Trying to find ways to play with willow sticks. Using them in den making. Getting distracted with a fire in the chiminea and burning sticks, ferns and leaves.
316 – Seeing if we can use the cut bits of willow on the Christmas Tree Den
Wednesday 19 February. Cloudy and rainy. 8°C
It’s mid week and we’re after something quick we can try in the gap between school, dinner and brownies. I go back to the cut bits of long bendy willow which are sitting waiting in the garden (since failing to inspire us in challenge 346 – below). I’m convinced they can be fun in some way but am still working out how.
I have an idea about basket weaving in my head but the logistics are more complicated than I can manage. We’d need a structure to weave the willow through and around. I toy with the idea of making something but my skill isn’t that great. I start thinking instead of what we have already that we could use.
I like the idea of weaving them round the bannisters on the stairs but they’re not the cleanest things after a winter in the garden. Then I remember the Christmas tree den we made at the beginning of the previous week (challenge 324). B and I go and investigate and find a whole world of possibility.
We start off weaving the sticks in around the structure of the tree. They’re bendy and if you can wedge the ends in somehow, it makes a curved line round the outside of the tree which feels really satisfying. As we keep going we can see how it could eventually become a proper structure. We run out of the willow quickly and the den now looks much more substantial. I still feel like we haven’t got close to all the things we could do with them but it’s a start.
< 318 & 317 Wayfinding for kids
346 – Playing with willow sticks and getting distracted by the chiminea
Monday 20 January, dull cloud. 5°C
It’s a dull sort of day and we’re both a bit tired from the weekend exertions. Time for a more gentle sort of challenge I think. I consider the garden options. We have a small garden and our rabbits have eaten most of the greenery. It’s generally a bit messy too. We have a corkscrew willow tree which grows lots of long thin bendy shoots in the summer. I prune these off in December and we use the cuttings for Christmas decorations. Its nice giving them a second life and I’m curious if there’s other things we could do with them. A neighbour mentioned you could use them for weaving and it’s making me ponder. I wonder if B and I can use them to make a big 346… It’s a thought that’s lingered around for a while and I decide tonight’s the night.
When B gets home from school I try and persuade her to have a go at bending it and seeing if we can tie it into shape. She’s not interested. I change tack and decide to push it back later in the evening. She’s normally much happier when its nearing bedtime. I remember the last fire activity on the beach (see 357 – sunrise on the beach) and head out about thirty minutes beforehand to light the chiminea to keep us warm.
B is happier with the idea after dinner and with dark and a fire to entice her. She comes out to do the numbers and we do find we can bend the willow a bit, though it snaps if you do it too far. I suspect we need a bit more research but we get some string and find it quite easy to tie it into the numbers. I make a note to keep some willow to do this properly inside, or when it warms up more in the Spring… once I’ve worked out how. It’s not the easiest thing to manoeuvre, snaps if pushed too far and springs back at awkward moments.
We bring a torchlight out and B (inspired by challenge 351) has fun finding ways to light the numbers. We position them in front of the chiminea and it looks suitably dramatic. B then gets side tracked with the fire. It’s properly hot now with the charcoal glowing beautifully. We put bits of sticks in to see how they burn and then look round for something else. A bit of fern makes a lovely effect glowing bright as it’s consumed. We try lavender leaves too and anything else we can find on the floor. It gets really smoky then and B retreats inside complaining she’s breathed in smoke. She’s fine but we both stink of smoke for the rest of the evening.
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