Every single basketry book in my library begins...

... this is how you buy the supplies.

NEED books on how to harvest the supplies for basketry.  I grew all this stuff... now what?  

This is often the hardest part. It's often difficult to find information that is not geared very specifically to consumers, rather than producers - especially in literary forms, instead of video. But, that's where I end up - here, or on YouTube. I'm in the process of planting over 100 willows, for basket weaving, wattles, and other purposes, and all I'm finding to take me from cuttings to basketry are videos and conference classes. Except, maybe the Sweetgrass book?

This is a tough one. The trouble is that it may be species specific, time of year specific (which will be affected by both your zone and your particular weather), and even use specific. Even finding out that many times the material needs to be harvested, allowed to dry so it shrinks, and then soaked just before use to soften it so it won't break/splinter while weaving.

All I've managed to learn so far is that I don't know enough...

I'm taking a class, this July, on weaving a seat onto a wooden stool frame. I doubt I'll forget to ask about processing the weaving material, since it's a heavy focus of mine, but it's months away, and chances are the materials for the class will be purchased, rather than grown/ foraged & processed, by the teacher. In the meantime, I'll dig for books, too.

Jay is correct about the drying, then soaking. You Tube videos by Hanna Van Aeslt are very good for beginners. She has a series of them.



(Sorry, I can't seem to embed the video.)

So last week we discovered that the willow bark strips off really easily right now (it didn't two weeks ago).  I needed to cut down the bigger willows anyway, but now the question - how long a length do I cut the willows before stripping the bark?

What's the length range for weavers?  

All the local stuff about when isn't much of an issue.  They can be said "when the buds are this big" or "when the bark strips off easily" and a chapter on how to go out and experiment.  

We ended up cutting the logs 3 feet long because that was the size the smallest of us could easily handle.  The bark is wrapped up and hanging, waiting for when I can learn how to weave with it.  But I don't know if I did it right.  

we left the weavers growing and will probably harvest when we need them and weave green.  

I found this blog that has directions for several different types of wood - willow, hazel, spruce wood, and... ugh. Something else. https://karukbasketmaterials.blogspot.com/2014/05/gathering-and-processing-hazel.html

This is what I need to know too I have all sorts of things growing that I know people use for baskets but I don't know how to go about harvesting any of it.

Jenny Wright wrote:This is what I need to know too I have all sorts of things growing that I know people use for baskets but I don't know how to go about harvesting any of it.

I tried searching for a thread on this in permies but couldn't find anything about harvesting techniques so I'm glad I saw this thread on the dailyish.

There is a group on Facebook "Wild Basketry" which has a lot of knowledable members on wild material. Link (shortened from a page-long FB link): https://bit.ly/3rozvI0

I don't have access to FB on this network.  

There is a book "Handmade Baskets - From Natur's Colourful Materials" by Susie Vaughan, a book recommended by the group and which I have somewhere I can't find, but remember it has stuff in it about things like honeysuckle, ivy etc. Oldish British book, but it's been re-released. I think most of the content would probably apply to N. America. Check out this UK Amazon link for more details. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Handmade-Baskets-Re-issue-Susie-Vaughan/dp/1844481530
I have not done anything with it yet, so can't give my own view on it.
Here is a good article on collecting and preparing brambles for basketry https://www.buymeacoffee.com/foragedfibres/bramble-gathering.

Judith Pi wrote:
Here is a good article on collecting and preparing brambles for basketry https://www.buymeacoffee.com/foragedfibres/bramble-gathering.

Oh you sent me down a rabbit hole... that is a fun website.  She made a basket with dandelion stems! I never even imagined!  I guess there is really no limit to what you can try!

The perennial flax I sent you makes good light weight baskets according to a local artisan.  When in seed it has a deep burgundy color that she loves.  

Google sent me to this page titled Limitless Materials. Below is a small portion of materials that can be used. Not much about when to harvest, other than usually one year old stems are used.

Garden pruning’s: Buddleia or butterfly bush, elder forsythia, privet, snowberry and weigela are all common garden shrubs, the shorter stems are easier to work with and it puts to good use your garden waste.

Ha! Take a gander at this page by Matt Tommey. He starts off with a long description of his own process for kudzu.  Fear not, I know you don't have kudzu there, he does move on to other vines...

Other Vines, Branches & Bark
I tend to lump all the additional vines I use into an ‘Other’ category, because I find their attributes and preparation to be very similar. Most other vines that I use I my work include: