Journal
Wild Pottery: Clay – digging your own
One of the things that makes Native Hands Wild Pottery courses ‘wild’ is that we dig our own clay from the land What is Clay?Ask this of anyone and they’ll most likely reply ‘mud’. But there’s a bit more to it than that. It’s made up of one or more clay minerals with...
Woven Dwelling
In the winter of 2012 the East Sussex Archaeology and Museums Partnership team, led by Christabel Shelley and Ian Dunford, constructed a beautiful dwelling, influenced by archaeological findings at Deer Park Farms in County Antrim, Ireland, an early rath (ringfort or...
Hazel Holloway at Wakehurst (Kew) 2023
Walking through Pearcelands Wood at Wakehurst Kew, on a quiet, mid-winter day; woods I know well from making a sculpture here in 2017. As I walk, an open awareness of the trees, plants, creatures; the light and the weather… open to what might present itself as an idea...
Threading Thorns
A photgraphic essay. Weaving bramble baskets in the woods, I'm joined by photographer Bethany Hobbs. These are her words and images, her story of our day.The humble bramble, the scratcher, the snarer, the snagger of jumpers, the bearer of tongue-staining fruit, it...
Meet the Maker
I talk with Kim Winter, editor at the Basketmakers Association, about my practice. KW: How did you get into making baskets with foraged materials? The training I had at degree level (3D Craft, Brighton Uni) was formative, being materials led. I remember in the first...
Featured Artist
I talk with the founder of Plants & Colour, Flora Arbuthnott, about how I approach working with wild gathered materials in my creative practice. Intimacy with the landscape, the living world, plants, earth, other creatures, has always been meaningful to me as a...
Forage of the Month
Forage of the Month- July
Nettle Seeds Nettle seeds ready to harvest Nettles are a truly amazing plant. I recently found out about the 'super food' that is nettle seeds, and have been making the most of the nettle patch at the end of the garden ever since. Full of fantastic nutritional and...
Forage of the Month- June
Elderflower Cake The fragrant, frothy elder flowers are out now, a lovely sign of summer. Elderflower cordial recipes abound, so here's a favourite recipe of mine for elderflower cake. I've created a vegan version for this recipe too, which you'll find further down....
Forage of the Month- February
Bramble Tips Lots of us know bramble as the blackberry bush, the one that gives us those delicious autumnal berries that stain our fingers and tongues. Bramble plants are vigorous and plentiful in their growing habit, and the hardiness of the plant means it has a...