May Guest Artist Dawn Williams
FRONDLY YOURS
From Dawn Williams
As a past volunteer at Peace River Botanical gardens in Punta Gorda, we always had to sign in and out in a log book located in the gift shop. Of course we all looked around at the beautiful nature inspired gifts . . . butterfly earrings, botanical note cards, pottery decorated with frogs, fish and flowers, paintings of palms and water, aprons with pictures of herbs . . . then I saw this golden colored basket, it looked like it was made from honey brown wood. It was a palm frond that had been cut and shaped, with a price tag of $300.00! I wanted one, I’d have to try and make one myself.
There’s something about the ability to take a palm from the street, with beautiful golden copper tones and transform it into a useful item that looks like wood. I discover endless possibilities emerge when creativity meets the whims of how a frond would like to fold and bend. I can be in the moment focusing only on what’s in front of me.
The leafy part of the frond gets cut off, the part that attaches to the palm trunk is called the petiole. The petiole needs to be soaked for about two full days. I started soaking them in my bathtub, but the tub gets slimy, so I now use a small blow-up swimming pool. The fronds usually have to be weighted down, and unfolded often during the two day soak. When they come out, they are like vinyl! Then they can be cut, folded (where they like), sewed and tacked. The finished piece gets stuffed tightly with newspaper, and sometimes held open with sticks. After drying for about a week, the basket gets a coat of food grade mineral oil, and trimmings can be added. Mineral oil should be applied about once every couple of months.
