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party_music50

So close, but still a bust.

party_music50
11 months ago
last modified: 11 months ago

sigh. I just made two attempts at steaming my willow... unfortunately, I started by soaking two full batches to steam at once, thinking it was a straight-forward task, and then I could dry it off and store it for later use. My first steaming attempt on Sunday failed to produce any change, so I mellowed the willow overnight and waited until Monday to try to steam it all a 2nd time. I came close on the 2nd attempt because the scent of the willow was very strong while steaming and once it cooled and mellowed I could see that the color was developing! Sadly, it's still too stiff to use for weaving though and the skin is peeling (in a bad way :), which I think means that I need to increase my pre-soaking time, AND increase my steaming time. But I'm guessing. I managed to weave a couple small pieces into a basket that was already in the works, but it's possible that the entire two batches will be unusable for basket weaving. This shows the unsteamed (left) and steamed willow (right) from the same harvest batch. I think it really should develop a darker color, but then I'm still just trying to figure it all out. :p



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