Wish I was weaving Wednesday

JoAnn Kelly Catsos poses with me and the two baskets I made in the workshop I hosted for her

Oh how I wish I was weaving on this Wednesday (well every day actually) instead of having to go to work. I can't believe that my workshop with JoAnn Kelly Catsos was almost a month ago already. That is the last chance I have had to weave. With the holiday season rapidly approaching I doubt I will have much time for any more either. My next big project is making my Christmas cards. At least I have them designed and started. I really really need to work on getting all the pieces made so that I can take them home to my parents over Thanksgiving so I can sit and assemble while sitting in front of the fireplace.

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.

How time flies when you are having fun

10" diameter ribbed basket - reed

1984? Really? How in the world did 28 years go by so quickly? I am not even 100 percent sure when I made my first basket. Oh I remember weaving that first basket, a round reed wickerwork number, I am just not sure if it was in winter of 1983 or spring of 1984. I know I was home from college, just not sure if it was for Christmas or Spring break. I guess that really doesn't matter, I have been weaving for quite a while, almost 30 years. Since I am only 29 years old, I am not really sure how that works...

Anyway, back to reality. When I first started weaving my favorite type to make were ribbed baskets. This one was made after I took a week long workshop with Estel and Gertie Youngblood at the Appalachian Center for Crafts. The reason I know this is that I have starting "filling in" the traditional Appalachian method the Youngbloods taught me. Though it doesn't use the "ear" that we used in class. I know I used to switch between two different traditional styles.

10" diameter ribbed basket - hand split white oak

The crazy thing is that as much as I have always loved this style of basket I have not made a ribbed basket in probably a dozen years. I used to teach a lot of ribbed basket classes, but when I stopped teaching those back in the late 90s I quit making them completely. I really want to take another white oak class and hopefully will get to one of these years.

What I've Been Up To

Wow, has the end of summer been crazy busy or what? Not only did I host a fabulous class with Eric Taylor at the end of July (you can see some photos from the workshop here), but also immediately following was the Basketweavers Guild of Missouri's annual convention where I was a vendor and Vendor Chair.

Fortunately as busy as I was, I was able actually get some baskets woven and more importantly finished! Here are those baskets.

Cottage Handbag

Cottage Jewelry

Cottage Dresser Tote

Cottage Wine Tote "Smalls"

Full-sized Cottage Triple Diamond Wine Tote and its little cousin

Sometimes it is hard to tell the actual size of a well made miniature in a photograph. Eric Taylor's are so well proportioned that you simply can't get a sense of scale until you compare one of the baskets from his "smalls" collection to the full-size counterpart. Here the Smalls Wine Tote is paired with the first ever Eric Taylor basket I wove, the Cottage Triple Diamond Wine Tote. I would love to make another of the miniature version and repeat the diamond twill pattern in it.

Cottage Business Card

I wasn't vending on Sunday, the last day of the MBG convention, so I decided to take Eric Taylor's Cottage Business Card class. It was so nice to just be taking a class and relax and weave. What a cute little basket, fun to weave and fast to complete. I can't wait to put it to use.

Shaker Bureau Basket

I had bought this black ash kit back at the Stateline Friend's Weaving Retreat, but hadn't had a chance to weave it. I took the opportunity, while I was vending to demonstrate the weaving stands I make and sell, to finally make this basket. I just love weaving with black ash.

Ben Higgins Basket - 2

I wrote about a similar basket from my collection back in 2009. Like that one, this basket was woven by Ben Higgins (1894-1981) of Chesterfield, MA. Ben was a prolific basket weaver working in white ash as his father had before him and made many styles and shapes of baskets. Apparently he also made variations of the same basket as this new one is the exact same size and shape as the "automobile lunch" basket except this one has a pair of swing handles.

While Higgins baskets are easy to find, they are often not recognized by the owner/seller. My father had purchased this basket in Massachusetts, neither he nor the antique dealer he bought it from knew what they had.

The rims on these baskets are made from four pieces, two for the outside and two for the inside. The tell-tale signature of Higgins' rims is the triangular tips and three nails.

Another signature of Higgins' baskets are the pointed tips (like the rims) of the weavers. I have never seen these details on any other basket maker's baskets.