Marie curled up in the willow oval basket.

This week I had a basket partner because my Mom and I made these together.  She is a tapestry artist but her first weaving dates back to making reed baskets as a child back in Germany!  Now you can see from where my emerging love of basket weaving has come.

Mom soaked the willow in her bathtub for days before I came down.  We chose some colour variation using Americana (greenish) and Belgian Red (reddish brown).  We followed Jon Ridgeon’s chapter for an oval basket in his book Willow Basketry: A How-To Guide.

Magnus thinks he’s in a basket boat.

It was my first oval basket other than the Catalan base I made last year.  The oval base did flatten out as per the suggestion in Jon’s book to reverse the chase weave pattern halfway through.  We however made the mistake of choosing side stakes that were too thick, so we had a couple of problems. I also dropped stakes along the way so lost my braided pattern.  Editor’s Note: See my second attempt in Week 9 where I made up a rhyme to remember the steps!

Trouble at the border: the side stakes were too thick, so they cracked in spite of pricking with a knife blade and then made the braiding very difficult.

Solution to the broken stake at the border: I clipped the broken stake off and inserted a fresh on down the same channel.

Willow frame basket

I returned to Lakeshore Willows for two days of crafting my first frame basket and enjoying the company of fellow Willow basket enthusiasts. Lene Rasmussen is a knowledgeable and creative instructor and basket artist. You can follow Lene’s blog too.

Look at the nice colour variety we were able to use in the baskets. Lakeshore Willows has a good variety of dried Willow available, so I bought enough to keep my passion going for awhile. I have to be patient while my first harvest is a year away and will then need drying time. In the meantime I eagerly await the opportunity to help Lene with her harvest.

I look forward to keeping in touch with the lovely ladies from the workshop and reading and seeing photos of their work and progress!