by Jane Haselden | Oct 27, 2020 | Craft for Kids
An experiment with natural dyes turned into a fun activity for Wren (my two year old) this week, as she found out how to make charcoal paint. I had been experimenting with making heather dye for a few days, but having left it rather late in the season, was only...
by Jane Haselden | Oct 22, 2020 | Basketry & Natural Crafts
It’s been a few weeks now since I first started to hand-dye my own raffia with natural dyes. Since then, I have been having a great time using it and making more dyes along the way. It has been really satisfying to start bringing these skills together and I feel...
by Jane Haselden | Oct 19, 2020 | Basketry & Natural Crafts
Over the past three weeks, I have been busy harvesting honeysuckle vine from our garden for basket weaving. The land at the back of our house is full of trees and rather wild and I was going to tidy it up a bit to make it more accessible, back in the spring. Then, as...
by Jane Haselden | Sep 7, 2020 | Basketry & Natural Crafts
A couple of weeks ago I was gathering some common rush in our garden, when I noticed some grass that was really fine and yet very tough. I had a feeling that it would make some great coil baskets, so I collected a small amount to try it out and left it to dry. I have...
by Jane Haselden | Sep 5, 2020 | Basketry & Natural Crafts
Up until now, I have been making baskets purely by trial and error. I think that is a great way to get started – you start to build a connection with what you’re doing and also learn the questions that you need to ask. I also have to consider that we have...