Memory lane: I made some willow baskets to decorate around our home

Katja @ Shift Ctrl ART — Tue, 21 May 2013 16:50:41 GMT

B commented the other day that he does not remember what the inside of any of our previous homes look like. I can't really blame him. We move a lot and he was little.

So the other day I went through all our pictures (!) from the time he was born until we moved to our current home in 2009 and picked out some interior shots from each of them that I will put on some pages for him here. In that process I came upon this photo from our previous (rented/leased) home.

And I was noticing some of my willow baskets that I used to decorate that very wide and tall space over the TV.

That made me think of the first class I took to learn how to make willow baskets in the late 90s, but especially, it made me think of the second class I took with my cousin on a trip to Denmark back in the winter of 2005. I remember that class better because we took pictures ha... Did you see that one coming?

Let's take a look.

It was early March of 2005. On the left my view from the train going to class on an early Saturday morning. On the right the view of the bay near my Parent's house a week later - just because that image is so pretty. These pictures were all taken with my old point and shoot Power shot camera.

It was a two day class and here we are on the morning of day 1. All the gorgeous willow laid out. My cousin is the fair haired maiden on the left. I am in all black on the right. The other woman on both pictures is the teacher, Ida. She also taught the first class I had taken years earlier.

I wish this was a regular DIY project that I could show you how to make yourself, but the reality is, that in order to make these baskets, you first have to get a bunch of willow (obviously), then soak them completely immersed in water for 8 days or so to make the willows pliable. Then you have about 3 days to work with the willow and then you can't re-use it again. So for people who do not have infinitely space, time and money like myself, the best way to make baskets is to take a class.

My cousin is working on her basket here.

Here I am adding the "spokes" (there is probably a willow-y term for that, that I forgot) to make the sides of my basket.

Unlike my cousin, I had to bring my basket home to California, so I had to make them small enough to fit in my suitcase. So I made one basket wide and short and the other one narrow, but tall.

The big rock in the center is used to weight it down while you make the basket.

This is a couple of days later when I visited my cousin at her summerhouse where she posed with her new basket. Isn't it just pretty! As you can see, she used two different kinds of willow. The middle of hers is a bit more green, while the edges are bit more red.

I talked to her the other day, and she reports that her basket is still in use as a magazine holder although it has gotten a bit more loose over the years.

Click on layout to see it in a larger size.

I later commemorated the occasion with a scrapbooking layout. I exacto-knifed that Willow title. Yes I did!

On the right are the two baskets and some cones for my Christmas tree that I made at that class. I am happy to report they all made it in the suit case on the way home to California.

Here are some pictures from this morning of all the baskets I have made in those two classes - minus the bigger cones because they are packed away with the Christmas stuff.

My very favorite one is the one I made in the first class with the very tall handle - on the very left. It lives in my kitchen on one of the chunky shelves we built - I will show you that in this Friday's reveal of our kitchen remodel.

This was the second basket I made after the one with the tall handle. It has a peek-a-boo effect. I lined it with green tissue paper and put some forever ivy and white forever flowers in it for the built-in entertainment center in our previous home. I'll save you the scroll:

Oh and I did have one little cone out. This one I usually always hung in all the kitchens from under one of the cabinet frames.

I have searched high and low for a basket class here in California, but so far I have not been successful in finding one. I don't know if it is too hot for willow to grow here. That could be a reason. I would love to find one. I would take one again in a minute! It's so much fun!

So, tell me: have you ever taken a willow class or made baskets out of willow or any other material? Do they have classes near where you live? (I might come visit you ha ha)

Pavlova or Pavlovon't - thanking my lucky stars it all worked out

Katja @ Shift Ctrl ART — Mon, 20 May 2013 22:31:17 GMT

I made this dessert for the first time yesterday. I think it would be perfect for Memorial Day or 4th of July with all that red, white and blue going on, don't you?

But I made it so late yesterday that the pictures have that familiar "night time" yellow. I don't mind that so much for pictures of the progress, but I really wanted a good "after" picture for this post because this dessert is so pretty.

The cake was also too sweet and it needed something else.

You can see my somewhat failed attempt at it here. Behind the scenes - website only:

I had this cake for the first time back in the summer of 2011, when we went to visit some friends of my parents. Here is the picture of the cake from that day. You may have to wear sunglasses before hovering your mouse over the behind the scenes photo. The friend who made this is an exceptional cook and with a keen eye for detail.

Website only - behind the scenes photo:

So this morning B and I made another go of it and I amended the recipe (based on this recipe) and I LOVE how it came out. Here is what we did.

The marzipan - or almond paste that is available here in the states is much sweeter, than the one they used in the original recipe. So in the new batch B and I made this morning, we did leave out some of the sugar to off set the sweetness. That helped a lot. I also added the slivered almonds to top it off and that gave it some much needed crunch.

When you go to the store there are two kinds of Marzipan - Almond paste in the baking section. One of them has almonds in the first spot of the list of ngredients (meaning this is what there is most of in the product), the other kind has sugar on the first space.

Here you can see a behind the scenes photo - website only - of the packaging and which one I chose:

Recipe:

3 egg whites

1 cup - packed - of powdered sugar

1/2 tsp vinegar

Half a tube of almond paste - 3.5 oz - grated

1/3 cup of slivered almonds

Mix the egg whites with half of the sugar and all of the vinegar for about 4-5 minutes until it is very stiff. The vinegar really helps.

Then sift the second half of the sugar into the mixture and continue to mix until it is all well mixed and still very stiff.

Grate and fold in almond paste with the batter.

Make 8 little nests like this. Sprinkle the slivered almonds over top of the nests. Put them into the oven at 300F for 40 minutes.

While they were baking, we made the little cake banner. We made some lucky stars using this video tutorial, which I have condensed into one view here:

Cut 1/2 inch strips length wise out of letter sized paper.

Tie knot at one end of the strip.

Tuck the small end behind the pentagon shape, start folding the long strip around the pentagon

Fold all the way to the end.

Tuck in the end of the strip behind the outer most layer.

Pinch the corners.

After I had made a couple of stars, they started looking nicer. B was already a pro. He has been folding origami since he was around 7.

We strung the stars onto some white thread and tied it to two bamboo skewers. I broke the skewers in half to make them shorter.

Between the stars, I put some Washi tape (colored Japaneese masking tape) around the white thread and cut out a triangle at the bottom.

Here are the Pavlova's all baked and nice. We let them cool on a rack.

When they were cool, we whipped some heavy whipping creme and added a dollop to the center of the Pavlova, then decorated with berries.

And struck our cake banner into the Pavlova.

This dessert should be served immediately after the whipped cream and berries have been added.

I am linking up to the DIY MAY-nia party - Make something red, white and blue for Memorial Day at Wit Wisdom and Food | The HumberHome Project | Corner of Main | Mailbox Journey

Shift Ctrl ART Blog

Memory lane: I made some willow baskets to decorate around our home

Pavlova or Pavlovon't - thanking my lucky stars it all worked out