Basketry

I basketry / basket weaving (an) art?
Where on Permies can I find more on (making) baskets out of plant/tree materials?

Tiny basket I made with bindweed and brambles

There are a few basketry threads in plant fibres and textile techniques, but not nearly enough.

I love basketry but my hands won't do it.  I keep growing willows and other basket-making materials in hopes that someone will say "I'll make you a basket a year in exchange for a harvest of supplies" but alas, no one does.  

There is a thread under SKIP textiles for basketry. I'm not sure if I can do the link correctly:

https://permies.com/wiki/30/105756/pep-textiles/Weave-basket-PEP-BB-textile

I made a few awkward baskets this summer. They didn't get me accepted into a course of professional basketry but they got me motivated. I saw some lovely examples made from raspberry and blackberry, which also got into my garden as a weed and does a great job at protecting it from dogs and cats. I planted more varieties of raspberries and I'm going to make more baskets of them (and of ivy) as they grow. I think the trick is to dry them and then to soak them in water which makes them flexible for weaving.

Cheryl Gallagher wrote:There is a thread under SKIP textiles for basketry. I'm not sure if I can do the link correctly:

https://permies.com/wiki/30/105756/pep-textiles/Weave-basket-PEP-BB-textile

Yes, I did that BB too (BB basket )
And it was in that thread I mentioned one of the other techniques I used for making baskets. Making baskets, 'basketry',  is more than only 'basket weaving'. There are several different ways we can use to make a basket out of fibers from plants/trees. Also there are many different fibers we can use for making baskets. That's why I think 'basketry' is worth some threads in the Permies forums ... but where does it belong? Art, Textiles, Fibers?

After making several small (sometimes even tiny) baskets and bags, I now want to make a larger basket.

Last Saturday it was 'Natuurwerkdag' ('Work In Nature Day') here. I helped plant some new shrubs in the food forest in the park. And then I started thinning the bushes of Cornus sanguinea at the forest edge (it wants to overgrow our food forest). I came home with an arm full of these nice branches, very useful for basket weaving!

My plan is a 'stone age backpack'....
Oh, wait, it's more clear if I show you a drawing ot what I mean. Have some patience please.

In North America,  Basketry is considered a textile.   I agree,  it's so much more than that.

I would love to make a Basketry forum, but we need a lot more threads first.

I consider it an art.  It is a very old tradition in my family. This is my msot recent https://judsoncarrollwoodcraft.substack.com/p/pine-needle-basket-2

Beautiful work. I’ve never made a basket but I would like to try. I started watching this video and wonder how she doesn’t ever cut herself, cutting toward her hand. I saw other videos where people held the bamboo between their legs and cut toward themselves with a machete. Pretty severe injury if they would miss I would think.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gNTNff0d7gU

r ranson wrote:In North America,  Basketry is considered a textile.   I agree,  it's so much more than that.

I would love to make a Basketry forum, but we need a lot more threads first.

I agree a Basketry Forum is not needed. If basketry is considered a textile ... how can I move this thread to the Fiber Arts Forum? Anyway that's probably the right place, because 'fibers' are the material for basketry.

Here's my drawing, my idea for a 'Stone Age backpack':

if you want the translation of what I wrote there ... please ask.

No, there's no archaeological evidence for this thing. The only backpack found was Ötzi's (Ötzi is the name given to the Bronze Age man found in a glacier near the Ötztal in the Alps). That one was mainly made out of leather/hides. I saw a few replicas of it (made by someone here in the Netherlands).

In my mind (imagination) it's possible that prehistorical people developed backpacks much earlier than the Bronze Age, and that they could be made out of any material available. Most of these materials do not last, they rot away without a trace. So there's nothing to be found by archaeologists.

Since I do volunteer work for the Hunebedcentrum (a museum and open air museum about prehistory in the North-eastern part of the Netherlands. A 'hunebed' is a neolithical tomb made out of large boulders. Those tombs, and pottery found inside, are the archeological finds of the 'Trechterbekercultuur', the earliest 'farmers' in this part of Europe) I know now there's 'experimental archaeology'. Based on the little that's found and on imagination they try to (re-)create things that could have been there in prehistorical times, using methods that could have been possible.

I'm not an archaeologist, but I do know a lot about (textile) crafts and natural materials. The Stone Age is the most interesting era for me, the 'transition' from hunter-gatherers to farmers (people who stayed in one place, built a house, grew gardens and domesticated animals). And I'm not the only one, there's a growing group of Stone-Age-enthousiasts! They organise a yearly Stone Age Gathering. This year it was not too far from here ... but I didn't know, I only heard about it when it was already going on. Next year it will be at that same place. Now I know and I registered to be there.

The Stone Age Gathering has educational purposes. The attendees must be dressed as Stone Age people and there are workshops, demonstrations and lectures, to learn more (knowledge and skills) about life in the Stone Age in North-western Europe. I do have most of the needed clothes (made myself, of course), but a backpack or large basket for my stuff would be handy, that's why I decided to make it. So now you know why ...

Judson Carroll wrote:I consider it an art.  It is a very old tradition in my family. This is my msot recent https://judsoncarrollwoodcraft.substack.com/p/pine-needle-basket-2

That is a beautiful little basket!

Someday I'll be a basket-maker... now, I admire and sometimes purchase handmade baskets at fairs and thrift stores.

I have a backpack basket that houses all my knitting projects. It's not far off in shape from the prehistoric backpack pictured, but it has a cool design element. There's a single circular strapping that weaves through so there are two loop handles from the top on each side to carry it like a tote bag. You can also pull the straps out on one side to be able to put the straps over your shoulders to wear it like a backpack.

M Waisman wrote:Someday I'll be a basket-maker... now, I admire and sometimes purchase handmade baskets at fairs and thrift stores.

I have a backpack basket that houses all my knitting projects. It's not far off in shape from the prehistoric backpack pictured, but it has a cool design element. There's a single circular strapping that weaves through so there are two loop handles from the top on each side to carry it like a tote bag. You can also pull the straps out on one side to be able to put the straps over your shoulders to wear it like a backpack.

Thank you. It's interesting to know about shape, construction, etc. of different kinds of baskets. I buy second-hand baskets and bags too (and put my knitting, crochet and other projects in them). I think in America there must be good baskets, made by indigenous people. Here the nice ones in thrift stores come from other continents (Africa, Asia). Traditional Dutch baskets were course, for outdoor use, mostly made of woven willow /hazel. When out of use people tend to leave them to rot in the garden ...

Hi you all. I decided to start a new thread in the Fiber Arts Forum. So this one is here in Art, about basketry in general. The new thread will be about my idea, plan and struggles to make a Stone Age backpack.

I went on a one day willow weaving course here once, and succeeded in making a small functional basket. The course tutor had other materials and colours of willow, so my basket ended up quite ornamental, if a little wonky. I remember using birch with all the little twigs attached which gave a soft fuzzy effect.
I found that my fingers weren't strong enough to bend the willow - you have to break the fibres first so that it bends more evenly, and that put me off doing much more experimenting. I think I could make a willow frame and infill with softer materials, I'm interested in how durable bramble might be - that would be a good way of using the overgrowth each year. Do you pick it green? Must be, because it gets brittle when dead I think. This year one of my clumps of miscanthus grass has established well and I'm hoping to use that for some projects too. I have a New Zealand flax plant, which has disappointed me by being one of the smaller variants, raspberries, access to salmonberries (which turn out invasive here so I have not planted them) and various sorts of willow including osier willow (which practically died), an unknown strappy willow people plant for windbreaks, although I think it is too strappy and dislikes the salt. and purple willow (which is thriving). I'm thinking that the native yellow flag iris would also make quite good infill for baskets.

my iris a few years ago

Nancy Reading wrote:... I'm interested in how durable bramble might be - that would be a good way of using the overgrowth each year. Do you pick it green? Must be, because it gets brittle when dead I think. ...

Yes, the brambles are cut green, but not too young/soft. The way I use them: After cutting a long shoot of the blackberry (bramble) first I scrape away the thorns, then split it lengthwise in several narrow strips. Then I scrape away the inner and outer layer of those strips, the strong part remains. With that bramble strip I did something like a 'whip stitch' around a dry bindweed stem. So that's more like sewing than weaving. That's how I made the tiny baskets for stitchmakers and earrings.

Nancy Reading wrote:I went on a one day willow weaving course here once, and succeeded in making a small functional basket. The course tutor had other materials and colours of willow, so my basket ended up quite ornamental, if a little wonky. I remember using birch with all the little twigs attached which gave a soft fuzzy effect.

I've taken Hanna Van Aelst's online basket weaving class.  I love it!  I plan to have a small field of different willow to coppice for baskets!  Fun stuff!

Hanna Van Aelst Basket Weaving

This thread makes me want to learn basketry. Thanks for recommending Hanna's tutorials, they're very helpful. I am particularly interested in the catalan tray and I have found suitable materials around the house!