Craft Show Winters Mill High School

November 12, 8am to 1pm

560 Gorsuch Road, Westminster MD

Come and see all my baskets on display.  It's time to start buying your holiday gifts!

Josephine Knot

The Josephine Knot is a design that dates back for thousands of years.  The unique twist can be found in numerous  artistic forms.
Sandy Bulgrin  taught a workshop using the knot as the beginning of a rib hen basket at the Bedford Basketweavers Guild annual convention last weekend.

A Josephine Knot is formed with ten pieces of round reed to begin the basket. The pieces are separated on both ends to form the ribs of the hen basket.  After a few rows of weaving the ribs are shaped and tucked into place to form the rounded basket shape.   The basket ribs are adjusted with each additional row of weavers until the desired shape is formed.  The weaving continues from both sides until it meets in the middle and the basket is complete
I used a combination of  cream, turquoise, green and tan round reed, flat reed and seagrass to add a "beachy" color scheme.

Weaving with Annetta

 What better way to spend a rainy Saturday than weaving with friends?

Central PA Basket Weaver's Guild hosted a one day workshop lead by Annetta Kraayeveld.  Her website, www.prairiewoodbasketry.com includes her patterns, kits and blog, The Basketry Teacher.  If you ever have a chance to take a class with Annetta you won't regret it.

Everyone had a great time while learning some new techniques.  The basket is woven with a cream and dark brown 2/2 herringbone twill base.  The cats head ears are formed  and sides woven up with a 3/3 twill accenting the  dyed and natural spokes.  Three T-Twining rows are the focal point around the middle of the basket.

2016 A Weaving Odyssey

 I spent an enjoyable weekend in Gettysburg, PA with the Central Pennsylvania Basket Weavers Guild.  From Thursday evening, Sept. 15 through Sunday, Sept 18 at noon the convention room at the Aspire Hotel was full of basket weavers practicing their craft and learning new techniques from master basket weavers.

Thursday evening I completed a small Nantucket Bell.  It was woven with natural cane on a mold.  The base and rim are cherry.  Denise Bendelwski from Magnolia, Delaware conducted the class.
The bell is 5" high by 3" diameter base.  

Friday and Saturday I took classes lead by Candace Katz from Springdale, Arkansas.  Both baskets started on a wooden base and use space dyed reed and natural reed. 


 The round basket is woven with  a 1-1-2-3 twill pattern forming the sides of the basket.  The top band uses two pieces of natural round reed in a four rod wale pattern.  It is 8" in diameter and the sides rise up 6 " before the handle is inserted.


The large oval basket is woven using a 2-3 twill pattern.  The top natural reed band is woven using Ti twinning and reverse Ti twinning.  The finished basket is 10" wide by 14" long and 7" high.

On Sunday, I shifted to using waxed linen to cover a small glass jar with a cork stopper.  Linda Scherz Allen from Rome, New York lead the class.  The twinned pattern creates a spiral as it goes around the 3" high bottle.

Market Basket

This long, thin Market Basket begins around a 9" x 14" handle.  Both natural flat reed and blue dyed reed make up the spokes.  The sides  are woven with flat reed and flat oval with a wide band of burlap over reed.   Burlap flowers are added to one side of the finished basket. 

The finished size is 21.5" long by 9" wide  by 8" high sides.    This is a variation of a market basket pattern by Sharon Klusmann.

Mixed Media Woven Vessel

Using a hand-thrown ceramic vessel as a base I inserted round reed splints to form a round frame around the vessel.  I created a random tapestry weave pattern using  yarn, round reed, flat oval reed and flat reed. 

The variety of textures and colors creates a contrast between the smooth ceramic base and the woven assortment of fibers.
















The ceramic form was provided by Marla Helton.

Gourd Workshop

I spent Saturday morning with Suzi Nonn (www.gourdlady.com ) learning about gourd decorating with dyes and vinyl. 

She provided a clean and cut gourd for everyone.  Vinyl cutouts were placed on the gourd in whatever pattern we desired.  I used circular gear-like shapes. 

The second step was to apply color to the gourd using alcohol inks and felt pads.  Once the color was applied over the whole gourd the stencils were removed to reveal the natural gourd surface. 

A row of small holes were drilled along the edge of the gourd.   Several rows of seagrass were attached to the rim using sinew to complete the gourd.