Threads 47: Basketry 101

Recently I was asked to give a short talk on how to make a basket at the Eastern Ontario Homesteaders Conference

What to do? I love to encourage people to make baskets, but a short talk? 

Firstly, I decided that the material would be wild grapevine. In this area it is certainly invasive and environmentally unfriendly. I think it is impossible to kill it and it certainly reappears after cutting it down. An added attraction is for those people who grow grapes. The grapes are pruned every year and provide a useful material for weaving.

Question number two, what would be the easiest technique to make a grape vine basket? The Japanese random style technique is the obvious answer. When I was in Japan, I saw beautiful baskets made in this style. They were completely covered with the weaving and very solid.

At a conference that we had in Toronto in the 90s we invited a Japanese couple to come and show us the random technique. For a community basketry project, they made a huge four foot ball and invited people to help weave the ball. We left a small hole in the front and invited the children to come and sit inside.

It was very successful, and since then I have done this as a community project. 

See the handout that I used at the conference. This handout provides detailed instructions.