Working With Withies and Making a Flying Sculpture

Working With Withies and Making a Flying Sculpture Traditionally used for basket weaving and garden sculpture, withies, or willow sticks, are a versatile construction material, ideal for building sculpture. They are a perfect material for exploring sculptural form and ‘drawing in space’. They are light and pliable and the perfect medium for building large scale hanging sculptures and ideal for working with themes surrounding birds, mythical creatures and flying machines. Withies are easy to bend, cut and shape and suitable for all ages. In this ‘How to’ we will show you how to work with dry withies (not soaked as traditionally used for basket making). This is to allow for experimentation and exploration of joining elements with masking tape, coloured tape and wire and also the possibility of integrating other materials into your construction. Materials You Will Need to Get Cracking Withies Wire Pipe Cleaners Masking Tape Coloured Tape Tools Withie Wire Tie and Twister Wire cutters and scissors Making Sculptural Elements and Joining Withies together Firstly surround yourself with a selection of materials. Make sure you have plenty of withies, tape and wire. Don’t worry about taking too much – you can always put what you don’t use back! Practise cutting the withies with wire cutters or scissors. Experiment with different ways of tying and joining materials together. Try making big bundles of withies to make stronger structural elements. Use ‘withie wire ties’ to make strong fastenings. Simple wrap a tie around the elements and hook in the Twister and pull a few times. Don’t pull too many times as the wire may snap! Top safety tip! Protect your eyes with safety glasses! Try weaving pieces together with wire. Try joining two withies together with tape. Keep experimenting and don’t let yourself worry too much about the finished object yet! Use the wire creatively too. Use Long nose pliers to twist the wire to hold withies tightly together. You can either set out to make a shape that you have in your mind’s eye and go with that or you can simply work with the materials and see if forms start to appear. You may start to see elements like beaks, talons or wings in the shapes that you have made. Use wire to create tension in your sculpture, like drawing two ends of a bow together. Think about scale! How big is your sculpture evolving? Now start to think about joining elements together and building up from existing elements to make your finished creature. Move elements around and look at them from every direction to get ideas. While you are working – keep looking and getting ideas from your own creation. Keep adding and taking away from it and keep holding it up or hanging it to check its centre of gravity. Enjoy a sense of play while you work. Add finishing touches and decorative elements. With many thanks to AccessArt ­ creators of inspirational visual arts teaching and learning resources at www.accessart.org.uk