The willow branch is laid on a bed of clay 

The Grand Spheres feature swirls of woven willow withies over a steel spherical frame, which are preserved traditionally with Linseed Oil. As each willow withie is woven by hand, it creates a unique sculpture as no two Spheres will be identical. Rachel’s Grand Spheres have been exhibited across the UK and at the prestigious RHS Chelsea Flower Show and recently at the Kyiv Botanical Gardens, Ukraine.  

The Grand Spheres create a stunning focal point for any size garden, and here at Charlecote the Grand Sphere’s echo the symetrical layout and design of the topiary garden.  

More Sculpture at Charlecote Park

Mirroring the symmetrical layout of the Parterre is the Willow Drops, which combine a powder-coated tendril strand with either a light green or plum colour, fitted with a woven sphere of willow which will sway and spin in the breeze. The Willow Drops are easy to move around the garden to where ever you require a focal point and the Parterre’s box hedge layout is perfect for highlighting the possible uses for sculpture in the garden.

My latest installation at Charlecote Park, Warwickshire. 

The cedar lawn in front of the orangery provides the perfect blend of wilderness and order from the beautifully maintained flower beds to the wild nature of the cedar trees, it was this that inspired Rachel to install her latest sculpture which was this years RHS Chelsea showcase. Fifty Four individually woven spheres of willow are transformed into a sweeping installation across the lawn, viewers may stroll around the work or simply sit back with a coffee and watch as each sphere gently moves with the breeze. Rachel will be making regular visits to Charlecote to create new formations with the Willow Alliums on the Cedar Lawn.

Student Comments

Heres just a few of the great comments about the natural art classes over the last few weeks:

“I have enjoyed the whole process. I have found that I wasn’t very good at first, but I can now weave fairly well. My favorite material was the willow; it’s texture and smell” Samuel

“I have enjoyed working with the Flanders Red Willow; although it smells, it is great for weaving and tying different strands. I was not very good at first but I have started to get the hang of how the material likes to bend and I have now made a few sculptures.” Kailem

“I liked experimenting with the willow as I have never used it before. I also liked the straws and making designs from out of the blue.” Megan

“I like using the straws better because it was easier to use than the willow was; and I enjoyed this whole process.” Jordan

“I thought the art straw process was good, the willow was tricky which made it fun, but on the other hand it smells.” Jonathan

“I enjoyed using the art straws as they were easy to use and I liked the look of the patterns I created through the twisting.” Emma

“I liked using the willow because you could make a lot with it, but I found the straws a lot easier to use, and they smell better.” Louise

“I thought the art straw was the easiest process we have done as the willow was a bit harder to work with but I have enjoyed working with all of them as it is something different to what we would normally do.”

“I have enjoyed working with the straws because it is easier to sculpt and was better to use when making smaller things; I didn’t enjoy working with the willow as much because it was too hard to sculpt. Overall I have enjoyed the process and learnt a lot of different ways to sculpt.” Ellie

“I really liked the weaving with the willow and the straws. I also liked the techniques we used on the first week and second week. The materials used were easy and fun to use.” Alex

Creating knots such as the ‘Gods Eye’, stripping the willow withies into fibres and weaving were just some of the methods the pupils used in their experiments.

The Willow Twist @rachelcarter @THE_RHS