Basket weaving class - October 20, 2012 posted by Lorri

It's always fun to learn a new skill.  My friend Kate discovered a woman who teaches the art of making baskets.  Schedules were checked, and a date was finally agreed upon.  Six of us jumped in the truck, and headed off to Greenwood County for our class.  Since this was a new thing for us to learn, I took some photos to share.

The U shaped piece is the handle. The guitar shaped cutting board is being used as a weight.  This was the first step.  The instructor had all the pieces pre-cut. More or less.

 

Sara, Kate, Rochelle and Anna

Making the base of the basket.

The base of the basket is done.  I don't remember the name of this piece, but we weaved it around the base where the sides folded up.

I thought this was the hardest step.  Weaving the bottom row on the side. If you don't get it woven correctly, you have to do it over.  Ask me how I know this.

I liked this part.  It's actually starting to take shape and you can add different colors.  You have to keep wetting the slats (I can't remember the correct basket term for these) so you can work with them. 

Adding the colors. 

Folding down the pieces.

Anna was kind enough to let us have the basket class in her barn.  This worked out well, as this is kind of a messy project.  You can see the clothes pins that we used to hold things in place.

This was the final step in the assembly process. It reminded me of sewing.  I like the seagrass detail that we added.  The seagrass is the braided rope looking part.

Our finished baskets!  Even though we all used the same pattern, they all are shaped a little different.  The teacher sprayed each basket with a special kind of stain that included tung oil.  I liked how it looked after she sprayed it.  Kind of reminds me of tea dyed muslin.  Fortunately Kate had the foresight to have a toolbox on the back of the truck to store our baskets, or we might have gotten quite the varnish-buzz with six of the baskets in the cab for the two hour trip home.

My basket at home.  We were all really pleased with how our baskets turned out.  I believe that Kate is looking at the possibility of seeing if a basket making class could be scheduled here in Cowley County.