7" Elbow Basket

Each side is about 6 1/2" to 7" long.
From the elbow to the bottom is about 5 1/4".
The diameter of each opening is about 2 3/4"
The handle is handwoven as a 3 braid twist.

This basket was a son-of-a-gun to make. The trying part was getting the elbow area to meet and trying not to smash the material as the open areas were being formed.

The basket material is walnut dyed reed.

14 inch Wine Basket

Dimensions: 14: high,
basket itself is 10 inches high by 5 1/2 wide
Base: 9" by 5"
The inside has a divider to allow 2 bottles to be inserted.

15 inch long Ribbed Key Basket

This ribbed key basket is 15" long with a 7" opening (D ring), and is  9" wide. It is also made to support a lid.

15" Diameter Southwest Arrow Basket

 The base of this basket is twined using #1 round reed..

The sides are based on the spokes from the base plus additional spokes are added during the creation of the base. The arrow design is made up of many short pieces of dyed basket material woven in a arrow pattern where some of the short pieces are woven to the left and others are woven to the right.Below and above the arrow design the basket material is twined using a three rod wale pattern.

The handles are bushel basket handles woven into the sides of the basket.

This was an interesting basket to make as it incorporated many different weaving techniques.

Gourds

I have been dabbling a bit with primitive gourd art. In 2013 I traded some items for gourds. Some of the books sold at the store are based on working with gourds. So, I thought I would put my experience with making twined bags and working with baskets toward gourd design.

One of the techniques used with gourds is coiling the rim (I have two containers that have coiled rims and am working on a third). Coiling takes a long time depending on the size of the rim and the thread used for the coiling. I used 2 ply waxed linen thread (4 ply is recommended but I did not have any on hand) and .5 oz hemp cordage.  The large gourd with a coiled rim took about a week just to do the coiling. Thank goodness for the Internet and streaming movies. I also checked my native American books based on certain geometric designs used in textiles, etc  and thought some of the designs could be painted on gourds also.

I painted the gourds with leather dye and sometimes added a red chestnut wood stain.

The following pictures are samples of some of the gourd bowls, containers, bird houses, etc that I have made.

    

Utility Basket

This utility basket would be great for use in the kitchen. The basket is 9 1/2" tall with an inside diameter of 4 1/2". It is made from 20 pieces of flat reed - 34 inches long (four of them are a green color the others are walnut died). Each piece is woven diagonally (plaited) in a twill weave design. The rim is 1/2" flat oval on the outside and 1/2" flat on the inside. The lashing is based on wrapping every 4th opening.

Purple/Red Square to round with Arrow Design

This is a square to round basket dyed purple and dark pink. The center part of the basket is twill woven into a dark pink arrow design. The handle is also dyed purple.

Round Basket

This basket has a 8" twined base with 12 spokes. The dimensions are  10" diameter at the rim, 8" in height with a hand made wooden handle (about 5" higher than the rim) . It is walnut dyed. The basket is similar to a bean pot basket. The only difference is it does not flay out and then come back in. It is a constant 10" diameter. It is also taller.

Gift Baskets

Christmas of 2010, I made up gift baskets for some relatives of mine.

This is something I will be toying around with at the store and will be offering very soon.

Checkerboard Basket

This basket is not only a basket but you can also play checkers with it as 12 natural and 12 red checkers are attached on a string to the basket. I used 3/4" red material and 1/2" natural for the base and 1/2" natural for the weavers. Currently, the basket is 14" x 12 1/2" at the rim with 4" sides.

I would like to experiment with adding more stakes to the base and having the sides a bit shorter and making the base a bit longer on one side.

Square to round

Square to round baskets start with a square base and finish with a round rim. I have created these using flat reed and walnut dyed, using oak splints, and dying the reed using a rit dye. This design can also be shaped into a Shaker Cat Head design where the bottom part of the sides is curved looking like an upside down cat head.
I wove the green one while I was at the 2013 Trail of Courage event. I wove the oak splint basket in October at the store. It has a 6 1/2" square base, 12" diameter at the top and is 10 1/2" tall. The handles are of oak. This one would be good for storing wool yard (or any other type).

Oak square to round with slight bottom curve

Inside view of oak square to round

Green 8" square to round

Open weave base of green square to round

8" Round Cattail basket

This basket is made by first creating a circular ring of 8 folded over cattail leaves tied to a piece of waxed hemp twine. The cattail leaves are twined to create the base. More cattail leaves are folded over and then twined to added a fuller look to the base. The cattail leave base is set on its side to create the twined sides. New leaves are added to the leaves twining the base and sides for a continuous weave. The rim consists of two different woven weaves. The back is woven with waxed hemp twine. The front takes one spoke and weaves it behind the next two.

Melon Basket

This 8" melon basket consists of 2 oak rings (one for the rim and the other the handle), the ribs, a gods eye, and the weavers. Weavers are woven around the two oak rings to create the gods eye. The ribs are initially inserted into the gods eye and the weavers woven in an over/under pattern. Additional ribs are added later and the weavers are woven through all of the ribs to create the desired shape.

The weavers are 3/8" flat oval reed and are walnut dyed. The weave is continuous, including weaving over the rim, with new weavers added underneath the previous weaver for a continuous weave.

Looking at the inside of the basket.

Side view showing the gods eye

Potato Basket

This is a 10" diameter potato basket. The ribs are made of reed and are carved to a point at each end to fit into the initial woven area around the 3 main ribs and other weavers to create the form. The material is walnut dyed 1/4" flat reed. The rim is a 10" oak ring. The initial three ribs were carved at the top and secured at the rim using waxed hemp thread. Handles are part of the weave shown as open areas based on picture #2.

Side view showing the initial three ribs attached to the rim

Side view showing the handles

View looking into the basket