Saturday, July 29, 2017

Basket of Zinnias

What do you do on a hot day in July?  Expand your world, challenge yourself, take a basket class.  This is the bottom of the basket.  The test was to weave the basket tight enough so an M & M could be contained inside the basket.

Standing the basket.  
Our teacher, who was wonderful, shared that weaving the first three rows of the basket was the most difficult part.  She was right and she was right beside each of her students, encouraging, sharing tips, correct mistakes.  The water bottle is to keep the reeds pliable so as not to break them.   The fillers sticking out at the ends of the basket became a part of the basket called chicken feet.  Over under, tighten the weave, keep those corners square.

Here is a sampling of some of the completed baskets.  (Mine is the last basket on the left). The handle of the basket is a beautiful oak.  The weaving at the top (x's) reminds me of needlework with its cross stitch.  

It was a fun class and each and every student left with a completed basket.  Am thinking of staining mine with some of the walnuts from our backyard.

Thank you Fran!  You are an excellent teacher.

8 comments:

  1. What a fun experience! Your basket is delightful.

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  2. Basket weaving is fascinating to me. You have done a beautiful job.
    My BIL did some weaving years ago, and taught my daughters a little, but I have never tried it.
    I think it would look beautiful in the walnut dye.

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  3. What a great accomplishment.....now what to fill it with!

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  4. What wonderful sheep. They must be your favorites.

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  5. That must have been a fun class. The baskets are just lovely.

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  6. I made a small basket out of the same material - flat slats of some sort of wood - ash maybe? Anyway - it's not for me - I love baskets and I have many some hand made and some commercially hand made like Longabergers and Peterborough's. I'll let my fingers do the walking thru ebay and antique shops. I didn't like the constant wetting thing either. Yours is pretty - glad you enjoyed the experience.

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  7. Fantastic! I've made a basket or two in a class as well. I love baskets!

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  8. All of the baskets are gorgeous! Our guild had a basket weaving class with a small basket as the project. It was super fun. I think starting with a larger project would have been easier but we wanted to keep kit costs super low.

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