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Tools

EVERYDAY TOOLS

The basket maker’s tool kit requires a few basic tools, many of which you may already have in your general crafting-supplies stash. Some of the essential tools used for basketwork that you may already have lying around include: a bench knife or pair of heavy-bladed scissors, a packing tool or standard-tipped screwdriver, spring clamps or laundry clothespins, an awl, a yardstick or measuring tape, twine or heavy thread, and a large pan for soaking reeds.

CUTTING AND PACKING TOOLS

A tool to cut reeds, a packer, and simple clamps to hold the weavers in place are essential to basket making. Spring clips or spring clamps are also used to anchor spokes to the ear until enough weaving has been worked to hold them securely.

Reed cutters (specially marketed to basket makers), scissors, and utility knives are excellent for cutting flat weaving reeds and round spokes to size. Pick a heavy-bladed pair of scissors that can handle the thickest round reeds. A utility knife or bench knife can be used both to cut reeds to length and to taper both ends of a reed to reduce the thickness at an overlap point in the weaving.

You may already have some of the everyday items needed for basket making.

Packing tools, or packers, are used to firmly set one row of weaving against another. Packers come with both straight shanks to pack the basket walls and bent shanks that will reach into the tight corners of a God’s Eye knot or under the rim of a basket. You can use a straight standard screwdriver as a packing tool, too.

Top to bottom: bench knife, flat-tipped packing tool, long flat-tipped packing tool, curved-tipped packing tool, scissors, large awl.Small spring clamps can hold the previous row of weavers in place as you work a new weaver.

An awl is a necessary tool for rib basket makers. This tool has a long, tapered shank that ends in a sharp point. The point is used to split the reeds in a half God’s Eye knot to receive a basket spoke.

Spring clamps and spring clothespins (not peg clothespins) are used to temporarily secure a weaver as you work through a weaving pattern. To secure an extra-large round spoke or a natural thick vine, you can use small zip ties or cable ties. Cut the ties after the weaving has been completed enough to hold the spoke or vine in place securely without the help of the ties.

Ceramic clay tools are inexpensive and come in a variety of shapes that you can use in basketry. Most sets include a needlepoint tool that can be used as an awl, flat and arrowhead-shaped tools that can be used as packers, and several types of curved or bent tools that will reach into those hard-to-reach spaces.

This small set of ceramic clay tools can easily become basket-making tools.

REED SHAVER

A reed shaver has a heavily textured grater on the bottom side of the tool. As you pull the grater along the end of a cut flat weaver, the tool shaves the weaver to a thin taper. Use a reed shaver to taper the two ends of your reed where one end will overlap another.

WEAVING TOOLS

To tease a weaver through an extra-tight area, use either nylon-grip flat-nosed pliers or straight-nosed pliers. The tips of the pliers can grip the reed end when your fingertips are too large. Nylon-grip pliers cushion the damp reed from being damaged by the pliers’ tip.

A jeweler’s bead scoop has the perfect shape for creating the pathway for added spokes in a rib basket. The point of the scoop is worked into the weaving space where you want to add a new spoke. The new spoke can be guided along the scoop and placed into position.

A reed shaver cuts the wood fibers at the end of a reed to reduce the thickness of the reed into a gentle taper. The tapered end makes the reed easier to work with.From left to right: nylon-grip flat-nosed pliers, straight-nosed pliers, jeweler’s bead scoop, tapestry needles.

Tapestry needles or blunt needles for leathercrafting work well to lace raffia, small twine, and ribbon accents along your weaving patterns.

SOAKING TOOLS

Your reeds, whether round or flat, need to be soaked for a few moments in warm water to make them flexible enough to weave smoothly through the ups and downs of a weaving pattern. Soak your reeds in a large water bowl or pan before you begin working. Use a large sea sponge or synthetic sponge and large paintbrushes to redampen your reeds and spokes as you work the basket. Soaking is needed when the reed will be worked over and under spokes that are spaced as close as ¼" (0.6cm) apart. Only soak your reeds right before you will be weaving them into the basket frame. Repeated soaking and drying can make your reed brittle and cause it to lift fine fibers along its surface.

Water bowls, sponges, and paintbrushes serve to soak your reeds and keep them damp during work.This self-healing quilting mat has both a 1" (2.5cm) grid pattern, which can be used to measure the spokes, and a set of concentric circles, which can be used to check the roundness of the basket spoke pattern.

MEASURING TOOLS

You will need a tape measure, yardstick, or cutting mat to measure your round and flat reeds. A tape measure works very well for marking the length of a basket spoke. Reeds being used as weavers, which do not need to be as accurate in length as spokes, can simply be measured against the area of the basket into which they will be woven—just remember to overestimate a little to account for the ins and outs of the weaving.