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.