I Love Baskets - Wooden Blocks

Basket Blocks
Originally uploaded by ahmbaskets

I used to make these blocks years ago... they said a bunch of things from Welcome to Merry Christmas to a Family name. Many block sets were of the "I Love" or "I heart" variety. So, getting back to creating some of the "other country stuff" that I do when I need a break from weaving, I started making these blocks again.

I hand cut, painted, distressed and antiqued a set of blocks to show my love of baskets. There are 9 blocks, 3/4" all around. Every time I look at these blocks, they just make me smile. They look great on a shelf, desk, or windowsill in any arrangement they see to fall.

I hope that you like them as much as I do!

Lidded Paper Acorn Basket

Since some of my favorite natural materials to weave with are ash and sweetgrass, both not native to Long Island, I have been adapting paper and jewelry cording into my basket designs to recreate some of my favorite basket styles.

This one is called an acorn basket and is another New England Native American style basket.  The mold used for this is a round bun foot mold and the paper is again, cardstock.  To mimic the sweetgrass on the lid, I've used jewelry cording.

This cording has a shades of green that vary from dark to light just like sweetgrass that varies in color from the light root ends to the dark tips... it also has a slight overall brownish hue... somewhere in between fresh dried sweetgrass and some that has been aging for a while.  The base spokes or standards need to be tapered just as if it were black

ash, so that I get a nice tight bottom.  My "start", shown here in black thread was meant to be removed after the first few rows, but since this is a prototype basket, I liked it and left it in.  The sides were turned up, a wider row was woven so that I can add a row of porcupine curls... then the rest was completed mostly 1/8" weavers.  The basket weavers were hand cut further to 1/16" to keep everything close.  The body of the basket was also finished with a wide row and skinny rim.  I was going to lash with the "sweetgrass" thread, but didn't... the lid was completed in a similar set up, but most of the weavers were the imitation sweetgrass... I finished the whole thing with a lid ring and porcupine points.

This is a cool view of the inside showing the tapers... looks like a spider web right? It has been said that the spider is the Mother Teacher of all Weavers... hmmm, nice!

2010 Directory of Traditional American Crafts - Early American Life Magazine

Each year, Early American Life Magazine looks for the best craftsmen to be honored in the summer issue title Directory of Traditional American Crafts.  I proud to say that I've been among those selected to receive this honor this year.  Among my entries is the Lidded Pineapple Basket which I wove on a puzzle mold.  My inspirations to weave this came from total admiration of the way the Northern New England Native Americans weave their baskets, such as the blueberry baskets, pumpking baskets, ear of corn baskets and incorporated some of those features here.  The curls on the side, some times refered to as curliques or wart curls came from the corn baskets... the lid is woven in layers... 5 layers... I needed the reed to be very flexible and thin because I wanted it to weave like it was ash.  So, I took it too the belt

sander and thinned my spokes as this as I could go... layed them out... and started weaving.  I would weave a couple of rows, pick up some spokes, weave a couple more, pick up more spokes, well, you get the idea.  The edges were finished off and lashed.

A lid lip was fitted and lashed to the underside of the lid... thus creating a truly functional storage basket... I added the greenery just for a festive look, but it really doesn't need it.  Can't wait to weave the other 2 baskets on smaller molds...

Nantucket 13" Tray Basket with 9 Twills 

This one is special because is was made for a friend for his sweetheart!  His girl loves handmade things and he wanted to get her something that was unique and showed how much he cared for her...  one of my baskets... how cool is that.  The wood burning star in the base has become sort of a trade mark of mine.  The basket has 9 sets of twills, an even number of staves and is done in continuous weave.  That is just a long winded and technical way of saying I wanted to use only one weaver and create a design element on the sides of the baskets.  I'm not a great photographer, but maybe you can see some of the twills on the side.  The wood is cherry.  The whole thing was finished with a hand rubbed tung oil finish.

I forgot to mention that this special gift was

presented to her on her birthday...

Happy Birthday!!!

Ash and Sweetgrass Ornament with Porcupine Points

 My third entry was a small ornament made from hand pounded brown ash that I cleaned, scraped and cut to width.  The sweetgrass, I grew in pots on my deck.  A fairly simple, but classic style, total native american in inspiration.  The base shows a star and the sides feature sharp curls called porcupine points.  The rim is also lashed with sweetgrass.  The grass has such a wonderful smell.

Folded Twill Paper Basket

One of my "new loves" has been weaving with paper.  It is just so methodical and mesmirizing as the weaving progresses around the center start.  In this case, I cut the strips of cardstock paper with a hand cranked paper shredder that I picked up cheaper than cheap at a garage sale.  The strips are not quite 1/8", but more like 5/32" and had a bit of a rough edge, probable due to dull blades.  This turned out to be advantageous, because it gave the weaving a bit of "stick".  The newly formed fabric was then creased and folded and formed, no coerced into shape.  To me, it needed to be "presented" in a more upscaled kind of way.  I wanted to show it off as more of a museum type of piece.  I had a shadow box, that I had bought for some other craft project and the color matched nicely.

My photography skills are a bit lacking,

but I got the look that I wanted.

Above is a detail of the corner... it took some practice to get the corner to behave and be nice and sharp... next time I won't fold the piece into 3rd's, just measure the overlap that I think would like nice... but I love it jus the same... hope you do too.

Stephen and Tammy Zeh

This is my first time blogging and what a way to start. I had the pleasure of meeting Stephen and Tammy Zeh, a husband and wife team of Maine basketmakers, at the Nassau County's Museum of Art Fine Arts and Crafts Festival in Rosalyn Harbor, Long Island, New York this past weekend. I've been an admirer of the Zeh's for long time and to see their work up close and person was such an honor.

I selfishly to up way too much of their time "talking baskets", the skills involved in creating a basket from tree to hand, the tooling involved and just the shear pleasure of creating something from nothing. They were extemely generous in sharing their knowledge with me... I can't thank them enough. Pictures on the web certainly do not capture the beauty of their baskets and jewelry.

I also have to mention that Tammy Zeh makes the most amazing baskets in gold and silver. These are not just molded baskets, these are handwoven on a mold just like the ash baskets. She also does the leather work that lines the purses and makes the straps for all the baskets.

I did purchase a beautiful ash and sweetgrass medallion!!! Breathless...
Anette