Wicker weave

It is said that man learned to weave from willow rods earlier than the pottery craft. From willow twigs used to be woven fences, roofs, furniture and much more.

To learn how to weave beautifully from willow twigs, you need to learn a few lessons.

Wicker weaving material

For weaving using annual and biennial shoots. For the preparation of rods used sticks from 15 to 40 mm thick. They must be straight, flexible, without damage, knots, with a smooth color, or green rods and sticks, peeled from the bark. There are several types of willows that are used when weaving products. These include almond willow, red-colored willow, hemp willow, monkey willow, goat willow.

Wicker collection and preparation

The rods are harvested at any time of the year. Collected rods are immediately cleared of branches and leaves, then they begin to be sorted by breed, quality and size. Packaged twigs are tied in a bundle. For storing willow twigs use the most common cellar. Another important factor in the preparation of the material is the drying of the rods. They are usually laid out on the floor under the sun in piles.

Soaking barked twigs

Before work, the rods are soaked in troughs. If the bars are still fragile, they need to be moistened again. During operation, the rods also begin to dry, so it is necessary to moisten them gently during the weaving process with a damp cloth for convenience. Soaked bars are no longer bundled, but laid out freely.

Wicker weaving equipment and tools

Desk - workbench, meter joiner, tape measure, compasses, goniometers, jigsaws, hacksaws, hands, saws, pick saws, veneer sawing file, wiring, files, device for editing saws, chisels, chisels, flat and round, planing tools, planer blade, straight-cut knife-edge, hunchback plane, xenzubel, kalevka, razzenkovki, conical-sharpened screw drills, trimmers, basket knife, hammers, awl, mallets, hammers, tongs, pliers, screwdrivers, clippers, hoops, screwdrivers , template-board, template-pattern, byugel wedges.

Types of wicker weaving

• Network.The easiest way to weave from willow rods. Choose several rods of the same length and thickness. They unfold at the same distance - the vertical rods are interlaced with horizontal rods, they must be positioned closely to each other. Since the product has a convex side on the one hand and a flat side on the other, it is necessary to take into account that the rods are located exactly.

• Verevochka.Such weaving is done simultaneously with transverse ribbons. The main vertical rods are placed at the same distance, and then they are woven around with two horizontal ribbons, tossing them together. When you finish interlacing all the vertical rods, take more rods and continue to weave the rods. The result is a weave that resembles a pigtail visually.
• Cell. This type of weaving is considered one of the types of weaving "braids". Here, each longitudinal rod is interlaced with a cross, weaving is obtained as if through a step. Such weaving resembles a textile product and does not need an explanation. In order for the bars not to disperse, they need to be periodically hammered with studs or special clothespins.

• Herringbone spruce. Twigs are woven, as with the "cell", only each horizontal rod is woven through two vertical rods, that is, it comes out not in one step, but in two. With all this, each subsequent rod is shifted a step back relative to the longitudinal rod. "Herringbone" begin to weave with the laying of vertical rods on the board. The first vertical rod is placed on the second and first horizontal rod, then passed under the third and fourth, and a couple more longitudinal rods are laid on top, etc. The second transverse rod is laid on the first longitudinal, laid under the second and third longitudinal rods, and so it continues through two steps. The third transverse rod is placed under the first two longitudinal rods, then this rod is removed to the third and fourth, and so on. We put the fourth transverse rod on the first longitudinal one, and lay the second and third rods on top and so weave it in two steps.
• Pigtails flagellates. This method of weaving is usually used for finishing products. For this weave take three rods. At first we fix the ends of the rods at the bottom and begin by succession to cross the rods together, as when weaving a simple braid. This principle is used when weaving not only from 3 rods, but from 4-5 and more.

After mastering the main types of wicker weaving, you can begin to weave the product itself.

Types of wicker weave surfaces

These types include: flat, curved, box-shaped, cylindrical, conical.

Complex products usually contain several surfaces, so to start weaving more complex products, you need to master one simple technique.

Weave wickerwork basics

The base is the place where the stanchions go from. The basis of the product can be attributed, and the hoop, and wheels, any blanks. For the risers, they make indentations in the edge of the material from which the bottom is made, insert the stands and nail them into them. Then they make indentations in the edge of the bottom, put the risers and lay the plates, then weave the ropes in several rows.

Let's consider wicker weaving on a certain example of weaving a basket with a round bottom.

• Weaving such a basket start from the bottom. Take 8 rods of the same thickness. In the middle, 4 of them cut through the slots and insert the remaining rods in such a way as to make crosses. The resulting cross is braided with two thin rods.
• After you make a few turns, you need to dissolve the rods, so that each twig consists of one twig, you should have 16 twigs. It will be inconvenient to braid them, so you need to substitute it with one rod, so that 17 rods would come out, then continue to braid with one rod. Having finished weaving the bottom, on the place where the 17th rod is located, you need to lay one twig, and the remaining 16 twigs need to lay two twigs, and again an odd number of 33 twigs will come out.
• To make the basket shape correct, you need to put a template in the bottom and tie all the bars around the template. Get the so-called rack. Then you begin to weave the kind of weaving, which you liked more. To make the netting durable, you need to tightly squeeze all the rods. When finished weaving the boards, they must be fixed. To do this, you need to start one rack for the next two, until the entire row closes. The ends of the wicker need to get inside the product. Work will be completed when the pen is attached. For such purposes, take a rod, sharpen from two ends and insert into the sides of the basket. Nearby they stick in several bunches of twigs of thinner thickness. Each twig is tied around the base consistently.

See also:Weaving from newspaper tubes

Having mastered the basic rules of wicker weaving, you will be able to weave dishes, furniture and other interesting and unusual products at home.