The Central Pennsylvania Basket Weavers Guild hosted the 19th annual Weaving Odyssey in Gettysburg Sept 19-22. Twelve different instructors from around the USA came to share their expertise and love of weaving.
I began my weekend of weaving by making basket in the shape of a Pineapple - the universal sign of hospitality..
Laura Lee Zanger led the class. The basket begins with a basic round base. Once the sides are woven the basket is made to look like a pineapple with the addition of reed curls. The raffia bow and welcome sign complete the perfect welcome basket.
Saturday was spent weaving a tote basket with Dianne Gleixner. The tote has a wooden base. The main body is woven with alternating dark brown and smoked weavers with natural round reed using the Japanese Diamond weave to accent the middle band. A row of paired triple twining is above and below the decorative body. Leather handles complete the tote .
I ended my Weaving Odyssey with a two-day class taught by Laura Lee Zanger. She helped us weave a large Cherokee-style Cowee Burden Basket, traditionally used for gathering corn.
The basket transitions from one shape with a 1-3-5 twill pattern to another. The top rounded bowl of the basket features a arrow design band around the basket.
To learn more about CPBWG go to www.basketry.homestead.com
You can contact the instructors via their email.
