There are many kinds of art made from straw. Some are ancient, some newer. Historically, in many European countries, making beautiful things from straw was part of celebrating the crop which was the dietary mainstay of the people. Grain and humans have been so long intertwined that some of us still feel that deep connection to these plants; the first time I held grain I had grown and harvested in my hands it felt so right, so natural or proper, that I wanted to mark my renewing of that long alliance between our species in some way. Maybe some of this straw art will have that effect for you.
Planning: Choose your grains for straw artwork with care. Ideally, you want grains with long stems. This is why most straw weavers use heritage varieties rather than modern wheats which have been bred for short stems. Depending on the variety, your grains may be fall or spring planted; prepare ahead, just as if you were growing them for food.
I have found that straw from Triticum spp. is easiest for weaving; I have also heard of people using rye and oat straw. I have, so far, found oats and barley to be more coarse and brittle than the Triticums, and so less satisfying to work with. I have not tried rye, which (some say) has a less beautiful colour.
Harvesting: The best straw for weaving is harvested after the head is fully formed, but before the plant is fully dead and dry. As your grains near maturity, watch them carefully. You want to harvest them after most of the stem has turned golden, but the node immediately below the head is still green. Cut your grain as near the ground as possible, and let it finish drying for two weeks indoors. Do your best to not bend or break any stems.
The seeds of the grain should be mature enough that, once dry, you can thresh any heads you aren’t using for weaving and replant them for next year.
Weaving with the Straw: Before you can weave, you need to prepare your straws. Cut them into sections just above each node in the stem, and remove the leaves. For some kinds of straw art, you may want to use only “first joint” straws; for some you may use “second joint.” I usually use first joint straw (with or without heads) for ornamental work, since it is long and delicate, and use second and third joint for hatmaking, since they are thicker and so make a wider plait. Straw work is easier if you use straws of a similar thickness for a project.
When you are ready to work, soak the straws you will use in a basin of water. If they were harvested at the right stage of maturity, they shouldn’t need more than about 10-20 minutes soaking. If they crack when you try to use them, soak them a bit longer. If they seem really limp and tear, they may have been soaked too long; pull them out of the water and let them dry for a few minutes before working them. I usually put 10-25 straws to soak, then take them out and use them while soaking another little bundle of straw.
When working with straws with heads still attached, I try to keep the heads dry by propping them against the side of my basin while submerging the straw and holding it in place with a rock. If they just get a little wet and dry promptly they should be fine; but if they soak a long time they may sprout. They are alive, you must remember!
I do three kinds of straw art: plaited, woven, and tied. Here are a few starting techniques, which you can see used and combined in the pictures on the website. All three require at least some string or thread, so make sure to have string and scissors nearby before you start.
Plaits. There are many ornamental braids or plaits (pronounced “plats” in British English). Commonly an artist will make a long length of plait and then use it to make a shape; a heart or an ornamental knot (“mortifords” and “countryman’s favours” are straw crafts using these techniques). Here are some plaits:
The Compass Plait uses four straws. Tie them together at one end, just below the heads if using straws with the heads attached. I usually make a clove hitch around my straw, followed by an overhand knot. Hold them upright, tied at the bottom; starting in that position, spread the straws out flat at right angles, with the heads sticking down beneath them in the centre.
(1) Take the two straws opposite each other and switch them to opposite sides; then do the same (2) with the other pair. Do not twist them. Simply go straight back and forth; with straws A & B in the diagram, A stays on the right and B on the left the whole time. Continue, alternating pairs, until your plait is the length you want (3-5).
You will probably need to add more straws before you’re done. Fortunately straws are hollow; simply insert about an inch of the thin end of a new straw into the wider end of the previous straw, and continue plaiting. To make these joins even tidier, trim one edge off the straw you are inserting for that first inch, so that the diameters of the old and new straws match better.
The Spiral Plait uses at least five straws. I usually do it around a core of several more, though it is possible to do it open-centred. To make the core, tie a bunch of straws together every couple of inches along their length. Hold them upright. Then spread five more straws evenly around them and tie around them and the core at the bottom (diagram again shows the view from directly above). (1) Holding the core upright, spread the straws out to N, E, S, & W with the extra one in between two of them. Take the extra straw and raise it vertically against the core to make a neat bend, then bring it down firmly over the next two straws, making a neat, tight corner where it bends next to the core. Take the second straw you just covered; raise it straight up (2) and bring it down over the next two straws. Continue (3,4) until the plait is as long as you wish. If you use a large core, this plait is inflexible; but if you use only a couple of straws you can soak the finished plait and gently bend it into various shapes. It is easiest to make it retain these shapes if you put a wire inside a straw in the middle of the core before you start. I show this plait being worked clockwise; it is also fine counterclockwise.
Six-Straw Round Plait uses six straws (after mastering this, you can try both spiral and round plaits with more straws, by the way). Tie them together at one end; hold upright and spread them out evenly. Work clockwise or counterclockwise; bring one straw over two straws (1) on one side of it, then lift the second straw you covered and repeat (2). This should feel familiar after spiral plait, but you will get a different visual effect.
Some straw artists also use the old Hair Braid Plait, which I expect at least half the population knows already; you can braid straw the same way as hair. And for a sort of string which always matches your art perfectly, you can make Rope Plait; simply fold a moistened straw double and twist it into a single strand (I find this easiest to do if I hold it in my teeth, so that I have both hands free for twisting).
St. Brigid’s cross: Traditionally these crosses were made for St. Brigid’s feast day, February 1st, which is also the Celtic festival of Imbolc, connected to the Celtic goddess Brigid. They were placed above the doors of homes to protect them from harm for the year.
The Welsh Fan is somewhat more complex. It requires an odd number of straws with the heads attached; I would say that nine is an absolute minimum, and I have used up to 25. Start by tying three straws together just below the heads and spreading them out, two to the right and one to the left. Add one straw (D) on the right, placing it under the outside straw and over the inside one. Add another (E) on the left, also going under the outside and over the inside straw (as in 1). “Lock” the right straw in place by lifting the second straw from the edge (B) straight up and bringing the outside straw (C) across, placing it parallel to those on the left; lay down the second straw (B), which is now the outside one. Do the same on the left. Then add two more straws and repeat (3), until you reach the length of fan you want. To finish the fan, gather the straws on each side together, tie them and trim them neatly; I like to make a string or simple plait to connect them, allowing me to hang the completed fan on a wall with the grains pointing down.
The Welsh Fan worked fine for me with spelt; however, the first time I tried it with Utrecht Blue emmer I found that the heads (and their long awns) were so broad that I couldn’t crowd them together enough to do a nice job of weaving! I found two solutions: either let some straw extend outside the edge of the fan below the head, allowing the heads to bend away from each other and make room for themselves, or replace every other head with a plain straw, which I bent around and used in place of two heads in the work.
If you want to make larger arrangements, you can tie multiple fans together in a square or pentagon.
Tied Straw. Some straw art simply involves tying plain straws carefully together. My favourite is a Star, which my family uses as a Christmas ornament. I often do this with scraps of straw left over after working on other straw projects. Cut 16 straws to the same length (3-4”). Cut 4 pieces of string about 8” long and one about 12” long.
Take two pairs of straws, flatten them, and cross each pair at right angles; then lay them together to make an eight-pointed star (1). Weave one of the shorter strings over and under the spokes of the star, and tied a single overhand knot to hold it fairly snugly. Make a second 8-pointed star.
Then place the two together (2), with the knots in the strings to the outside, to make a 16-pointed star. Use the third string to lace them together. Untie the temporary knots which held your 8-point stars together and gently pull the strings out, so the star is only held together by the most recently added string.
Make a second 16-pointed star, and lay the two together to make a 32-pointed star. Use the longer string to weave them together and tie it. Remove the temporary strings which held the 16-point stars together, and adjust the new string until it forms a nice circle as tight as possible. Then, to permanently secure your star, weave your final string around each straw again on the other side from where you went previously, so that each has string on both sides, and tie it with a square knot.
Trim the points of your star to different lengths to give different effects.
Two variations:
- If you like the effect, you can leave the temporary strings in place on the finished star instead of pulling them out. If you want to do this, pair the smaller stars with the knots on the inside and trim the tails as you go along to make a neat product.
- You can also tie points of the stars together to create a different effect. My technique for tying is shown below; I uses needle and thread. It requires a bit of skill to get the points of the star even, but it is possible. My current favourite base for this technique is a 16-point star.
Some people also do non-geometric tied straw work, making animal or human figures; but I have not tried that yet.
None of these straw crafts will look beautiful at first; it takes practice to make them tidy and even. When I learn a new plait, I expect the first 12” (at least) to be just recognizable enough that I can tell I am following the directions correctly; beauty only comes with more experience. But once you have learned these techniques, you can have fun combining them or experimenting with variations based on them. I really enjoy how straw art helps us to stop and reconsider the plants we are working with: these grains are not only grist for the mill (though I am very grateful for the food they provide); they are also beautiful, as individuals and together, just as they are when freshly harvested and unadorned. Too often grain fields just become a golden sea of commodity crop; straw weaving helps us to rework our long relationship with these plants.