Just a quick recap! In my preivious post Storylines and I gathered a group of withy pot makers from around the South West to talk all things withy pots and also create 'withy pot barnacles' to include in a growing art installation which will be showcased at our Withy Lore exhibition next year!
Since then we have held our second withy pot barnacle workshop at Royal Cornwall Museum. This time we welcomed two withy pot makers and three young people to work together to make withy pot barnacles. Creating an opportunity to pass on skills and knowledge and to include their pieces in the growing installation.
Who took part
Withy pot maker Tom Chambers from Porthleven and Aaron Grigg from Mevagissey arrived kitted up with withy pot stands, willow and tools. They were joined by three local young participants, Megan, Rupert and Logan, all eager to try their hands at withy pot making.
Withy pot barnacle making begins
Rupert, Logan and Megan were all allocated a withy pot maker and it wasn't long before willow was being cut, bent and woven into shape.
When it was time to bend the willow down, the long withies met with the floor appearing to me a little like sea creatures with long tentacles.
They began weaving / binding around the frame. This process determines the withy pots shape and different characteristics could already be seen.
Once the three rows of binding were complete it was time for the withy pot barnacles to be lifted from the pot stands to begin work on the base. Traditionally a withy pot bottom would be filled in with weaving, but we wanted ours to only have a border to hold its shape.
Aaron showed them all how to weave the long willow ends into a tight, strong and beautiful border. Last step was to trim back any lose ends and tada! their withy pot barancles were complete!
Next steps for Megan, Logan and Rupert
Megan has fallen in love with the craft and is making plans with Tom Chambers and Aaron Grigg to make a pot stand of her own so she can continue to practise!
Rupert and his father plan to practise with Tom Chambers.
Logan is also planning to continue learning and eventually make withy pots during the winter months using willow grown on a willow farm as part of his families business.
This isn't the only endangered craft Logan is involved in, during the other seasons of the year he will be found Cornish hedging! He began learning the craft when taking part in Heritage Crafts Association Pre-apprenticeship project in the spring of 2023 and has since then continued training with Cornwall Rural Education and Skills Trust (CREST). He is now on track to soon become a fully fledged Cornish hedger!
Thank you
Thank you to Tom, Aaron, Rupert, Megan and Logan for taking part and making such wonderful withy pot barnacles.
Thank you to Tristan for volunteering to record the activities ! we hope to include your work in the exhibition.
... to withy pot makers Stephen, from St Michael's Mount and Pete from Gorran Haven for popping in and sharing your stories... To artist in resident at Salt Cellar Workshops, Suzanne for being a friendly face and sharing your enthusiasm... To Thaila and Eve from Plymouth University, for joining us and sharing with us the amazing project you are involved in with withy pot maker Jof Hicks. Studying the biological interactions of withy pots on lobsters and the by-catch which is also caught by comparing this to plastic inkwell pot caught individuals.
Thank you to Royal Cornall Museum for kindly letting us use your workshop room.
Thank you to our funders for making this possible:
National Lottery Heritage Fund, FEAST Cornwall, Cornwall Community Foundation, the St Aubyn Foundation and Fishmongers Company.
Invitation to make a barnacle
We want to include as many pots and styles as possible in this installation, so are now inviting pot makers to contribute ‘barnacles’. We won’t need these until early 2025, so expect most of them to be made next winter. We’ve already been bowled over by people’s generosity and willingness to contribute and are excited to see the installation grow. If you’re able to contribute then please do get in touch
Oral histories
We are on the look out for a small number of withy pot makers to record. If you would like to take part or might know someone who is please contact Sarah - Sarah@storylines.org.uk
Thank you for reading :) !
Updated: Sep 16, 2022
We met Rob in June 2021 and at this time he worked full-time in I.T and was making Withy pots in his spare time. Since then he has bought a more traditional boat and has become commercially licenced. https://www.facebook.com/northstarfh787/
As part of my Jewel-Withy project I am running a series of collaborative intergenerational live projects. The first began in June with Cornwall College media and photography staff and their students! They were tasked to begin a collection of films and photography to document the critically endangered craft and heritage of Withy pot making and I couldn't have asked for a better experience! (Just a little warning, I do mention the weather quite alot! Hehe).
We visited 6 different locations in the South West of England. The first was the Lizard, Cornwall where we met with active Withy pot maker Nigel Legge, who's pots have been seen on television in popular programmes such as Poldark!
One of the first things I noticed when we entered his workshop was the beautiful scent of willow! (I wish I could share this with you somehow!). This was because Nigel was in the process of making a pot he had kindly agreed to demonstrate for us to film. He had said he was working on an order to make a collection of pots to be used as props for t.v.! So keep your eyes peeled!
As he was doing this he also discussed the craft and his heritage whilst some of the team were outside on probably one of the sunniest days photographing tools and pots! Probably not the best conditions for taking photos, but I guess it's better than rain.
Once we were almost done Nigel surprised us all with a live lobster!
Day 2 of filming was in the beautiful cove my children's grandad was from, Penberth!
We met with his sister Kathi and retired Withy pot maker Robert George to hear their stories accompanied by family photos and had a guided tour of the cove.
One of Nigel's pots left behind from what's thought to have been a Poldark set, can still be seen near the water!
..and we also learnt that the Robert George's pot we were photographing was made for Penberth Plants to display at the Chelsea Flower Show and they won gold! Yippee!
Day 3 we visited active Withy pot maker David French in his home town of Budleigh Salterton. The weather was looking a little soggy on the way up there! but luck was on our side, it stayed dry and didn't get too hot and sunny either, which David was particularly thankful for! Otherwise his willow could have dried out too quickly! So the right kind of clouds were about on the day :D
He chose to make his pot in the same spot his family had been making them throughout the generations and his uncle who had taught him the craft, was also there!
David had a few people stop to watch and have a little chat, two people stayed from start to finish. This was a father and daughter who travelled there especially to see the pot being made and when it was finished her father gifted it to her for her birthday!
Day 4 we ventured not so far from home, to the cornish village of Porthleven. We arrived at basket maker Geraldine Jones' Salt Cellar Studio and met with Tom Chambers and his father 91 year old George Chambers.
This was the first time I have seen Tamarisk being used to make part of a pot, they use this material for the base as it is very strong and can withstand the rough and tumble it recieves when it's doing its job in the sea. They have had rights to gather Tamarisk from locations in Cornwall for generations and even used to source their willow from the village I live in, Ashton.
Tom demonstrated how to make various sections of their style of pot and George who only makes one pot a year now, got up and made a bit too! We learnt so much and loved hearing their knowledge and stories.
Tom and George had sourced their willow for our visit from Geraldine and we were kindly invited to visit her garden where we captured lots of lovely shots of the trees. She shared a very clever piece of music created by PlantsUtopia for a project called Sounds of the Plants. They capture sounds created from the plants using very sensitive microphones! It's amazing! I will try and figure out how to share a piece of this with you very soon! For now though if you are on Facebook check out @soundsoftheplants
We also managed to sneak in a trip to Cadgwith Cove, where we visited Nigel Legge's artist studio and boat! What a beautiful place to work!
Day 5 we were in Hope Cove where we saw active Withy pot maker Sue Morgan and her husband David Morgan who is a local fisherman. Sue demonstrated and discussed the Hope Cove style of pot which has a beautiful plaited base and David showed us his collection of pots which demonstrate really well how the pot has evolved over time.
Day 6 we were in Helford, Cornwall and met with Rob Edlin who took up the craft fairly recently on the side of his job in I.T. He has a very strong interest in sustainable living and regularly forages with his wife, most recently for mushrooms, which is something I would love to try, but I'm very likely to pick the wrong sort!
Anyway back onto the subject of Withy pots...he was taught the craft by local makers and has built up good relationships with the local fishing community, including Nigel Legge. He eats his catch and is always looking for ways to make his hobby as kind to the environment as possible, including introducing natural rope and glass floats. He highly recommends anyone interested to give it a try!
A fellow fisherman took some of the college team and myself out on his boat whilst Rob went out on his with the drone man! If you look closely at the first photo you might see him hiding :D
He pulled up his pot and to his delight it wasn't empty! Not a bad way to end the trip eh! Oh and the sun was shining too! Happy days :)
We are now in the process of editing the films and photography and planning the next live projects! I am also creating a collection of jewellery in response to this research and will be sharing any updates via my blog and social media :) so please keep an eye out!
Thanks to everyone involved and thanks also for reading my blog, I hope you enjoyed it.
