Basket weaving?

[hippywife]

Does anyone here to do basket weaving? I was looking at a program on TV the other day where the woman was showing her baskets and saying that not many people take up this craft anymore. I loved her baskets, they had a very rustic and freeflowing look to them, artsy and at the same time functional with handles made from bittersweet branches.

I would love to learn to weave baskets from found materials rather than the very clean Longaberger basket look. Nothing wrong with that but just not my style, I like unusual ad artsy.

Would appreciate any tips or ideas from anyone who does this currently.

Thanx! :hi:

[eridani]

1. I'll have to chat with my sister in law about this

It's been a few years since I've been back to Chicago, but last time she had her basement full of pans with various woods soaking in water to make them more flexible. When they dried out after the weaving was finished, the baskets held their shapes nicely.

[hippywife]

2. Well, I guess

that kind of leaves me out of taking up this hobby. I live in a little, tiny house and have no room to set up something like that.

Thanx for your response! Much appreciated.

[Katherine Brengle]

3. This is what I was thinking - it seems like an awesome

thing to do, but soaking all the "ingredients" would take space...

However, people in tiny huts in southeast Asia can do it, so maybe there are ways to maximize what little space you have?

[hippywife]

4. LOL

I like the analogy. But we're pretty well crammed in here so I really don't see it happening. One day we want to build a garage or outbuilding that will be big enough for us to share for our hobbies - one side a ham radio shack, woodshop, and art studio. Gotta finish the current home projects first, tho. Oh well, maybe one day. :hi:

[eridani]

5. She usually had a half a dozen baskets in progress

Maybe just one at a time?

[Longhorn]

6. My children and I made baskets at a friend's house

while we were visiting on vacation about 15 years ago or so. I don't recall it being a big deal at all. We soaked the reeds in a small pan for a little while and then started weaving while sitting at the kitchen table. I still have the basket I made around here somewhere. It was a somewhat expensive basket by the time we bought the book and materials and supplies, though like any craft, the cost per basket will go down with each basket you make. I'm glad I did it but I didn't enjoy it as much as some other crafts.

If I can find the basket, I'll take a picture of it and post it. :)

[sinkingfeeling]

7. I've woven some baskets over the years. You can always get some wild

grapevine or honeysuckle and start practicing. Just take a regular weaving book and subsitute the materials.

[Warpy]

8. Weaving baskets is the one craft that nobody's designed

a machine to do. All baskets are currently woven by hand, on forms or off them.

There should be websites out there on baskets from pine needles, willow sticks, rope, and other non raffia or bamboo materials.

It takes about an hour to learn enough to make a decent small basket that you won't be embarrassed to stick a plant into. However, like any craft, it takes some time to get good at it and years to get as good as the Chinese, Africans and some Native American tribes are.

My materials are an awl, a lap board, a bucket big enough to soak my materials in, and a small scissors. I find basket weaving to be a wonderful hot weather activity since much of it is done wet.

[eridani]

9. Now we need to see some! n/t

[Bluerthanblue]

10. i've made baskets from almost everything- including cloth covered

twisted newspaper-(not joking)

I encourage you to start with a project that costs little to nothing, and brings pretty quick easy results. Once you get the basics down, you can use almost anything to make baskets.

I've made several baskets out of 'woodbine' vine- in spring, summer, fall- Never had to soak it as long as i didn't let it get too dry.

I'm going to look and see if I can find some instructions for 'coiled' type baskets- This is the kind i've used the twisted newspaper/rag-rope/uglyvine as a core for- my summer campers from 7-14 have made some pretty great baskets with nothing more than old cloth,newspaper, and masking tape.

This is my first post here- i'd expressed intrest in the group when it was first suggested, but not really taken time to come in much- hope to change that.

:P