Neighbours were digging up their overgrown New Zealand Flax [Phormium] – it was an impressive specimen! Doug came to the door – would I like some of the ‘fronds’ to ‘do something’ with?

Nothing struck me in that moment, but how could I refuse?! Malcolm carted several large bundles over the road (a fair weight to them too)! I decided to get stuck straight in, under and over, and see what it was like to weave with…

Rather lovely!

The ‘fronds’ are long, strong, smooth and fibrous – quite plastic-y in texture.

Without having enbarked upon any research, I used it exactly as it came! And decided to see if I could make it into something more basket-like:

It was really tricky, requiring contortionist moves and every finger and foot I own to hold it all together, until it began to hold up all by itself. Malcolm gave me what I think was an encouraging comment when he suggested that it looked like a coracle!

Around this point in time, we were discussing opening a (brand new) produce stall at the allotment. The idea – to try raising funds selling any surplus produce.

We would need some kind of a stall!

If we could use a couple of benches already on site, I could make a mat for them and a shade/shelter from the flax! This was at the start of the recent heatwave – shade being imperative to keep the veggies etc. cool!

The mat to cover the smaller bench took shape remarkably quickly:

…and proved to be very good practise for the larger canopy:

It quickly transpired that the large shelter would be far too heavy for the stall! I squeezed the warp and weft a little closer together to form a tighter weave and turned it into a windbreak/ backdrop for the stall instead!

Thanks to Alison for this photo – and for nudging me into making a post all about it! (I decided to keep things in chronological order thus writing about my allotment bench first!)

In situ

We still needed a shade! So rigged up a canopy using scaffold netting and canes – thanks for the help with that Sue (sorry about the clegs)!

As you can see, the flax is already beginning to lose its freshly-cut green hue. It will be interesting to see how it settles in as the season progresses.

I’m growing some flax of a different kind (Linum) on our plot this year, this one a vibrant pink! I’ve grown a more usual pale blue variety (from bird seed!) before, and found some beautiful Pale Flax growing locally, which I’d love to sow next year.

I’m hoping to use the fibres (and seed) in some way. Linum = linen. I really will need to do some research for this first!