Posts Tagged ‘willow garden’
We have just published another edition of our retail basketry brochure .
Baskets, obelisks, panels, sandwich baskets…the variety of woven products that our craft team can manufacture continues to grow.
We make our woven items using English willow, in our Cambridge workshops.
If you are interested in WinterWillow products, and in supporting the work of WinterComfort for the Homeless , than visit our basketry page on our main website and download or view a copy of our latest publication.
You can find our basketry pages here .
Our successful garden obelisks are selling well on into the summer months.
The design team have produced a new heavy duty, larger bean obelisk to support the growing of climbing vegetables and larger spreading plants.
You can see the new design on the bean obelisk page here.
Woven with 6 – 9 uprights of six or seven feet in length, the bean obelisk is securely bound at the top, with additional horizontal weave at the base to ensure stability and strength during the growing season.
You can use our contact us page to request details and prices ahead of our catalogue reprint.
We are happy to help at WinterWillow.
We are delighted to announce that WinterWillow, part of the charity WinterComfort for the Homeless, will be presenting a willow woven eco-coffin at the Chelsea Flower Show this year.
Running from May 25th to May 29th 2010, Chelsea offer visitors an amazing array of floral displays, trade stands and visitor attractions. We are proud to be a part of the horticultural festivities this year.
We use only the best English willow in the making and craft of our eco-coffins and wider basketry items. The cultivation and sustainable cropping of willow is an abiding theme with the WinterWillow team.
Using no nails, metal fastenings or chemical based adhesives – our woven eco-coffins are a perfect piece of English craft for Chelsea – fully in sympathy with the ethos of the show, the care of living things and their sustainable use.
WinterWillow will be sharing a space on the Places of Change stand, along with other social enterprise and Spark Challenge organisations.
If you visit the show you will be able to see an example of one of our woven willow eco-coffins throughout the show week. The WinterWillow team will be in attendance on Wednesday 26th May 2010.
Do visit us at the show if you are attending. Every item we take orders for goes directly to support the work of our charity team at WinterComfort for the Homeless. We look forward to seeing you there.
WinterWillow has introduced a new item in its woven willow range of garden oranaments and accessories for 2010.
We are able to offer our customers a WinterWillow designed hanging basket – a conical shape, with woven hanging loop. We are offering the basket as a plain item, or with liner and flowers complete.
Each basket is individually made by our craft team. Each basket is therefore unique and offers you a delightful addition to our regular obelisks and other woven baskets.
You can download a basketry brochure from our woven basket page on the WinterWillow website.
Susanna works with our team of volunteers, staff and centre users to create woven willow products for our social enterprise, WinterWillow.
Directly involved in developing willow products for our basketry and garden range, Susanna brings both enthusiasm and an artistic sensibility to her engagement with the team.
Her experience as a maker and tutor is an invaluable part of the WinterWillow process.
The short film below shows Susanna finishing a Wishing Star from our range – ideally illustrating how much care the WinterWillow team put into even the smallest woven product.
If you would like a pack of Wishing Stars you can download our basketry and garden brochure from our basketry page on the WinterWillow web site…order form included if that helps?
You can visit the home page of our charity WinterComfort for the Homeless here.
See what the energy of taking The Willow Way can support.
As we talk to our customers about WinterWillow products and services we always stress how different a social enterprise is from a ‘normal’ business. The social outcomes of our energies are paramount.
What we produce for has equal status with what we produce… might be a good mantra for a charity based social business.
Like any charity our volunteers help us provide services and delivery as an organisation. As a mature charity our systems for volunteer support are well established. The WinterWillow team are always happy to convert our customers into volunteers too. Not as painful process as it sounds…just a great way to contribute to the production of woven willow objects for community benefit.
Can you spare some time? A great way to start is to discover the volunteer page on our main charity website.
You can find volunteering information here.
You will find the WinterComfort for the Homeless volunteer application form and the volunteer handbook we have produced. Alternatively you can ring us on 01223 518140 and ask for our Volunteer Co-ordinator.
Could you be a vital volunteer?
We really liked this five minute film from the Scottish Borders. A group of willow sculptors are cropping, weaving and distributing their made objects through the woodland at Wooplaw.
The film really captures both the beauty of willow as a material, but also the great pleasure in working with the material out of doors too.
The pleasure of successfully making your own basket, ‘bird box’ or simple decoration goes without saying.
If you would like to take part in a WinterWillow workshop, use our contact us page on our main website and we’ll add you to our contact list for our next event.
WinterWillow is a member of Hertfordshire Basketry.
The group will have a stall and members on hand for the next Festival of Living Crafts at Hatfield House.
This four day event takes place at Hatfield House between 6th and 9th May 2010.
There will be the widest variety of crafts – from woven items, to jewellery, fashion and ceramics.
A great event to see how weaving as a historic and traditional craft sits comfortably alongside other skills, both ancient and contemporary.
See you there?
You can find the Hertfordshire Basketry Group web site here.
We were recently finishing off production of an order for willow panels for a customer.
So nice was the weather that, in the true WinterWillow spirit, we relocated production outside to the green space adjacent to our workshop.
You can see from these images that our weaving team take the greatest care and concentration, with even the most straight forward weaving task.
These ‘external’ work sessions are also fantastic marketing opportunities. People passing by in the park often stop and ask ‘…what are you doing?’ or ‘…where does all this come from?’.
And we tell them of course!
In the next few weeks we are planning to update and refresh our existing web presence. We are planning to offer our site visitors the chance to purchase woven objects, created by our team, directly fom the web page.
You will be able to support the work of WinterComfort with one click.
You’ll also be able to see the range, colour and size of the woven baskets we make – whether a willow coffin, a bicycle basket or something to hold the shopping.
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Visit the WinterWillow home page here.
