushcraft instructor Adam Logan. After a brew he showed me some previously made nets for catching both fish and fur and did a little legality talk. As we were outside the brews Adam made probably kept us alive as there was a real nip in the air.

 

We then started on making the top two rows from which the net forms. I'm normally pretty on the ball with knots (see here, here, here, here and here as examples) so the fact that I couldn't quite suss out net making did frustrate me as the knot is a sheet bend which I am familiar with albeit tied in a different way for a net. 

So as I started to make the top part of my net my banana fingers did initially let me down but I got there in the end. I said to Adam that I didn't mind too much if I the workshop net wasn't  a pretty boy example because I was just as interested in getting the techniques sorted and a bit of practice in.

 

LHS picture credit:Adam Logan 

Once the top part was sorted to the correct length I threaded a line through the top loops to tie up, and the row to which the needle was still attached was at the bottom ready to be added to.

 

And this is the start of the net threaded up tightly between two points so that I could work on it with an over, under through, clockwise turn, under, through and pull. 

Picture credit: Adam Logan

It is quite literally like knitting and you just rinse and repeat for the vast majority of the time. I also learnt how to expand and shrink down rows and add new cordage in (this was linen by the way) and I reached a suitable finishing point with the odd minor hitch (no pun intended) along the way. Despite the fact that it was cold and the repetitive nature of net making I found that the time just flew by and it's with thanks to Adam that I got the net making monkey off my back.

The other recent World of Bushcraft workshops I've attended to date are:-

Kuksa Making

Coil Basketry

Map and Compass

Willow Basketry

I've also done a 1-2-1 Bow Drill Session with Jason Ingamells to review my technique

World of Bushcraft Willow Basketry Workshop

I'm getting to see the world of Bushcraft Centre rather a lot at the moment and a recent trip up to a basketry workshop was my fourth of six workshops. And to a trip to Africa which has taken several members out of the picture instructor Jay took the helm for a change. 

 

I know Jay so he needed no introduction and after a brew and a quick chat we got started. My previous trip to Bedford was to cover coil basketry so this workshop seemed like a good progression. 

The Willow had been soaked for several days (a day for every foot of length) and the first task was to select six fairly even wands to make the centre of the basket.

The thicker lengths were then selected and cut accordingly.

 

And then we were off, adding meat to the base with Jay regularly checking on my progress and answering any questions.

The one thing that I found out was that despite being a fairly sedentary activity you do get quite warm doing it. You'll see that I've taken my fleece off in the above pictures.

 

I was actually rather surprised with how long it took me to complete the base. Was I slow or methodical? Probably both but eventually it was done. I would have like the weave a little more organised but hey, it was my first basket and a quick tidy up with some secerteurs made quite a difference.

And we then needed to put a point on a small piece of Hazel as we looked to turn our bases into 'spiders' for making the sides.

We spaced out at this stage because the spider shape is a bit of an area denial structure and it  would smart rather if it caught an eye.

And again a little slow/ methodical as you can see Jay took a breather whilst I faffed my spokes to conclusion.

A quick piece of cordage to hold the structure.

And then we built up the sides. Finishing off is arguably the most fiddly bit and therefore it's not a project that ends itself to being finished as 'homework'. Jay was a trooper and went beyond the session's time and indeed the centre's closing time to see me done. Top man. He also made me more tea than Joseph (who often does the workshops) so take note young man! 😏

And this is my basket straight out of the bag the next morning. jay advised that I give it a little bit of manipulation to get the shape set just how I want it and it's coming along nicely. A great workshop and one that was more demanding than I think I'd given credit for.

World of Bushcraft Coil Basketry Workshop

The World of Bushcraft (the WOB) is just under an hour away for me and is ideal for me to bet to and do their Wednesday workshops, the biggest problem has been that I've booked as much stuff as I could on my sabbatical that I often found myself unable to attend them as I had something else on. So credit to the WOB as I asked if they were doing coil, willow basketry and net making before Christmas and they laid them on on Wednesdays I could make.

I was to do the session with Joe who is doing a lot of the workshops these days and he said that the coil basketry one is a small amount of instruction and a lot of practice, and it turned out to be the case.

First off, a talk about different styles, uses, materials and stitching patterns.

The demonstration piece is some natural fibre rope and paracord, an Early Learning Centre starter as I called it as it's clear and easy for the beginners to see.

 

So from the stitching at the very start to a stitched and recognisible coil.

A few laughs along the way...

 

And then it was onto starting my natural fibre coil. Joe had harvested some Sedge and Cat Tail and I chose the former with Raffia as the cordage. And once I was up and running the rest of the session really was just working away at the basket and chatting, oh and getting a cut off the Sedge!

It is rather therapeutic making a coil basket and this close up shows that it is rather time consuming which as it's a simple basket design I'd have expected it to be a bit quicker. You live and learn.

As you can see I've made inroads and tilted the work to show the sides slowly forming, but I have a little more work left to finish it off. I've come home with some extra Sedge and made sure that I know how to finish it off which in keeping with the simplistic design is easy. Ding ding round two at the WOB centre next week for a bit more basketry, but with Willow.