South Wirral Art Society
Demonstration by Kirsti Hannah Brown 11th May 2010
Willow Wire and Wonderful Creations
Kirsti is a locally based artist from Harwarden who normally works in ceramics. She has been teaching at West Cheshire College for 12 years in 3D design while working as an artist in her own right, but now plans a return to being a full time artist. Kisti has been involved in art events in Chester, which included night time parades with lanterns built using this process and lit by battery operated lights.
Kirsti planned to take the group through the process of building a lantern from willow/wire and tissue, initially, by showing us how to build the structure, and secondly, how to apply the tissue covering; before letting us loose on the materials to have a go for ourselves.
The Structure – two basic raw materials can be used (and mixed together if desired) either willow withies or wire of different gauges. With the withies they had to be soaked for days before hand to ensure that they where flexible and would not snap as we set about bending them into shape. There is a bit of a science to the process of bending – holding the withy between thumbs and forefinger, you push up against the wood to ease it into the shape or position you want. To fasten the wood together we used masking tape. How neat the joint looked was not an issue as it would later be covered. The wire was a bit different, as it was more malleable and the warmth of your hands would help. In this instance joints consisted of the wire itself being twisted around the wire you wanted to join it to. Remember when cutting wire to length to make an allowance for these connections. The structure should not be viewed as something to hold the tissue and the light. Remember that the light shines through and the structure will be seen so make it interesting! Everyone seemed to get to grips (excuse the pun) with this stage although those with hands strong enough to bend withies and use pliers had an advantage.
The Covering – tissue was the covering, torn into strips along the grain brushed with diluted pva glue and then ‘strung’ from support to support, and wrapped over on itself. It looks a little saggy at first but as it dries it tightens. Different colours can be used but be careful the colours might run!
Everyone that attended seemed to enjoy the event and the photos support that view. Kirsti was terrific and rather spoiled us with the amount of material she provided. She proved to be a good ‘tutor’ devoting time to each of us to offer advice, help and guidance (or in my case sympathy) with our own wonderful creations. Many thanks Kirsti for a wonderful evening.
For those of you wishing to pursue this further the withies can be sourced from www.musgrovewillows.co.uk and the next Parade in Chester will be on the 19th – 20th June, the Midsummer Watch Parade. This parade features giants and dragons made with willow and paper and details can be found on www.midsummerwatch.co.uk .The next parade with lanterns takes place in Nov/Dec when it is dark. No date is settled yet but it will appear on the listings at www.chesterfestivals.co.uk .
Peter Appleton
Secretary.
