Events

1 and 2 October 2011  - Ashdon Art and Craft Fair. 10am - 5pm.
Entrance: £2.50 (children free).

I will be demonstrating basket making and selling baskets at this fair, 10 minutes from Saffron Walden.
The fair will be located at a number of venues around the village: Ashdon Village Hall, Primary school, Village Museum, All Saints Church, Church Rooms and Private Studios.

There is ample parking and a car shuttle service will be provided to get visitor from one locaton to another. Disabled facilities are available. All proceeds go towards the restoration of the church. For more information please contact Rob Gardner on 01799 584 945
Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology - Festival of Ideas - 1 November 2008 - I ran a workshop making blackbird nests in the morning. In the afternoon I was demonstrating basket making and answering many questions about the craft from visitors to the event.

teaching at High Woods
Teaching basket weaving at High Woods Country Park.
Highwoods Anniversary Event - 28 September 2008- I was demonstrating basket making at Highwoods Country Park, Colchester and showing children and adults how to weave with willow.

The Oyster Fayre - 7 and 8 June 2008 - In addition to selling my baskets, I was making  baskets at the fayre and taking commissions. Lower Castle Park, Colchester, Essex 10.30am to 5.30pm.


Gog and Magog Project 2006

Olivia Elton-Barrett, the next Chief Warden of the Worshipful Company of Basketmakers, undertook a project to construct Gog and Magog, the two giants that lead the Lord Mayor's show each year, in their original willow. The last time willow figures of the City Giants were seen on the streets of London was probably sometime in the 1700’s. After I saw a cry for volunteers in the Basketmakers’ Association's newsletter, I contacted Olivia and offered my services to help make them with the others in Kay Johnson’s workshop in Essex, (Kay Johnson is also a liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Basketmakers).

There were a number weekends throughout the year during which we made these large figures. They are 13 foot tall once  constructed and are woven out of buff willow. They were finished just in time for the Lord Mayor's Show on 11 November 2006. You can see from the picture below that although the making weekends require a lot of concentration, they are also good fun:

making the feet            my big feet!
shaping the calf and knee            Sandra Barker and I weaving the hips
inserting the structural rods            the team with the (nearly) finished legs on 14 May 2006
starting the shoulder            the torso with one arm
      
     Above - My Picture in the Lord Mayor's Show Programme!!
     Above - me, along with some of the other basket makers who helped make the giants (in the blue) in the Lord Mayor's Show with the finished giants. (Picture courtesy of Olivia Elton Barrett)