How to mellow willow

27 March 2025

Mellowing is a very important part of the willow soaking process, as it enables the inner parts of the rod to become fully pliable. It’s often the hardest part of willow work to understand as there are so many variables which affect it. In the end, you have to give in to working when the willow is ready – which isn’t always when you are!

Much like if we have a lovely soak in a hot bath, we don’t want to get out and immediately start work – we want to relax and rest afterwards. Willow is the same; by giving it that ‘resting’ time, it will mellow and achieve the optimum condition for weaving.

How to mellow willow: step-by-step guide

1. Remove your willow from the soaking tank and drain it for a brief period by leaving it standing up. In hot weather, get your willow out of the tank in the morning and shorten the mellowing time a little.
2. Wrap your willow in a blanket or hessian mellowing sheet and leave it overnight. Leave the willow lying down not standing upright and leave it somewhere of ambient temperature: not too hot, not too cold.
3. Whatever material you use to mellow your willow in doesn’t have to be wet, but in hot weather you might find a slightly damp blanket beneficial if you’re using white or buff willow. You can always place a thin plastic sheet or tarpaulin over the top of the blanket if you are concerned it will dry out too quickly.
4. Purpurea willows like to be warm to work best. They don’t like working in cold sheds in the winter. If you have underfloor heating under ceramic tiles or stone flags, they will enjoy laying on it and being warmed up in the mellowing blanket before working.

How long to mellow willow for

Like every stage of willow preparation, mellowing is subject to seasonal variation. The timings below are for mellowing in an ambient temperature. Warmer weather or conditions will speed up the process, colder weather or conditions will slow it down.

Brown willow

Brown willow usually requires mellowing overnight for most sizes.

Buff and Buff Noir willow

Buff Noir willow can usually be used straight out of the tank with little to no mellowing. Buff willow generally needs to be mellowed for a day following soaking.

White willow

Austrian Grey and Black Maul stripped for white willow behave in very different ways when soaking and mellowing. Refer to the table below.

Pre-steamed willow

Mellowing willow top tips

A few more top tips to keep in mind when mellowing your willow:

• Keep your willow wrapped up in your mellowing blanket even whilst you are using it to keep it in good condition and prevent it from drying out.
• Leftover brown willow can be kept covered for up to a week and still used. After this time, the willow will need to be dried thoroughly before being stored and re-soaked.
• If willow is kept damp for too long (especially in warm weather) the willow will turn greasy and mouldy. The rods may also squash if used. If this happens, wipe the grease and mould off the willow, thoroughly dry the rods out, and repeat the soaking process.
• Repeated re-soaking of buff or Buff Noir willow will cause the willow rod to lose its colour and eventually go black spotted. If a buff willow rod starts to get black spots, it is no longer usable. However, if only a few rods are affected, pull these out to stop the mould spreading. The rest of the rods should still be viable.
• Repeated re-soaking of brown willow will cause the bark to peel and become greasy.
• If rods split while being worked with, this could be down to over-soaking or the rods not being given enough time to mellow. To remedy this, stand the rods up to drain. Once they are dry to the touch, put the rods back under a damp hessian sheet (or blanket or plastic sheeting) to mellow. Weaving a simple willow star wand is a good way to test if your willow is ready to use.
• The biggest cause of willow not working or cracking is lack of mellowing, not lack of soaking.