Methven Summer School tutor Stephen Millichamp is a new tutor for 2021 Photo Heather MackenzieStephen Millichamp may have been a secondary school teacher for over 30 years, but a basket weaving course he’s running at this week’s Methven Summer School is only the second basket weaving class he has ever taught.

“Normally I teach agriculture and horticulture at Ashburton College, so this is a bit new to me.”

Millichamp said he was first introduced to basket weaving through a Wanaka Autumn Art School course a few years back and from this first seed his weaving and willow growing pursuits took off.

“Living in Staveley I needed something that would grow in the cold and damp and I knew willow would do that here.”

Millichamp said he now has around 1000 willow plants on the property, but any pictures of weeping willows, swaying gently by a babbling brook were quickly dashed when he explained they are actually just sticks.

“The willow sticks grow straight up. When they get to the right height I harvest them in the winter by cutting them off at the ground and they grow again for the next year.”

It takes a special kind of willow to make baskets from.

“Most willow is called ‘cracking willow’ for a reason, it is too brittle to weave,” he said.

In getting ready for his two-day Summer School class, Millichamp cut the willow sticks around twelve months ago, then left them to dry out.

Just before the class he soaked them in water to make them supple enough to work with.

“You can work with this type of willow green, but it tends to shrink as it dries out, making the basket looser than they should be.”

© The Ashburton Guardian - 8 January 2021