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!

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