I spent time with friend and respected craftsman Lewis Goldwater at his woodland workshop and cottage in the county of Herefordshire in the West of England, next to the border with Wales
Website – http://www.turnham-green-wood.co.uk
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/turnhamgreenwood
Lewis is one of only a handful of split hazel basket makers in the UK, and one who teaches and demonstrates the craft around the UK
In this video Lewis has kindly allowed me to document in incredible detail the entire process for harvesting the Hazel, processing it and subsequently weaving the components together to form a finished basket
At the time of publishing this video, this is the only such tutorial available anywhere online so you really are in for a treat to see a traditional craft in such detail
Lewis’s intention with this video is to inspire more people like yourself to try this craft out and to help keep it alive
If you’d like to contact Lewis in regards to learning this craft in person or to commission a handmade basket for yourself, you can contact him via his website which I have linked to above
As you can see this is a long video and that is because this process in it’s entirety takes two days from start to finish, over which we filmed leaving no stone unturned
Below is a timestamp of all the sections in this video
00:00:00 – Introduction
00:04:12 – Basket history and examples
00:09:47 – Harvesting the Hazel
00:23:47 – Looking at the components of the basket
00:28:18 – Tools required to make the basket
00:31:25 – Making the weavers
01:08:37 – Making the ribs
01:33:08 – Making the rim
02:17:15 – Assembling the basket
03:41:53 – Finishing up the basket
03:45:34 – Conclusion
A sincere thank you to Lewis for being so generous with his knowledge and for his kind hospitality during my stay with him and his wife
As always I sincerely appreciate you watching
Take care
Peace
Zed