Strip the Willow

On the far side of my willow beds grow the tall Viminalis  hybrids that are really useful for making frames for large sculptures. I grow them for two years and  then cut but decided last year to let some of them go on growing for another season..the object being that I could strip them of their bark.
Well there was plenty of "stuff" and with the help of my festi crew we stripped sticks a plenty and carefully rolled the soft leather like ribbons ready for drying and whatever future uses we could find for it.
The workshop soon had a stack of thick strong rods too, all blushing pink before they dried white lol. What use for them. A giant jenga?
It was prep time for festis...the calls from Glasto, Boom and Beatherder all competing for attention and what to do ..anything new? The constant dilemma and so little time, budget's limited, where best to put the energy. could we make an Archway for the Glade's Spike Area.?
So we set about it stripped more stuff collecting sticks and bark until we had done as much as we could and had hopefully enough to build what we desired.
The dream of a high roofed workshop is the space to think big think  and outside of your usual box and also to work with some privacy and play with your ideas and make mistakes and develop the what you only ever imagine into an actual reality.
I am so limited on the joinery side of things but somehow with the help of my inspirational crew we did pull something together and which we all felt a bit wow about and at night with the lights it was a really beautiful invitation into the twisted hedge at the heart of Worthy Farm.
So the stripping of all that wonderful willow gave me more than I had imagined it would..still the bark waits for attention but the rods have been deconstructed and reconstructed a couple of times already and will develop in to  new installations this coming year too...