Sunflower Basket

I purchased a wooden base with a routered sunflower design.  To highlight the flower colors I used smoked and space dyed reed for the sides.  Small leather handles were attached on two sides.  The final top rows of the basket use smoked round reed to form the rim.  A piece of flat reed is lashed to the inside of the rim.

High Country Basket Weavers Guild Workshop

Participants display their stair step baskets.

I spent Saturday with the High Country Basket Weavers Guild leading a workshop on a stair step basket.  

The basket is unique with two bases - a lower base and an upper base. This design allows the basket to sit on a stair step.  The basket can be a collection point for items that can be later carried up stairs in one trip.

I provided a variety of colored reed for a decorative band around the basket.  Everyone selected different ways  to accent their basket.

It was a fun day of basket weaving and everyone went home with a stair step basket.

Josephine Knot Guild Weave

Saturday the Central Pennsylvania Basket Weavers Guild held their monthly basket workshop.  This month, member Barb Vicente lead a session on a Josephine Knot Basket.

Members had a choice of using all natural reed spokes, all smoked reed spokes or a combination of natural and smoked reed.  I chose the mixed colors for my ribs.  There was a wide variety of colored flat reed and yarns available for weaving the basket.

The Josephine knot is formed first. Then reed is woven in an over/under pattern to flare out the spokes. After several rows are woven on each side of the knot, the basket is gently shaped by tucking the spokes on one side into the basket on the opposite side.  This is repeated with the other side spokes to form the hen basket shape. 


If you are not part of a basket guild I strongly suggest you find a group near you.  You will learn from each other and have fun in the process. Weaving in a group allows you to share hints and techniques of weaving, see the various color combinations others select, and fellowship with other basket weavers.  This was the first time some members had  woven a Josephine knot, while others, like myself, had woven the knot it in other baskets.  By working together everyone was successful and had a finished basket at the end of the day. 

side one

side two

Natural Gourd with Pine Needle Rim

I used a natural gourd, dyed pine needles and black beads to make the vessel shown.  The black pine needles contrasted the natural gourd color.  The natural sinew provided contrast to the pine needles. 

When the vessel was complete I added a circle of black beads around the top, at the center of the X pattern and along the edge where the pine needles were attached to the gourd.