Basket Making Basket Weaving History How To Make A Basket Basket Making Patterns Basket Making Supplies Basket Making Terms Types of Basketry

Basket Making

Basketry making is the weaving of unspun vegetable fibers, usually to form a container. Baskets making done from any wood, vine, leaf, or fiber that could be formed into a desirable shape.

Basket making survives in many parts of the world today in forms, techniques, and materials similar to those used in past ages. While continuing as a living tradition, it has undergone a revival of interest among craftspeople, leading to new forms of expression. Just as weavers make pictures with tapestry, basket makers now use basketry making techniques to create sculpture.

Traditionally, basket makers gather and prepare their basket making supplies and own materials. Until you have grasped the medium, you may prefer to purchase your materials. Rattan core, know to most of us as reed, has been used in this country to some extent for many years.

However, the increasing number of new basket makers, coupled with the scarcity of native woods, has meant that larger quantities of supplies must be imported to replace many of the natural materials that were once used. Flat reed has replaced oak, ash and hickory splits.

Round reed has replaced oak, willow and other vine-like materials that were used for ribbed or twined baskets; it has even replaced natural materials that once served as the "core" of coiled baskets.

So, the kind or size of reed chosen today depends on the type of basket to be made.

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