Native Hands
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Wild Craft Courses in the Woods. Sussex, UK. On offer: courses in Wild Basketry, Wild Pottery, Bushcraft. Sustainability is at the heart of Native Hands.
Learn skills that will last you a lifetime; develop a sense of empowerment and resourcefulness; connect more deeply with the natural world, and make beautiful, useful items. Foraging for our materials from the land/woods/hedgerow is an integral part of our courses, which will make you look at plants and the landscape in a whole new light. Courses are held outdoors in peaceful Sussex woodland and w
Making pottery the original, ancestral way with clay dug from the land and the pots put through an open fire right there in the woods.
It's elemental and alchemical... creating beauty with the land beneath our feet.
We use an economy of wood as fuel and at the end we leave no trace.
Sussex UK 🔥🌿
You'll find details of courses via the link in my bio, or visit www.nativehands.co.uk/wild-pottery-courses
It's wild cordage time, the plants are just about ready for harvesting for bast fibres 🌿
This weekend's courses are fully booked but there's one space left on Nettle Fibre Net Bags in June.
🌿 Details here www.nativehands.co.uk/courses-homepage
04/05/2026
The bluebells have been so beautiful in the woods this spring.
With so much plant growth it's soon time to harvest for wild cordage making...
Wild Basketry has a whole chapter on wild cordage and there are also a couple of spots available on my woodland course later this month
🌿Details via link in my bio or go to
www.nativehands.co.uk/wild-basketry-book
www.nativehands.co.uk/wild-cordage-string
06/04/2026
Cleavers and Nettle Tonic
Forage of the Month- April | Native Hands I've been watching the cleavers and nettles in my garden over the last few weeks, waiting for them to get big enough to start harvesting for this, my all time favourite thing to make as spring arrives. Cleavers and nettles make one of the best spring tonics: cleavers are great for the lymphatic syst...
05/04/2026
Making a wild grass & bramble basket
One of my favourite baskets to make. I love going out in the summer to harvest grasses. They're stored over winter, which is when I gather bramble stems and split them down into strips.
The making itself is a satisfyingly repetitive motion, sinking into the rhythm of it. The scent of summer meadows coming from the grasses, early spring sunshine in the studio while I'm working.
Grass and and brambles transform into a beautiful form.
Life feels simpler in these moments.
🌿 I'm looking forward to teaching Wild Grass baskets in the Sussex woods soon.
🌿 You'll find all the details here www.nativehands.co.uk/wild-basketry-courses
🌿 MY BOOK 🌿 Wild Basketry has a grass basket project in it, it's available through your usual bookseller, details here www.nativehands.co.uk/wild-basketry-book
It's a fabulous thing to turn brambles (blackberry) into a woven basket.
My teaching season starts in April with an immersive 2-day woodland course doing just that.
Amongst the spring birdsong and woodland flowers we'll forage brambles and weave together around the campfire.
It's a slice of sanity.
🌿 You'll find all the details here www.nativehands.co.uk/bramble-baskets
12/02/2026
NOW CLOSED TO APPLICATIONS
Are you based in East Sussex and looking for a great job outdoors that combines hospitality, fire-keeping skills and genuine nature connection?
We're looking for a seasonal part-time assistant for Ruby's woodland courses, April- October.
🌿 Deadline 20th Feb 🌿
Bramble (blackberry) fibre looped bag.
A project that's great for picking up and putting down.
It's a methodical process, not quick, but deeply satisfying, and perfect when I need a couple of hours in the studio to settle my mind.
The work is growing, gradually, and will be quite large when finished. There are no knots so it will stretch bigger, too.
I'm looking forward to teaching these techniques in beautiful ancient woodland in Sussex UK, May 16 / 17 🌿
Join me for an immersive couple of days of in-depth learning, hands-on making and reflective connection.
A slice of sanity around a campfire under the mighty oak trees, with like-minded humans.
🌿 all details here www.nativehands.co.uk/courses-homepage
There's also a simplified version of this in the projects section of my book Wild Basketry, published in the UK, EU and USApress
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