The Guild of Straw Craftsmen
Welcome to the Guild of Straw Craftsmen On-Line.
Thank you for visiting The Guild of Straw Craftsmen Web Site. We hope to provide you with an extensive online collection of information about straw craft in its many guises. Much of this material has been collected by the Guild Historian and Archivist as well as individual members. Through the web site we are now able to share this knowledge with you. Straw craft isn't just about Corn Dollies, although many of our members came into the Guild through Corn Dollies. After seeing what can be made out of straw they then branched out into the other facets of straw craft. Straw craft includes marquetry, Swiss straw work, models made of straw, lip work, tied straw figures, finials, plaited straw hats and much much more. Straw objects can be made of wheat, barley, oats, rye and even rice straw. Although, in the UK, we do not use corn husks or rice straw we still have information on how you can work them. We aim to have information for both the beginner and the enthusiast covering all aspects of straw work. Through our links we hope to send you off on paths you had never dreamed of, that will (we hope) inspire you. We trust you enjoy your visit.
The Aims of The Guild of Straw Craftsmen
Founded in 1989, the aims of The Guild of Straw Craftsmen are to:
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Promote the craft of straw work |
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Raise the standard of straw work produced and taught |
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Bring straw enthusiasts together |
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Disseminate information about all aspects of straw work |
This web site has been designed to provide information and inspiration to further these aims.
What's on The Guild of Straw Craftsmen Web Site?
- What's New - Recent changes to the site.
- Membership Details - Membership of The Guild of Straw Craftsmen is open to anyone interested in any aspect of straw craft. We have members who are interested in straw marquetry, making bee skeps, hat decorations as well as plaiting with straw. Details on how to join The Guild of Straw Craftsmen and a link to a copy of the membership form will be found on this page.
- Resources - The book list and a list of suppliers who can provide materials or tools and equipment. Please note that straw suppliers may not be able to supply to places outside of the United Kingdom due to import restrictions of the receiving country. Some of them may expect you to collect the straw.
- Events, Exhibitions and Courses - Guild members appear at many events and some of them are listed here. The Guild also runs courses for both beginners and experienced straw workers alike and these are also listed. This list is updated at the beginning of the year and frequently throughout the year as new events and courses are scheduled.
- Where to see Straw Work - All over Britain straw work can be found. This page lists (by county) places where you can see examples of straw work. The items on display may or may not be made by our members.
- Links - All sorts of links to other sites related to working with straw. It is anticipated that this section will be updated more often than any other page. Don't forget to look in the What's New section for the latest updates.
At a later stage we hope to set up some galleries of pictures of Straw work provided by our members (and non-members if you care to send a picture). We hope this will be updated on a regular basis (look in the What's New section for the latest updates). The pictures section will feature photographs of particular styles of straw work rather than the photographs of individuals. In the meantime we have photographs of straw work scattered thoughout the web site for your enjoyment.
Important Note:
Like many people the Guild received a lot of emails with worms and viruses in them. At the time we decided to suspend email contact until we could find a suitable way of encrypting addresses. The Guild has now found a way to eliminate the problems we encountered and you can now safely email us. Please do not save our address in your address book as we intend to change the address on a regular basis.
We still urge you to ensure that you install virus protection software on your computer so that these harmful programs are not spread.
Requests for information about courses, suppliers, etc. may be sent by snail mail to the address given on the Membership Details page. Please enclose a SAE for reply.
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