Threads 103 - Useful baskets: A cedar bark water bailer

This would certainly be a very useful basket to have in a canoe on a stormy day. I found it on Vancouver Island in Duncan BC at a craft shop just north of Victoria during the 1990s. It is made of red cedar, using the natural curve of the cedar tree trunk, a perfect cylindrical shape, with a smooth interior. The outer bark has been removed so that the two sides can be folded up, pleated and fitted over the pealed cedar handle. Then secured with a strip of cedar bark. 

By chance the light captured a very indistinct inscription of the date, place and name of the makers, Lyle and Pauline Jop Duncan BC 1995. 

It is a perfect example of form following function. How easily the handle could dip into the water in a canoe and then turned over and emptied overboard.

It is one of my favourite pieces in the museum.