Preparation
Mark a circle out on the ground with the desired radius of the dome. Note, the radius of the dome will be roughly the height of the dome in the centre. The actual height of the dome depends on whether or not it's sitting on vertical walls and the curvature of the dome. It's also worth pointing out that domes generally need longer living willow rods. For instance a dome which is 6ft in the centre needs rods 11ft long to allow 1ft to be planted in the ground. As a rough guide, you'll need living willow rods twice the height of the dome you want to construct.
We would recommend using mulching fabric to kill off the grass and weeds especially where the living willow rods are to be planted. Use child friendly material if the structure is for a child’s play area.
It's probably easier to use a piece of string pegged at the centre to assist in pegging the outer radius of the mulching fabric in place. The length of the string will be the radius of the dome plus half the width of the mulching fabric.
Once the outer radius of the fabric is pegged in place the inner radius can be pegged, gathering the excess fabric as you go.
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Dome Construction
The dome is constructed by planting living willow rods at intervals around the circumference of the dome. The spacing of the rods can be between 150mm and 300mm depending upon how dense you want the walls to be.
Once all the rods have been planted, pull diametrically opposite pairs together and tie in the middle. It's best to proceed in a methodical manner by tying pairs of rods that bisect completed sections. On larger domes where there are a lot of rods it'll be impossible to tie them all in the centre without ending up with a big lump in the centre. To avoid this, cut the latter rods short and tie them inbetween the rods that have already been tied in.
If you want to make the dome into an igloo, construct a small short tunnel to one side.
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