An Overview
of the Art
and Craft of Straw Work
Today many people work with straw and have developed the traditional
skills into modern work, producing art forms, which exhibit great skill
in techniques and development of design ideas. For some workers this
provides a small additional income, but it cannot yet provide a regular
income. Most workers simply pass on the skills to keep traditional work
alive.
Some workers produce corn dollies, although this work is not traditional to Switzerland, they were probably only introduced about 30 years ago. Some of the English designs, which date back to the late 1800s, are made from straw plaits also made in the straw hat industry.
A modern development of corn dolly making is known as Decorative Straw Work where more than one technique is combined to make one decoration. In such pieces, straw marquetry and straw plaits may be mixed with traditional Swiss Agréments.
Corn dollies are normally made from whole straw stems, but for Decorative Straw Work the straw is often more skilfully prepared.
A whole straw can be split into narrow sections known as splints and in Switzerland the splints were made into elaborate straw plaits or worked into Bordures.
