Pick Up A Penguin

A few years ago, I did a willow weaving day with my friend, supposedly making a chicken.  Mine took on a life of its own and turned into rather a large rooster, that you can see here.  For my birthday, my sister bought me a voucher for a local willow weaving session run by Jacquie of www.willowandcrafts.co.uk where we would be making a penguin.

After a quick introduction to the materials and some penguin photos for inspiration, we began by making our penguin’s feet.  They turned out roughly the same shape and size and looked vaguely like a pair - so far so good!

The next job was to make the body base.  After making a couple of teardrop shapes, these were joined together with a ring, the size of which would dictate the size of the penguin’s belly.  I was aiming for a short, squat guy rather than a tall Emperor penguin.

More rings were made in different sizes to complete the base frame. 

After weaving a few bits onto the body frame, it was time to get the legs in.

More body weaving and then the base for head was formed and wedged into the base.  Jacquie encouraged us to study the form of the penguin pictures to get the angles and proportion correct.  Then it was just a case of “carry-on weaving”, building up the neck and forming the head. 

I added a tail, which helped with stability, and the used some white willow to form the belly of the penguin.  This was woven in a circular fashion.

Here’s a shot of my sister in action!

We spent about 6 hours weaving but the day flew by.  I managed to start some wings but Ange’s was still wingless.  Fortunately, Jacquie kindly let us take some willow so we could complete our penguins at home with our new found skills.

After adding more willow to shape the wings and shoulders, I called it quits.  Whilst I had an idea in mind for the shape, the willow takes its own form and shape as the weaving evolves which I loved as it gave the penguin movement and character which I couldn’t have consciously added.

Lastly, I decided to bling him up with some fairy lights – well, 600 of them actually!  He was a bit unstable and kept toppling forwards so I added some lead curtain weights into the body frame near the tail.  I love the finished penguin - he has such character!