Backyard Basketry Workshops At The 2017 NYS Sheep And Wool Festival

Backyard Basketry Workshops at the 2017 NYS Sheep and Wool Festival

Coiling and Twining: Backyard Basketry Workshops

Every time I teach a basketry workshop it becomes more and more clear that people want to learn how to go out into their backyards and harvest plants for basketry. As students from all over the East Coast showed up to my workshops at the 2017 New York State a.k.a. Rhinebeck Sheep and Wool Festival it felt really good to be able to share my love for baskets with such a diverse group!

Both my 2015 and 2016 workshop experiences were just the beginning! This year I continued the tradition: on Thursday I taught Backyard Basketry: Coiling with Grasses, Cattails, and Iris. Friday was Wild Basketry: Twining and Twill with Cattails and Bark. And Saturday I threw a little variety in the mix and taught a workshop on plant dyes which you can check out here.

As always it was invigorating and affirming to see each student’s unique personality come out through the basket. At both workshops some were wild and others were neatly stitched. Some folks came with an idea of what they wanted to make (like one woman who recently started a lavender farm and wanted to practice coiling so she could carry it on with her home grown lavender)  Others were completely open to whatever their baskets might bring. I even had my youngest, and possibly most creative student ever: a young boy who had way more fiber experience I do and choose to make an absolutely amazing basket hat!  There were sisters, and close friends who may as well have been sisters. Each person completely unique, and that is reflected even more in their baskets. I’m already looking forward to next year! I love meeting so many people from up-and-down the East Coast and hearing their stories. Hopefully they will be adding that time they made an absolutely amazing basket to their list of stories to tell!

Here are some pictures from both the coiling workshop and then the twining workshop below. If you’re reading this and you were a participant in one of the workshops then thank you so much for coming and spending the day making a basket! It was wonderful to have you 🙂

Coiled Basketry: Grasses, Cattails, and More

Thursday October 19th

Wild grass and cattail basket miniature coiled baskets! great view of the bottom of a coiled basket beautiful basket and bark 4 baskets made by two sisters gorgeous coiled basket making a coiled basket coiled basket with honeysuckle bark coiled basket with yarn and roving in the rim twin coiled baskets a beautiful tiny coiled basket with plant dye yarn the infamous basket hat honeysuckle bark in a coiled basket gathering up grasses for a coiled basket grasses ready to be made into baskets tent two where my basket workshops were making coiled baskets coiled basket student in process of making a coiled basket hat! three workshop participants making coiled baskets

 

Twining and Twill: Barks, Cattails, Iris,

Friday October 20th

Twined basket with cattails, yarn, and black walnut park Twined cattail and Iris leaf basket Twined cattail and Iris baskets Two twined basket workshop participants Twined eyeris leaf and black walnut bark baskets Close up of braided rim Twined basket workshop participants at work Beautiful example of a basswood bark lashed rim Beautiful twined basket with a yarn accent Close up of twined basket with natural accent Twined basket workshop Twined basket in the sunlight Twined basket braided rim in the sunlight Gorgeous braided black walnut rim A trio of beautiful twined baskets A group of twined cattail, Iris, and black walnut bark baskets It lovely selection of twined baskets from the workshop in a row Getting started on weaving twined baskets The woven grid bottom of a twined basket Weaving a twined basket Creative take on weaving the sides of a twined basket Weaving twined basket

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This Post Has One Comment

  1. Katie,
    Thank you for a beautiful day of weaving and twining natural materials. It was such a wonderful, golden weekend.

    Your beautiful photos are helping me to shake off the “damp, drizzly November in my soul” that today has presented to us. Of course, we need those as well!

    Reply

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