Repairing a french split wicker creel

[OldTackle]

Good evening,

has anyone of the gentlemen experience in working with split wicker? Especially how to gather / prepare it. My beloved creel has some damage to the lid and I would like to fix that in the original way and with original materials. The wicker is in thin strips and woven quite tightly. Anyone ever did something like that? Any hint highly welcome.

Kind regards

[Paul D]

You need to use willow while it's green (freshly cut) I made some small panels from hazel last year from freshly cut material and it turned out quite nice. Must be a YouTube video about it?
Why not just go cut some and have a play?

[OldTackle]

I did Paul. They are just soaking in a water bath. But I wonder if my creel is really wicker. It looks different. Could that be reed? How is that worked into a basket?
Mine looks similar to this:
http://www.angling-artifacts.com/store/ ... einfo.html

[Paul D]

Interesting Chris, I assumed they were all made from willow? There must be a weird weaving forum somewhere on the internet you could look at.
I wonder if the difference is just because of the age or finish?

[Duebel]

Hi Chris,

in Lichtenfels, a small town near Bamberg, there is the "Staatliche Berufsfachschule für Flechtwerkgestaltung". Maybe they can help you with that.
There are still a couple of basket weavers around here, but unfortunately I don't know any.

By the way, today I received a recently bought wicker creel. It seems to be quite alright only the leather strap for carrying is missing. I got it from the bay for only 14 Euros together with an old glass rod, a cheap fixed reel and some fishing bits and bobs.

[OldTackle]

Good hint Martin. Maybe I should give them a call. There are more places in Germany like that I found out already. Looking at my creel the strips might be wicker but thinned down a lot. There must be a process behind that does not look hand crafted to me. I tried with wicker this evening and everything broke. I even split some and got that petty good but didn't work either. In the end I cut leather straps from a piece and used that. Will hold until I find something more original. From the color its a goos match. I will post a picture when re-assembled again.
I have a spare wicker creel, too. But it's more modern style and does not have the used look yet...