Hi Cindy!
Glad to hear you are looking for some ideas on what to do with your wonderful weeping
willow twigs.
I applaud you on making a bunch of wonderful wreaths out of some of them this is an area that I haven't tried and would love to see how you made them if you would be kind enough to share a photo and explain how you did them.
While I do work primarily with
willow i havent worked with the particular species weeping
willow.
I do have fond memories as a child of the huge weeping
willow in my grandparents backyard and how as a young child I loved to swing on the graceful branches. I do have a young weeping
willow here on my property near my pond they are beautiful to look at.
As far as the characteristics of weeping
willow their branches are not as strong as the other
willow varieties such as sandbar and black
willow. Therefore weeping
willow branches are more suited to small trellis work and small projects rather than to be used in furniture or large trellises.
A few ideas on what to do with the branches. Normally with regular
willow that i am going to bend but not going to use it right away i will put the ends in either a bucket of water or small kiddie pool so that they will stay pliable longer. They will on their own stay pliable longer in the winter than in the summer. So if your
willow is still pliable some things you may want to make are
small bentwood projects like bentwood trellise, twig hearts, use as a small border around your
plants as a short wattle type fence, use in floral swags,gather together and weave to make rustic style placemats, add
willow accents to various items to give them a rustic touch such as mirrors, picture frames, journals, etc.
If the wood is no longer bendable then could focus on striaghter projects such as a no bend trellis, twig stars, glue a bunch around a coffee can or other container then wrap raffia around it to use as pencil holders,
flower vases, larger containers such as round trash cans can also have twigs applied to the outside of them to give the piece a more natural rustic look.
hmmm. there are so many things you can do with twigs just use your imagination. If you are on the artistic side you may enjoy makeing sculptures with the
willow.
If you have children or grandchildren, nieces, nephews, or if you are an avid doll or bear collector why not make rustic doll/bear furniture such as little chairs, beds, etc.
well there are a few ideas off the top of my head
if you see somethin there that might interest you and want more info about it email me with your personal email address and I will give you as much info on the subject as I can.
there are many ways to join items nails, screws, wire, glue, rawhide, etc etc so dont feel limited to just one way.
There are several wonderful books on the market that if you would like I could tell you about that I can recommend to you to check out or buy if you want to know about those feel free to let me know. I hope I have been of some help
Let me know what you decide to make out of it.
oh one other piece of advice for anyone working with twigs. If the twigs are dry no longer green in other words, you will always want to predrill before driving any nails to help insure that the twigs dont split. Actually i do this most of the time when nailing green to but definitely predrill dried wood.
also, when cutting the ends of your sticks leave atleast 1 1/2 inches past the nailed part so that they dont split from being cut too close to the end
oh yeah, and remember if goin to hammer more than one nail in the same area dont nail right next to eachother in a line offset eachother in more of a diagonal pattern to help avoid it from splitting.
oh brother i just seem to keep goin on and on and ............... well
will let ya go
if you have any questions let me know
blessings,
wendy
