Boo!

Happy Halloween!

Cherry and Ash Potbelly Basket

4" dia. x 5.5" tall

I bought the mold and kit for this baskets a few years ago at the Stateline Friends Weaving Retreat from Marlys Sowers, but had never made it. The kit included cherry rims, lid, base and staves. The weavers were cane like a traditional Nantucket basket, but I decided I wanted to upgrade the basket to hand pounded black ash. The cherry staves were a bit challenging to bend, but I persevered and I think the basket turned out well. The basket is woven on one of the many styles of puzzle molds that Marlys' husband turns. The mold breaks down into 5 pieces so that you can get it out of the smaller opening of the woven basket. I just need to get another set of rim, lid and base so I can make another basket on this mold.

New Addition to My Collection of Contemporary Baskets

Leon Niehues, Arkansas - 2012
8" x 6.75"

I try to get one contemporary basket a year to add to my collection. I purchased this piece from Leon Niehues of Arkansas while he was setup at the St. Louis Art Fair. I have one other basket I bought from him back in 1998 at the same fair.

Leon's baskets are made of white oak, processed in the traditional Ozark method of using a draw knife to pull splints off of a billet. He accents his baskets with overlays of ribs stitched with waxed linen, coral berry bush runners and machine screws.