The trip to the Straw Museum was quite an adventure. It was not well marked, and we kept driving up and down the road trying to find the correct turn off. Several calls were made to the museum trying to get better directions, and Stevie, our driver, stopped to check with a local couple before he finally found the road we needed to turn onto. Then we got to the lane. It was so narrow that he tried backing down the lane. When the trees got so close to the road that the branches were scraping down the length of the bus, he gave up, and we walked the rest of the way. Since the coach is only two weeks old, he didn't want to damage it.
Late arrival at the Straw Museum meant that we couldn't stay as long. We saw an interesting collection of straw marquetry and quilling. In straw marquetry, the dry straw is first split, then the sections are woven or wound together into different shapes like this stunning dragon.
Or they can be glued flat onto a background to create a flat picture instead of a 3-dimensional object. The straw can be dyed various colors. Even though it looks like the designs are made out of wood, they are really made out of natural and dyed straw.
In quilling, thin strips of paper (in the artist's choice of colors) are wound into little, tight circles. The tightness of the circle can be relaxed for another shape, pinched on one end to create a tear drop shape, or pinched on two sides to create yet another shape. A little bit of glue keeps the paper from unravelling.
All of these little pieces are then arranged into very striking pictures. This box is one of the fine examples we were shown.
We did get a demonstration of quilling but ran out of time before we could see the demonstration of straw marquetry.
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