The Living Willow Project, Badger & Mole’s Tunnel

Today, to him gazing south with a new-born need stirring in his heart, the clear sky over their long low outline seemed to pulsate with promise; today, the unseen was everything. The unknown, the only real fact of life.

I woke up this morning filled with excitement at the possibility of embarking on the start of Badger and Mole’s tunnel. This brought the Unknown in so far as I was building a tunnel around an irregular shaped mound, which essentially means it is more difficult to have an exact plan in mind, as with ratty’s boat. Which is, incidentally, looking awesome, if I do say so myself.

I got out the line marker to get some shapes in place around the mound and to begin to envisage where the entrances and exits may be. I pulled all the willow in grabbing distance and started to work on getting the uprights in.

I ended up about 1/3 of the way around the mound, tying in the uprights to get some sense of the shape and also started some of the weaving to get an idea of the design as this was something I was thinking would be evolve organically, unlike the Celtic pattern that forms the basis of the boat.

I have to admit, today was slower going than I would have liked and progress was hampered by the challenge of getting larger uprights deep enough and at sharp enough angle to form a tunnel with a lovely curved shape.

If you put the uprights in vertically then you get a tunnel that narrows to more of a point. This makes it a bit harder to traverse if you have broader shoulders or are two abreast. And as I can imagine the kids running excitedly through the tunnel up onto the mound, the extra width seems essential.

That’s all for today folks. My creative brain has been working hard today so I shall leave it there for today. More exciting willowey adventures soon!

Jenny

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