Types of Willow Basket Furniture
Willow is a flexible wood that resists weathering. Romans introduced willow furniture weaving to Britain in the first century, but English willow cultivation dates to the Bronze Age. In the 1860s, willow furniture was in such demand that arms manufacturer Samuel Colt imported a village of German willow weavers and replicated their European homes on the campus of his furniture factory. Styles have varied, but the four types of willow rod processing are consistent. Does this Spark an idea?
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Cultivation
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Willow is a long-term sustainable crop harvested annually from densely planted fields of willow "crown." As the young willow trees begin to grow, they are cut at ground level. New rods (thin upright branches) sprout each spring and are harvested in late autumn or early winter, when the growing season is ended and leaves begin to fall. Harvested rods are 6 feet tall. Willows are native to wetlands and can be cultivated on land at risk of annual flooding.
Green Willow
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Green willow means raw willow used within a few weeks of harvest. The natural colors of willow saplings and rods vary. Although some are truly green, others may be brown to dark purple-brown. Raw willow used for furniture weaving is a light grayish shade of green. Green willow is a common material for baskets, and around 1900, was popular for large, heavy furniture pieces such as beds. Designs featured large woven bedposts with willow balls woven onto the tops and woven head- and footboards. A typical bed design had iron mattress supports.
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Brown Willow
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Willow dried with bark intact turns brown and rigid and must be soaked in water for five days before use. Brown willow is used in bent rod furniture that preserves folk arts, although green willow may also be used and bent as it dries. Willow saplings are collected from the wild and are not uniform in size. A typical folk art piece is made of thick rods bent into large loops. The craftsmanship is arranging the loops into an attractive design. The loops are lashed, nailed or glued onto a frame of larger branches.
Buff Willow
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Boiling either green or brown willow for 10 hours separates the bark from the rod, so that it can be stripped by hand or machine. During boiling, a natural dye in the bark, tannin, defuses into the water and colors the rod a shade called buff, a light reddish-brown. Most commercial willow furniture is woven from buff willow. The weaves are tight and strong. Craftspeople can choose designs ranging from massive basket-like shapes to airy, open pieces.
White Willow
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White willow is made from rods left in the fields over winter. In the first few weeks of spring, while sap is rising, the rods are cut and immediately stripped of their bark, without boiling. The result is a smooth white rod. The limited harvest time for white willow makes it less suitable for large furniture products, and more often used in small pieces, such as cradles and hampers, or as decorative accents in buff willow pieces.
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