Threads 83 - Still more ideas for handles
Random handles
This is the most original way to make a handle because you do not make a handle, you have to find the handle. The random basket is formed in the shape of a ball. When the ball is quite well formed, it is placed on the table and moved around until the basket can be recognized, and the handle can be chosen. The weavers are pulled apart until the basket and the handle can be seen. A long weaver is then wrapped around the handle from both directions and continued around the rim. It is magical and quite unlike any other basketry technique because it is such an integral part of the original ball. It is extremely strong and will never break.
The second photo is of a random handle made by extending the weavers up and over the basket as part of the random weaving. This handle is more aesthetic than practical but still is part of the random baskets.
The swing handle
I learned to make this handle in a workshop in the US, where it can be found as part of the cultural heritage. The carved handle was heated in steam and then bent into the correct shape. Then both ends were carved into a very fine piece that was threaded through a loop on the rim. The square black ash basket was made with a large variety of different barks and pine needles.
The strap handle
The fishing creel was made commercially for fishermen to carry home their fish. There are two handles on the fishing creel. The strap that supports the body of the basket facilitated walking a long way and carrying all the fishing equipment. The handle attached to the lid allowed the lid to be firmly held in place before closing the lid and preventing the fish from jumping out!
Other uses for strap handles
The basket to the right is another example of a strap handle that allows the basket to be hung off a shoulder, thus freeing the hands.
A very simple handle
This handle for the tray is very useful and very simple. A piece of cardboard can be cut out and used to keep the shape, or alternatively, beads can be inserted to make it look more attractive. The only important thing is to remember that the stakes have to be a little bit longer to go up and over each end.
Did you guess the answer to the quiz question from Threads 82?? Where are the handles on this basket?
It took me a little while to discover these handles. Two additional pieces of black ash have been slipped along beside the weaving to provide two different places (one on each side) for the hands to grab the basket. Very easy to use and very easy to make. I have never seen them on another basket.
This basket was given to the Museum quite recently, having been found on a barn wall. I was lucky enough to find somebody who had known this basket maker in the 1960s when he lived in McDonald’s corners and also made snow shoes. He later moved up North. I was going to use the basket for the 200th anniversary of the town of Lanark in 2020, then Covid struck, and sadly everything closed down. I feel this basket is an interesting connection between the settler tradition of Willow and the use of black ash splints in the indigenous tradition.