Ever hear of a willowbender? If you haven`t, Dennis Judd would like to change that.
Judd, 37, and a few other craftsmen like him make bentwood furniture, a traditional craft coming into its own. Around Strum, Wis., a town of 1,000 near Eau Claire, people refer to him as an old hippie, a label he doesn`t mind. Indeed, his furniture is sought out by other former flower children turned professionals, who are drawn to its rustic look.
”Willow furniture seems to appeal to city people,” says Judd, who grew up in Palos Park. ”They`re removed from the natural surroundings, and it brings them back.”
One of about half a dozen willowbenders in Wisconsin, Judd builds chairs, couches and tables with a delicate yet sturdy form. He says the craft was brought from Europe by Gypsies about 300 years ago. Judd used to be something of a Gypsy himself. He frequently moved for his job as an airline mechanic and turned to willowbending as a respite from stress. In 1986, when Air Wisconsin wanted him to relocate, he decided to trade a life of sweating over jet engines for one of prowling swamps and roadside ditches. ”I just wanted to put down roots somewhere,” Judd says.
That somewhere turned out to be an aging farm nestled in a wooded valley. Nature has reclaimed much of the old farm except the house and the barn, which is weatherbeaten and slightly askew. In the area he has designated as his workshop he turns out about 10 pieces a month.
Once inside, you can usually find Judd rolling a cigarette from Bugler tobacco and scrutinizing his current project. On this morning, he doesn`t like what he sees.
”The back isn`t going to work,” he scowls. ”I should have used a different piece.” He rummages quickly through his stockpile of willow boughs.
The furniture-making process starts in a swamp or a river bottom, searching for sandbar willows, which aren`t the big trees that most people think of as willows, but shrubs. ”You have to pick the ones that bend just right, and that requires a lot of looking around,” he explains.
Much like a fisherman who guards a secret fishing spot, he won`t say just where his willow caches are. ”I have some good local ones. I`ll harvest it for a while and deplete it. Then I may have to drive halfway across the state to find another.”
The willow itself is better at certain times of the year. ”From June through September, it`s not so good for bending,” he says. ”The fibers are shorter and it`s not as flexible. The old-timers prefer winter, because you can load your bundles on a toboggan. In any other season, you have to carry them on your back and in the summer, the humidity in the swamp has to be 100 percent.”
The boughs are soaked, bent, then dried. The creative process often begins with trial and error; other times, it`s easier, as the shape of the boughs dictates what the result will be.
”I try to get a flow of movement going through a piece, so the components-the back, the seats and the legs-have a certain unity. I pay a lot of attention to how they`re contoured, so you sit back in them, rather than on them.”
Judd`s chairs cost $200 to $375. Couches and beds range from $400 to $1,000. A color catalog is available for $7 by writing Dennis Judd, Route 1, Strum, Wis. 54770, or calling 715-695-3318.
