Submitted by chris on Sun, 01/22/2012 - 13:28
This is a really busy time of year for us but as today is cold and miserable I am catching up on my Blog!
Submitted by chris on Wed, 02/01/2012 - 23:23
A series of willow spheres and dragonflies were commissioned by Trantham Gardens to add interest to their woodland walks. These will be installed in the trees after they have been treated to preserve them. The giant dragonflies will hover over the lake.
Submitted by chris on Mon, 01/23/2012 - 16:47
Saturday 21st January, a Team Building Day for Cheshire Wildlife Trust volunteers. We were using willows which were coppiced on site and taken down to the proposed site of the tunnel for us by tractor & trailer. This should have saved us a lot of time.
Submitted by chris on Wed, 01/18/2012 - 12:49
As the Sun has been obliterated by black clouds I thought that this was a good time to catch up here a bit!
The Willows Primary School won the Christmas Tree Decorating Competition. Sadly they forgot to take any photos. The decorations were made by the children with our tuition and then decorated with blue ribbon. They did look very good!
The harvest is well underway, much better than last year when we had about 30cm of snow on the beds!
Submitted by chris on Sun, 12/04/2011 - 21:48
On the day the transport was booked to collect the last sculptures we were at The Willows Primary School teaching the children to make Christmas decorations for the Christmas Tree competition in their local church. In the morning I think that over 60 decorations were made including a big white willow star for the top of the tree. They have promised to send a photo of the decorated tree for me to post here. Should look good!
Submitted by chris on Sun, 11/27/2011 - 22:37
Over the last 2 weeks we have used masses of willow, worked very long days and completed about 30 willow sculptures. We now have numb thumbs and forefingers. We have just returned from London having installed the sculptures which look amazing.
Our thanks go to the team for their fantastic effort to complete these in record time. They even kept their sense of humour on the last night / morning when they had been weaving for an extremely long shift!
Submitted by chris on Sun, 10/30/2011 - 09:53
A great event on Sandbach Cobbles yesterday! The children in fancy dress surrounded by Tudor buildings and Saxon Crosses in view added to the ambiance of the event. There was a DJ and all sorts of craft sessions including henna tatoos, face painting and of course willow weaving! We made willow bats, snakes, spiders, love hearts, stars and even a 2D Mickey mouse! One boy did ask for a rat, but we haven't mastered the '5 minuite rat' yet so he settled for a bat. Phew!
Well done Sandbach!
Submitted by chris on Sat, 10/08/2011 - 20:12
A very good day! Today's students created various feathered friends including a heron and a goose. Nick made a wild boar! That's a first for us! Nick had been woken by one on a camping holiday in France and was adamant that this was what he wanted to make. It wasn't far off life sized as well. Although it was perhaps a little ambitious for a first timer, he determinedly wove away.
Submitted by chris on Sun, 09/18/2011 - 18:39
A fantastic weekend at Westhope College in Shropshire! The sun shone some of the time with a little 'irish sunshie' too! Spirits were not dampened and Tom generously shared his sculpting skils as he showed us how to bend metal to create frames for our willow sculptures. Over the weekend several sea urchins, sunflower seeds, and chinese lanterns and other seed pods were produced. The hospitality offered by Westhope College was its usual high standard, but would there ever be enough cake for this group?
Probably not!
Click heading for picture!
Submitted by chris on Sun, 09/11/2011 - 16:26
The Redstone Centre hosted Churches Together (CTA) Pet Blessing Service this afternoon. Fr Tony and Fr Robin led the service which was attended by a Donkey, numerous dogs and several cats. The behavoiur was generally good. The service was followed by light refreshenets, carrots chews and buiscuts appropriate to type!
