Tanya Doty of Heartstone Baskets, friend and expert willow weaver and stone wrapper, showed me this technique. wrapped stones are a traditional art from and often use intricate wrapping techniques and different materials. So far, the ones I have completed have quite simple designs.
Four wrappped stones I completed in Tanya’s workshop.
After a friend lent me some of her books on standing stone circles, I completed this standing stone as a thank you gift. Because the stone is standing, it’s necessary to wrap around the sides rather than the base as wrapping around the base makes the stone unsteady when standing. When wrapping in this way, it’s necessary to add a vertical rod to anchor the centre design. I used a flax rod for the anchor.
A beautiful stone with attractive markings, gifted to a friend f0r her 60th birthday, is wrappped with six layers of cane representing her sixty years of living so far. The sea-worn piece of shell represents the new growth for her future. I tried a number of different more complicated designs but eventually realised the stone didn’t need much in the way of embellishment, so decided on this simple, but effective design. Although it doesn’t stand on its own, it is heavy enough to be lent against a backdrop to stay upright.
A star with a star decoration which is made by weaving flax strips across the front of a stone. The stone needs to be this shape so that the top left and right points don’t skip down each edge of the stone. In the centre, the strips are woven across one or two strips to create the woven centre.
As a birthday present for a family member who is a keen detectorist, I constructed a standing stone circle in a large container of river sand and stones. I buried gold treasure near the stone circle and wrote a note that indicated treasure was buried somewhere. She had great fun finding the gold with her hand held detector and loved the present.
© Ali Brown 2025