Literally just discovered this channel and as soon as he spoke I said "ohhh irish" 😂 xx

Your welcome

So glad you like it! Can you get willow in NZ? My bro is in C/church, love it! Happy weaving. Brendan

Hi Brendan, that's cool your brother is here! I'm just going down to the river and harvesting it myself. I don't think it's found commercially here. Have noticed recently some willow obelisks at garden shop which would be imported probably. Not really a thing here, but I love it, so atmospheric! Cheers, Julie @@BigGreenArt

My dulcet northern irish droll?! Ha! Thanks!

Good luck and I hope you enjoy making it !

I shaved the bark off to stop it growing, as the bark has a growth hormone and the rods would grow when planted

You can use straight away, as long as you strip off the bark at the bottom

@@BigGreenArt thank you so much!

Something like beans, or peas

Most weavers grow their own. Willow is easy to grow. Most growers who sell rods only sell locally, most are willing to ship orders for cuttings that you can plant yourself. I have 40 willows for basketry. They like moist, well-drained soil and are prolific.

Climbing plants like peas and beans are planted around the perimeter and they climb up the cone around the willow, and makes for easier harvesting

@@BigGreenArt You can use a stick instead!

I used basically this same method to build myself a HUT once in an area of woods less than 3 miles away from my home in NJ USA. The hut is more than 8 feet across on all sides, is more than 12 feet high, and has a hole in the bottom of one side for an entrance way. With the various types of leaves and palm frond type branches that are available in the specific area of woods that this hut is located I can keep the inside of the hut dry under almost any precipitation conditions. Since this hut is completely round the constant breezes that blow during certain types of weather are also dissipated by the curvature of the walls easier than if the hut was a straight wall surface. I built this hut in 1992 when I was 28 years old. It's still standing, but every springtime I have to go back out there are do a little bit of repair and replace work. I even have a trench system that runs from outside the hut under the walls into the hut so that I can have a small fire inside the hut during cold nights and winter storms. It's like a Dakota fire pit and it's only as thick as my lower leg but it runs more than 8 feet on all 4 sides of the hut so that I always have more than enough fresh air to keep my fore lit as long as the wood fuel that I use hasn't burned off completely.