Monday, March 12, 2007

Viburnum Basket

When I got home from my gathering trip on Saturday, I made a basket. This is the first basket I've made of this style so it isn't flawless by any means. It is kind of lopsided, but nevertheless functional which is what really matters. Some people like to let the wood dry and then soak it to make it flexible again. This is so the wood has shrunk to it's final size before making the basket.

I thought it would be cool to have a basket made the same day I collected the material so I didn't do this. To get an idea of how to start the basket I referred to Torjus's post about his willow basket. You'll notice that this first picture looks like one of his pictures. For more detailed instructions on how to make one, refer to his post.


After getting it started, it was pretty easy. The only other hard part was the change from horizontal rings to vertical rings. It was tough because the thickness of the spokes made it hard to accomplish a near right angle bend. This is the main reason why the basket is lopsided.


Ideally I would have made the basket a little taller, but I ran out of material. To make a handle I bent over some of the spokes and wrapped them together. The other spokes I cut off. Due to their thickness there was no nice way to weave them back into the basket. I'm all ready for the annual Easter Egg hunt at my parents' house! :)

7 comments:

torjusgaaren said...

Good looking basket and neat idea the one about the handle!

Anonymous said...

great work.

Anonymous said...

great work.

Anonymous said...

Nice work, Sassmouth. I've often thought that it could be advantageous to weave with fresh materials at times, especially if you're not as concerned with later shrinkage (eg., you stumble upon a bunch of ripe blackberries and want to collect them, so you make a basket on the spot to gather them with.)

How long did it take you to weave the finished product?

Sassmouth said...

Rix, it took me 2-3 hours, but it was my first one and I was watching tv while doing it. I had to back track a couple times because I forgot to put in additional spokes. I lost some time trying to figure things out. I think if I were to do it again, I'd have a better basket and I could do it in less than an hour for sure. I learned a lot.

fooiemcgoo said...

I can tell I am no longer welcome here.

Anonymous said...

that's pretty amazing for a first time. and it's really encouraging that you feel like you could do it again in so little time.