Threads 10: How to Make a Grapevine Ball

As promised last week,  here are the instructions to make a ball using grapevine.

Getting started: You will need nice long pieces of Grapevine, about medium to small diameter depending on the size of the grapevine ball. The longer pieces the better to start with.

You also need a few twist ties or another pair of hands.

First, find a nice long piece, and start winding it into a ball shape the size you want. Take a couple of twist ties and secure the shape with the twist ties.

Second, take another length of grapevine, and pull it under one piece of the ball about half way along the length. Now start weaving it in and out around your ball. Then take the other half and also weave it through. You may also want to secure this with a twist tie or it may stay in place as you weave. You want to keep the weaving on the outside of the ball to keep the centre empty.

Three point weave: The great secret is to make a three point weave once you are on your way. This is well illustrated in the photos below. The more three-point weaves you can do, it will hold the shape on the outside. You can also use this to pull in some weavers that may have been left on the inside.

Don’t be shy about using the twist ties to hold the shape. These can always be removed afterwards and for a beginner, it is much better to secure the shape and keep weaving around.

You can use this technique for any long material. Or they make nice small Christmas balls for a tree with coloured round reed.  

Grapevine basket: Another use for a ball is to turn it into a basket. When it is looking fairly substantial, choose a part of the basket to be a handle,  and push the weaving down on either sideline

Then take another long piece of grapevine and wrap the handle round and round and secure it to the rim. It makes an attractive basket and useful for gathering vegetables or flowers in the garden.

This technique is called random weave, and originated in Japan where they use it quite often on flower arranging vases. I saw them making these in Japan, and it was so tightly woven there were no gaps left in the weaving. They used a little scoopy spoon-like tool to help bring the end of the weave through to the front.