Basket Making

My neighbor taught me how to make a basket. She was going to teach a couple of other ladies and asked me if I wanted to sit in and make one as well. I told her I would. This first picture is the finished basket that I made that day. We dyed it with walnut stain.
















This was a very fun thing to do and I enjoyed it immensely. It took us about 5 hours to make that first basket. There is some prep work with measuring out reed and marking and cutting. Then you have to soak it in warm water before you work with it. She had cooked up some walnut hulls and then strained them. When the baskets were finished she put the gallon of stain in two trash bags with a basket and shook it real good (like Shake-N-Bake). Then you simply have to let the basket dry. After all the baskets were dyed then she saved the stain that was left over for future basket staining. This basket is called a hearth basket and is pretty big. I immediately wanted to make another one while it was fresh in my mind. She had enough materials for me to make one so I just paid her for the materials and in the next couple of days I made another basket. The picture below shows what it looks like near the beginning. I made some errors but was able to fix them without having to run across the road and ask for help from her.















Here are pictures of the second basket I made (all by myself - :) whoohoo!!) but it has not been stained yet. I plan to get some walnuts and make a batch of walnut stain for myself to have on hand.




Next we are going to make a potato basket, a melon basket, and an egg basket! I find that basket making is challenging and in ways it is relaxing. There is some weaving to do and that is relaxing. Goofing up is not relaxing!! In the baskets we make all ends must be hid, there is no glueing, staples, or tacks. All natural, even the stain. She said that once you make a basket that you will never look at baskets the same way again. It's true. There is a lot of work involved when you do it by hand.