Finishes on Baskets

Below are a couple of responses I posted in Weaver's Words when the question was posted concerning applying finishes to baskets.

Weaver's Words - March 25, 2007

Tung Oil as a stain - Tung oil is a sealant and not a stain. It is going to seal the fibers of your basket and make the weaving rigid. If you are making a Nantucket style basket then this is fine, but for use on a reed, oak, willow, ash basket it is not advisable. You could use it on a wooden handle or base, but I wouldn't use it on the weaving. If you want to darken or color your basket I would suggest using Minwax brand wood stains diluted with mineral spirits or turpentine. [As] most weaving materials are going to absorb stains very quickly, you will get too dark of a color if undiluted. You can also stain your baskets with a number of natural stains like very strong tea or coffee.

Some basket stains may say they contain tung oil, but it is very diluted and if colored must includes some kind of pigment as tung oil itself is basically clear.

Weaver's Words - June 23, 2008 

Lacquer on baskets - Unless you are making a Nantucket basket or traditional raffia stitched coiled pine needle basket I would never apply a lacquer, varnish or polyurethane to the weaving of a basket. If you want to apply a finish to the handle or a solid wood base that is fine, but the weaving needs to be able to breath and flex.

The wood in furniture is also affected by humidity and fine woodworkers take that into account when connecting certain pieces together. Many joints are held together only on three sides to allow for this expansion and contraction. With a woven basket you have hundreds if not thousands of points of contact between thin pieces of wood and each one of those needs to be able to move.

Now concerning dirt and finger prints you are going to get different opinions, but this is what gives antique baskets that wonderful dark color which antique dealers love to call patina. I love when I set a new basket up next to a 10 year old or even 5 year old basket, [with time they] just develop the most beautiful color and the ones that are used and handled often even more so. So, in general for cabinetry and furniture finishes are great, but for baskets (except in a few odd exceptions) they are a no-no.

 

Greatest discovery ever!

OK, so that might be a slight exaggeration, but it the greatest stain fighting discovery I have come across in a very long time. You know those little rust colored mildew spots you get on your clothes sometimes? My mother always told me that they come from something wet in the laundry basket (see I was at least able to work one basket reference into this post) laying up against other clothes. Since these very often appear on my sweaty gym clothes I think there must be something to this explanation. Anyway, I was reading on Yahoo News the other day about 101 uses for salt and on the list was how to remove mildew stains. Well I thought it was too good to be true, but thought I had nothing to lose as I was going to have to throw away one of my stained favorite white ringer t-shirts anyway. I had already tried bleach and OxyClean with no success. The article said that all you had to do was wet the spot with lemon juice, add salt and lay out the item in the sun.

Well I was motivated one evening to try this so dug out my t-shirt, plastic lemon from the fridge and the Morton's salt. After two applications of the salt and lemon the stain was significantly lighter and if the spot hadn't be right in the middle of my chest I probably would have worn the shirt as it was. So today I thought I would give it one more shot and follow all the instructions and lay the shirt in the sun. And wouldn't you know it (or maybe not since this was news to me) after about an hour or so in the sun the lemon/salt patch was dry and the spot was completely gone!

I am laundering the shirt as I type this, but when I checked it before putting the load in the dryer the stain had in fact been removed. I am simply amazed. I wish I had all the clothes I have thrown away over the years back. I wish I would have taken before and after photos, but I think I have another shirt to try it on.

• UPDATE •

I just treated another shirt and I took photos this time.

After a couple hours in the sun the salt is dry and the stain is gone. There is a touch of discoloration from the lemon juice, but that will wash right out.

Peggie Wilcox Class

This year at the Missouri Basketweavers Guild convention, Weaving MO Madness, I was fortunate enough to take a class on the last day with Peggie Wilcox (pictured above). Peggie works with all kinds of natural fibers, many of which she collects and processes herself, including cedar, Siberian iris leaves and madden head fern. While I used to twine quite a bit when I first started basket weaving, I haven't in quite a while and I really hadn't used materials like these.

The cedar uprights were so interesting to work with. They were surprisingly strong and supple. We split the 4" long Siberian iris leaves in two with a needle and used those to do the twining and three-rod wale.

My favorite part of this basket is the star-shaped or "mad weave" start. I will definitely have to try that again on some project.

The finished basket is about 3" in diameter and 1" deep. I didn't do as nice of a job on the rim as I would like to have. It is a bit wavy. I could have pulled it much much tighter as the cedar bark is very strong. The black band around the middle is maidenhead fern (or possibly maidenhair fern).

Hand Stamped Coasters

I started making these on a whim about three months ago. The first ones were on basic ceramic tiles that I had left over from an old stamping project, then I found some great tumbled marble tiles at a surplus outlet (I bought all they had and of course they have never gotten any more in) and now I am making them on limestone tiles. I really like the new tiles, but unfortunately they cost twice as much as the marble or ceramic so I have had to raise my prices a bit.

I use StazOn solvent-based ink pads so they are water proof and durable. I tried to clean off a mistake and was never able to complete get it off of these tiles even after using paint thinner. I recommend that they only clean them with water though, just to be on the safe side.

I will be offering these, along with a variety of other basketry related items, including my weaving stands, at the Missouri Basketweavers Guild Convention next week, Thursday, August 5 to Saturday, August 7, 2010. On Sunday I am actually taking a class with Peggy Wilcox, so am very excited.

Westfall Basket

My parents and I have been collecting these Missouri made baskets for 25 years now. They are made by the Westfall family and are on at least their 5th generation of white oak basket making. All of their baskets are constructed using a very unique style of ribbed construction. They use a combination of what they call "long spokes" and "short spokes". If you notice in the photo they do not use a typical Appalachian "ear" or god's eye where sharpened spokes are inserted at the junction of the rim and handle. They use long round spokes that are bound to the frame as the first rows of weaving are began. These oval baskets are relatively easy to find as are the round baskets they made all in different standardized sizes. This 12" x 18" x 14" tall basket would have been called a "1/2 bushel oblong".

2010 JoAnn Kelly Catsos Worshop

I am very excited to again be able to offer two exciting classes with JoAnn Kelly Catsos of Ashley Falls, MA. JoAnn has won numerous awards for her beautiful black ash baskets and in 1999 she was asked to weave an ornament for the White House Christmas Tree. She also was one of the first to receive the Certificate of Excellence Level I Basketmaking from the Handweavers Guild of America. JoAnn and her husband Steve produce all the weaving materials, hardwood rims and handles, and molds themselves. I hope you can join JoAnn and me for this exciting and fun workshop.

Saturday - Monday, October 16, 17, 18, 2010

9:00 am - 5:00 pm

Half-Size Shaker Knife
4" long x 3" tall

The small Shaker knife basket is a half-size replica of JoAnn’s classic 8" knife basket. This classic Shaker icon will be a great additional to your collection.

Quadrafoil Tub
6" dia. x 2.5" deep

This Shaker quadrafoil tub is based upon an antique Shaker tub at the Shaker Museum in Chatham, NY.  The small stakes (3/32") and even smaller weavers (50/1000" and 1/16"), combined with the quadrafoil twill, makes this a challenging basket (but worth the effort).

Instructor: JoAnn Kelly Catsos
$280

PLEASE NOTE This is a three day advanced workshop with quadrafoil twill experience necessary. Both baskets are included in the workshop.

Contact: Tony Stubblefield
if you would like to receive registration information

Mystery Basket

 
13.75" dia. x 17.5" tall with handle

Does anyone know anything about this basket? It is one I have had in my collections for quite awhile now, but I know nothing of its origin. I have only ever seen one or two others like it or of the same construction style. It is woven of brow ash, but I am not sure what the rims, handles or base are made of. I have been told that the base is of basswood, but I am not sure if it is like a Nantucket base and had a groove in it for the staves or if it is two pieces of wood sandwiched together with the ribs in between.

It has a distinctive handle and ear attachment with the brass pin going all the way through the ear and side of the basket. The pin or rivet is peened over a washer on the inside. The handle is not really shaped much in profile, it is basically just a heavy split stick with the edges slightly knocked off, top and bottom.

The base has two channels cute a right-angles to accept "ribs" or "splines" that run up the sides of the basket. The ribs are tucked into the weaving and nailed in place. Again the pins go all the way through the body of the basket, but this time are just bent over on the inside. Notice too that the weaving is graduated in size with smaller weavers at the base and wider ones for the top half.

One of these days I am going to try my hand at making a reproduction of this basket in maybe a smaller size. As always, there are too many baskets to make and not enough time.