The Basketmaker’s Month Webinar Series
Wild Fibers Webinar
Tuesday December 9th 6:00-7:30 pm EST
Join this webinar to learn all about how to identify, harvest, and prepare wild foraged plant fibers for basketry! Each plant has a different time of year that it is ready for foraging so in this installment we will cover the entire year instead of one month. I’ll discuss fibers from both leaves and bast fibers from plant stalks, trees, and vines so that no matter where you live you’ll be able to test out the plants around you.
The focus will be on ID, ecology, harvesting, processing, and everything else you need to know to get these plants ready for making baskets. If you can’t make it you can always pay and get access to the recording for one month afterwards.
I’ll talk in detail about:
- Dogbane
- Nettle
- Tree barks
- Vine barks
- Yucca
- Milkweed
- and more!
The format of this webinar/online class will be 1 hour of lecture and slideshow followed by up to 30 minutes of Q and A. It will be an educational and helpful experience for those of you who are out there eager to open your hearts and get your hands dirty with harvesting!
Why create this webinar series?
Some of the most common questions I get asked as a basketry teacher revolve around which basketry plants are season at any given time. What are the best ways to identify these plants? How are they harvested, processed, and stored? If you do have a basketry plant growing near you how can you tell if it is good quality for weaving? How can we approach harvesting with an open heart and keen mind in service of being respectful of the land? These questions and more were the impetus for starting this series on how to harvest basketry plants. I look forward to continuing it this fall with several more monthly classes!
