Basket weaving
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Image:Woman weaving baskets near Lake Ossa.jpg
A woman weaves a basket in Cameroon.
Basket weaving (or basket making, basketry, or basketmaking) is the process of weaving unspun vegetable fibers into a basket. People with the profession of weaving baskets are basketmakers. Basket weaving is the craft of weaving together fibrous or pliable material—anything that will bend or form a shape. That is including but not limited to: pine straw, animal hair and/or hide, different grasses, thread, branches, and wood. Basket weaving might seem like an outdated or antique craft, but it has never left the eye of public interest or demand, and for good reason. Frequently vendors are seen on the side of small country roads, especially in tourist areas, or at the farmer’s markets around the country. Regardless of where they are seen, baskets are still as popular today as they ever were—but for less functional reasons. There is a certain aura of quaintness surrounding basket making—probably because it is one of the only crafts that has never been modernized. While there are weaving machines that make cloth, basket weaving has never been done successfully on a machine. So there is a degree of idealistic “old fashioned” myth surrounding basket weaving (one of the oldest crafts in human history.) While basket weaving is one of the widest spread crafts in the history of any human civilization, it is hard to say just how old the craft is because natural materials like wood, grass, and animal remains decay naturally and constantly. So without proper preservation (which was not available two hundred years ago, much less two thousand years ago) much of the history of basket making has been lost and is simply speculated upon. Erdly reports that the oldest known baskets are (according to radiocarbon dating) between 10,000 and 12,000 years old, earlier than any established dates for archeological finds of pottery, and were discovered in Faiyum in upper Egypt. Other baskets have been discovered in the Middle East that are up to 7,000 years old. However, baskets seldom survive, as they are made from perishable materials. The most common evidence of a knowledge of basketry is an imprint of the weave on fragments of clay pots, formed by packing clay on the walls of the basket and firing. Still, the technique of weaving has been passed along, re-discovered, and expanded upon throughout the years, and is still being expanded upon today. Baskets were at one time used simply for storage and transportation of goods—decoration being an afterthought at best. While people still enjoy a functional basket today, our society seems to be interested in baskets that serve a more decorative purpose than those of our ancestors. While many people might initially think of Indian baskets, Indian basket weaving is not the “genre” of basket weaving attracting the most interest today. Actually, weaving with rattan core—or what is known as reed, is one of the more popular techniques being practiced. That is because reed is easily available from basket weaving supply stores. It is pliable and when woven correctly, it is very sturdy. Also, while oak, hickory, and willow might be hard to come by—reed is plentiful and can be cut into any size or shape that might be needed for a pattern. This includes flat reed, which is used for most square baskets; oval reed which is used for many round baskets; and round reed which is used to twine. And reed can also be dyed easily to look like oak or hickory. Ireland is reputed as a modern India vis-a-vis with notable basket-weavers such as John Horgan (Galway) and Maura Leane (Currow, Co. Kerry). Erdly classifies basketry into four types:
The type of baskets that reed is used for are most often referred to as “wicker” baskets, though another popular type of weaving known as “twining” is also a technique used in most wicker baskets. Basket weaving utilizes stakes or spokes and weavers. Stakes/spokes usually form the bottom of the basket and become the vertical framework for the basket sides. Round baskets have spokes; other shapes have stakes (Nantucket baskets use the term "staves"). The weavers fill in the sides of a basket. The parts of a basket are the base, the side walls, and the rim. A basket may also have a lid, handle, or embellishments. Today, patterns and “how to” books are written, bought, and sold so that anyone can learn to basket weave if they are willing to put some effort into it. Popular styles of wicker baskets are vast, but some of the more notable styles are Nantucket Baskets and Williamsburg Baskets. Nantucket Baskets are oversized and bulky while Williamsburg Baskets can be any size, so long as the two sides of the basket bow out slightly and get larger as it is weaved up. Patterns are vast because changing the size, color, or placement of a certain style of weave can be re-named a different basket. A beginner might start with something like a Kleenex basket, using long pieces of reed to construct a base and then bending the pieces to form right angles so that there are spokes to weave through. Then multiple rows would be woven into the spokes until a desired height was reached. To finish the basket, all the inside spokes would be cut while the outside spokes would be tucked into rows on the inside of the basket. Finally, a rim would be added and secured by a flexible and thin twining material. There is quite a market for baskets and basket supplies, especially if they are hand made. Basket makers want supplies that are as authentic as possible, so buying decorations, special ornaments, handles, and bases that have all been hand made is considered the next best thing to making the reed themselves. Prices for supplies vary. On average, a round of reed (which is roughly dinner plate size, and has two or three dozen long pieces of reed in it) costs about $6—though if you ask for it to be dyed a special color it might cost $8 or $9. However, a round of reed can make anywhere from one to a dozen baskets depending on the size of the baskets being made. Handles and bases are more expensive, bases especially so. A single handle can range from $4 to $10 on average and a base might be as much as $30 or $40, though the smaller bases might only cost $15 or so. In addition to the actual basket supplies, there are also several tools that can be found at these basket making supply stores. Tools that make it easier to “tuck” the ends of the reed into the basket where they are secure and hidden, as well as tools that measure the size of reed in case the label is missing or materials have been mixed up. There are also clips, similar in function to clothes pins that can be bought. However expensive supplies are, a well crafted basket could be valued at much more than what it cost to make it. Some baskets—depending on how tight the weave is, whether there is a solid base or a woven one, materials used, size, color, and the different weaving patterns used—can be sold for hundreds of dollars.
Native American basket weavingTribes made their baskets from the materials available locally. Native Americans in New England wove their baskets from swamp ash. The wood would be peeled off the felled log in strips, following the growth rings of the tree. They also wove baskets from sweetgrass. Northwestern tribes used spruce root, cedar bark, and swampgrass. Southeastern tribes like the Cherokee used bundled pine needles. Southwestern tribes coiled baskets from sumac, yucca, and willow. In northwestern Mexico, the Seri people continue to "sew" baskets using splints of the limberbush plant, Jatropha cuneata. Arctic and Sub-Arctic tribes use baleen, and incorporate ivory and whale bone. Birchbark was used by Northern tribes like the Dene. Birchbark baskets are often embellished with dyed porcupine quills.- Image:Seri olla basket 1.JPG
Seri basket of the haat hanóohcö style
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