9" Candle basket

Dimensions: 5" x 4" base, 6" diameter at the rim; 9" tall

Material: walnut dyed and chemical dyed (blue and red) splints

Handle: hand carved from the mulberry tree out front- very rustic. I think I am going to wrap it.

This basket gave a bit of a problem at the beginning since the weave is not continuous. You will notice that the front splays out like it has a bit of a pot belly.

Front of basket

Side of basket

View from the top

Self paced course

 

I currently am working on developing self paced course presentations relating to basket terminology and design preparations of a basket. I hope to have a sample available soon

Square Basket

Dimensions: 9" x 9" x 7"
Walnut dyed
D handle

spokes: 3/4"
weavers: 1/2"

This is a very basic square basket with an open weave bottom.

Berry picking basket - red and white

This is a take on a cat head basket. Differences: it does not flair out at the sides and the bottom is not as curved.
I made this as a Christmas present.

Dimensions: 8" x 8" at the base. The weavers are chemically dyed (rit) red as is the handle. The base is natural, as is the sides.



Side view of lined basket

Since I made this basket I was commissioned to make the following lined market basket.


Top view of lined basket





Market Basket with hand made handle

Dimensions: 8"w x 12"l x 7" h
Dyes used: black walnut and rit (navy blue and red)

Hand made handle

Time to completion: 4 hours

I intend to use this basket for my first basket class.

I think the checkboard design (walnut dyed sides and natural weavers) turned out really nice. The design is based on the blue being a twill weave (over 2/under 2, etc) and the red being a regular weave (over/under, etc).

Here are other samples of market baskets that I have made. For the zig-zag basket I was experimenting with different weaves and had no clue what I wanted. It is a bit misshapen but is very sturdy. I have used it to carry very heavy items and also to store my wool thread.

Red, white, & blue market

Base of red, white & blue market

Inside view of red, white & blue market

Zig-zag design

Base of zig-zag

Market with chain design

Base of market with chain design

1740's Seneca style Quiver

Dimensions:

3" diameter

2' long

Walnut (packet) dyed

Hand woven strap

Brown trade beads dangling from the top part of the strap.

Deer hide Leather wrapped around the top of the quiver. Turtle design on the hide. I still have to paint the turtle using leather dye. I am just waiting for the dye to arrive in the mail.

I have made this quiver for many years. It used to be made using black ash but I can't get the 1" black ash strips (the sides are 3/4" and the weavers are 1/2") anymore from my supplier (I am checking other places).

I wanted to add something to the top part of the quiver this time. I bought a piece of buffalo leather with the hair on to see how that would look. It was very thick and looked a bit weird (tho I think the look would grow on you after awhile). I was hoping to find bear. I ended up buying a deer hide (maybe next time I will get one with the fur on) and added a turtle design since my camp name is little turtle.

The area I live in is blessed with a very large bead store. They have a wide assortment of trade beads. I added a few to the ends of the strap to jazz it up a bit.

This quiver is a bit difficult to make (at first). Only 4 strips of the 3/4" wide splints are used for the base and sides and it is just hard to get it started. Once the base and lower part of the quiver is the way it should be, everthing then goes smoothly.

When I make others, I think I will start using white ash and just walnut dye the splints.

I have one of my black ash quivers in the Seneca museum in New York. I am very proud of this accomplishment.

10" Twill Weave Market basket - Walnut dyed

Twill Weave Market Basket

Dimensions: 10" x 13"
Hand carved handle

This basket took me about 5 hours to make (not including the dying of the material). It also sat outside partially finished because I was originally going to plait the weavers on the sides. I wanted to add a design. As I was doing the regular weave I found that it was very hard to add each row. There was too much of a gap. So I pulled it all out and decided to continue with the twill weave for the sides. It worked so much better.
This would be a really nice basket for going to a farmer's market. It would hold allot of vegetables.

12" Tall square basket

Square Basket with D handle

Dimensions:

Base: 8 1/2" x 8 1/2"

Height: 9 3/4" (with the handle it is 12")

The bottom is accented with 4 blue stripes over top of the white splints (I added these as I was weaving the bottom).

The sides have a 3 chain design.

Completion time: 4 hours

The design of this basket was inspired by a friend of mine who suggested I use blue and white for the basket colors. The challenge was based using those colors and then deciding on a design. I chose the chain because it was the easiest and quickest to make (hey, come on, I don't want to spend all day on 1 design and not complete the basket...that's to be saved for a more indepth design basket...anyways this was the 1st one I was making when building up my stock and I wanted one that would be quick). I used the rim as the last part of the third chain. I figure I might as well have the rim take on double duty.

This is a good and sturdy basket. It can be used when going to the market or gathering tall items from the garden.

Small Shaker Market basket with closed weave base design

Small Shaker Market basket

Material: reed

Dimension:

Closed weave Base:8"w x 9 1/2 " l

Top opening: 8 1/2" w x 12" l

Handmade oak handle

dipped in walnut dye bath. Completion time: 6 hours. I soaked the material for about an hour (including the handle) plus the base adjustment took a bit longer to work with.

This challenge for this basket was making the base (bottom). For one, I had to add extra weavers since I only used 1/2" stakes. And two, it had been a long while since I worked with this base design so it took a bit of studying (especially since I had to modify). I made this basket outside on the patio. It was not windy that day or too hot.

The cat did enjoy my working on the basket. Sometimes she would jump up on the table and look at my tools and equipment (and bite a few). Other times she would attack the 1/4" weaver as I was weaving in the base or the sides.

Bread Basket made of White ash

Today I worked on a bread basket made of white ash. I dipped it in a walnut dye bath for about 5 - 10 minutes.
Base dimensions: 6" W x 11" L
Top dimensions: 8" W x 13" L
2 - 3" Ash handles

Time to completion: about 5+ hours

I received a new shipment of basket books last week and decided to make the bread basket listed in one of my Black Ash Baskets book.

Preparation: the white ash material I got is machine made. It was nice and thin and very easy to weave with. Since it was cold outside today I decided to work on the basket in the kitchen. I soaked the material in the sink and used the kitchen island as my work table. I then cut the 1/2" material for the bottom/sides. The instructions called for 5/8" but I only had 1/2". I improvised by adding extra material (i.e - 14 strips for the length instead of 12 and 8 strips for the width instead of 6).

Making the basket: It actually was a pleasure working on this basket. I highly recommend white ash. I sometimes get frustrated with the material I am using. It might be too thick (then I have to use a knife to thin it down), the weaving might not be aligning the way I want it to , a weaver might split or brake, etc. This stuff did none of that. I did have to make sure I dipped the basket material in water more often than with reed.

Halfway up the sides I had decided I wanted to add a walnut dyed chain design using some 1/4" weavers. I had a walnut dye bath in a large kettle out in the backyard. I brought it in and set it on the stove to heat up. I then added the needed weaving strips. As the dye bath was heating it let of a strong odor. When my daughter returned home from work she was complaining the whole house smelled like curdled milk (I did have the heat on a bit high under the pot). She then preceeded to open all the doors and windows. I did not care. The dye bath produced a very nice color for the material. As I was weaving in the chain design I decided that since the chain looked so good I would just dye the entire basket the same material. At least I would not have such a white basket.

The handles were easy to install. I have a handmade awl that works real well in separating the material. I made sure there were two weavers in the center of each handle. It made them more even based on the side weavers.

The weaving seemed to go by fast today since I was also watching the original War of the Worlds movie, Red Dawn, and the current superman movie.