Basket Weaving – Page 2 – Blue Mountain Baskets

Category: Basket Weaving (page 2 of 9)

April 13 Morning Workshop: Willow Spiral Weave Basket on Wood Base

2019-04-02 / Andrea / 0 Comments

Introduction to Basket Weaving: Willow Spiral Weave Basket on Wood Base

This workshop is a great introduction to basket weaving using a special weave. Starting with rustic wood base, you will learn how to do a spiral weave to create a small basket. See more details here: Willow Spiral Weave Basket on Wood Base.

Saturday, April 13 from 10 am to 12 pm
Upstairs at 185 Marsh Street, Clarksburg in the Blue Mountains
$40 per person (all materials included)
Tools, coffee & tea provided, just bring a snack if you like.
Please email andrea@bluemountainbaskets.com to register. Cash, cheque or card can be paid on April 13 when you come.

Week 13: Experimenting with local heirloom willow

2019-03-31 / Andrea / 0 Comments

See the size next to the barn on the right & note the vibrant golden colour!

This week was busy, but while at a meeting onsite at the Clarksburg Retreat, I did ask to spend some time walking the trails in search of heirloom willow. The property was the Clendenan homestead which is an age-old name here. One tree by the barn stood out is on this old property saturated in local history. There is a golden weeping willow that looks to be as old as the Victorian house- this type of willow is a common sight here in the Blue Mountains (formerly Collingwood Township).

Here I put my secateurs on the trunk to show the scale of the granddaddy tree.

I know weeping willow is not known as a basket willow because its draping branches do not pass dry-&-re-soak test for strength. They snap & do not bend like good basket willows. Is it a different cell structure that also makes them droopy? But I am tired of listening to conventionalism. We have such wonderful golden weeping willows all over our landscape, so I would like to try to use them in some outside-the-traditional-basket thinking. Here is the result of using the weeping willow branches semi-green (I cut them and then let them mellow a few days while keeping the base branches in water)…

Week 12: Clarksburg has h’ART Workshops on March 23

2019-03-24 / Andrea / 0 Comments

We had a great time at the Marsh Street Centre with 2 willow weaving workshops. In the morning we made willow & dogwood baskets by starting with a stained wood base. This workshop is a great introduction to basket weaving. Starting with a wooden base shape of your choice, you learn traditional weaving techniques for the sides and border to create a small basket. Willow & Dogwood Basket on Wooden Base In the afternoon we made stars & hearts from willow and then wove large hearts out of dogwood and willow. Hearts, stars & garlands

Week 10: Seize the moment & weave a basket!

2019-03-10 / Andrea / 0 Comments

Our 3-hour drive from Kingston to Newmarket turned into 6.5 hours due to a highway closure and jam that was hours long because of it. While my husband had to stay at the wheel, I was able to make lemonade out of lemons by settling into a weaving an Ethernet wire basket. Unfortunately willow weaving is not so portable, but I always have some sewing or wire weaving with me for these long drives. Using the 4 standard wire colours of CAT 5 & CAT 6 wire, I untwisted the CAT 5 to start the base weave and then graduated to the thicker wire as the spacing got bigger.

Week 9: New twist on weaving

2019-03-03 / Andrea / 0 Comments

I will admit here life has been a bit crazy as a Town Councillor etc., so my business focus this week was minimal. A challenge to creating balance in life, and I know I am not the only one out there feeling it!

I did however take a little time out for mindfulness & de-stressing by curling up with cats and learning how to do a 4-strand braid around a core or cable. Weavers of Eternity Paracord Tutorials for their video demonstrating the steps! While the norm out there is to use paracord for bracelets etc., this project allowed me to upcycle the Ethernet computer wire ends I get from my son’s business leftovers. After learning this technique, I wanted to use the 4 standard Ethernet colours in one 4-strand braid. So here is the end result…a unique iPhone cable with the beauty and protection of a Ethernet wire braid!

Week 8: Learning at Lakeshore Willows

2019-02-25 / Andrea / 0 Comments

This week’s focus for my 2019 goal was honing my basket weaving skills. Back in 2016 I took my first basket workshop with Lene Rasmussen at Lakeshore Willows. I love to go there learn from Lene and spend the day in a room full of fellow basketweavers!

Lene taught me how to do the zigzag weave & it paired well with some double French randing in 2 colours.

It is a large basket, so I designed 2 handles by using 6 of the stakes on each side and then modifying a 4-behind-2 border to work around the handles. I can’t really share the steps of how I altered the border to accommodate the handles because it was very much just a feel for keeping the pattern flowing as I went!

Week 7: Basket weaving & family time

2019-02-18 / Andrea / 0 Comments

A good week for basket weaving practice! First, I visited my mom and taught her how to do the spiral weave on a wood base. She used to be a college instructor like me, so together we talk about how to best teach the steps in future workshops.

Secondly, my cousin from British Columbia surprised us with a visit. He is a computer programmer, so I made him a basket of Ethernet wire. I use the cut-offs from my son’s IT business and modify traditional willow weaving techniques such as French randing. For the border is used a reed basket type that I learned from Kajjka Hátleová’s pleteme z pedigu 3.

Week 6: Spiral weave willow on wood base basket

2019-02-10 / Andrea / 0 Comments

Due to weather, we had to postpone Clarksburg has h”ART until March 23, so my weekend was free to explore a new weave and new potential half-day workshop to offer. It is the first project I have tried from Jenny Crisp’s new book Willow: A Guide to Growing and Harvesting – Plus 20 Beautiful Woven Projects (2018) and has a marvelous weaving rhythm to it once you get the hang of the pattern. I did use 3 resources in total to learn this weave, so I recommend you take an in-person workshop to learn it if you can. After that, you can keep creating with ease! My resources toolbox:

Egg Basket chapter from Willow: A Guide to Growing and Harvesting – Plus 20 Beautiful Woven Projects by Jenny Crisp
Great diagrams of spiral weave steps in Jonathan Ridgeon’s chapter on Dragonflies in his book Willow Craft: 10 Simple Projects
A video by Elena Tischenko who uses the same weave using recycled newspaper in the form of rolled up straws!

I am adding this to the March 23 workshops for Clarksburg has h’ART and offering it on an alternative weekend too. A successful weekend in my 2019 hobby-to-business goal- so excited to add this to the list of introductions to basket weaving I can share with other who want to explore the craft!