Blue Green Egg Basket

    

Summer time brings opportunities for trips to the beach and time in the water.        

  I associate the beach with cool color schemes of blue and green, so it was time to weave a summer time beach basket.  This 10" diameter egg basket using blue and green dyed reed does just that.

Happy Mother's Day !

You are never too young or too old to start making baskets.  Continuing last years Mother's Day blog post tradition, I've found a photo from 1989 taken by my dear friend Rebecca.  I am enjoying a summer day making baskets with my son and daughter.

My hair is grayer, my kids are grown, but I'm still making baskets. Love, friendships, and baskets all stand the test of time.  Happy Mother's  Day to all!



10 x 10 Exhibit

I created this 2D woven color study entry for the Carroll County Arts Center's 10th Anniversity 10 x10 exhibit.



 More than 200 works of art, all measuring exactly 10 inches by 10 inches will be on display from April 18th  through June 7th.  Each piece of art will be sold for $100 each.

Large Egg Basket

Once again, I experimented with multi-colored flat reed as I wove this large, 16" in diameter egg basket.  I alternated rows of the colored reed with rows of natural cream reed.  I started with the colored reed  in the God's Eye on each side of the basket  and ended with the cream reed .

It is important to keep both sides of the egg  basket even as you form the two humps that make the distinctive shape of an egg basket.  I continually check the eveness of the sides as I add additonal spokes to the basket as I weave.














The multi-colored reed is from a space dyed flat reed coil made up of periwinkle, hunter green and mauve. One color bleeds into the next on the flat reed giving a variegated color appearance when woven

Hen Basket

This is a large Hen Basket.  The inside diameter is 12" and the two side openings are 10" in diameter. The basket is a natural reed color with two wide bands of color on each side of the handle.  The multi-colored reed is from a space dyed flat reed coil made up of periwinkle, hunter green and mauve.  One color bleeds into the next on the flat reed giving a variegated color appearance when woven.

Woven Color Study

 





Dyed reed can be woven into colorful repetative patterns.   Often the the patterns are woven into the sides of baskets or bottoms of low sided trays.   I decided to weave a reed color study into a square pattern and insert the design into a frame for  display.















I started the weaving just as I would to make a basket bottom, without the extra reed needed to weave  sides. 

                          After I achieved the desired size I folded
                         the reed  back onto itself.






I covered the back of the weaving with a felt square before I placed
the weaving into a frame.

Happy New Year !

During the past year I shared a little history and background for each of the baskets I made and posted on this blog.  This year as I finish a new basket I will post a photograph of the basket along with a brief description about the basketweaving process. I hope you will continue to enjoy viewing my baskets.

The new year is a time to inventory basket supplies after a busy fall of basketmaking.  I try to create baskets using the supplies I have on hand. This allows me to design baskets of various sizes and variations of basic basket styles.  I combine reed of various colors and sizes  not dictated by a specific basket style.


Small square-based basket using blue and violet splints and cream and colored weavers.

 










Round basket with green splints and a bamboo handle.