Читать книгу Basket Essentials: Rib Basket Weaving - Lora S. Irish - Страница 17

Basket reed is made from any of a number of species of thorny, vine-like palms that grow from southern China to Australia and that are also found in Fiji, West Africa, and Madagascar. Known primarily as rattan (genera Calamus and Daemonorops), processed parts of this plant are used for furniture making, wicker-type work, and basketry. The horizontal stems of the rattan plant can grow up to 650 feet (200 meters) long.

The outside layer of rattan vine is used to create caning reeds, commonly used in chair seat weaving or for spoke basket rim binders. Cane or caning reeds are used to lash extra material around the rim of a basket. That extra material protects and hides the ends of the turned spokes in round basketry work or in rib baskets to add an accent vine to the rim hoop. In rib basket construction, cane can be used for both the ear pattern and as weavers.

The inner section of the rattan vine is cut and shaped to become the weaving reeds (weavers). Reed is identified by shape, thickness, and use within the basket construction. The spokes of your rib basket are most often made using the larger sizes of round reed or half-round reed, from size #3 through size #8. The weavers can be flat, flat oval, and oval oval, but also round. Basket reed, whether flat or round, is sold in rolled coils of 1 lb. (0.5kg).

Also available for weaving are splints, which are thin strips of oak, maple, ash, and even walnut that are typically ¼" to 3" (0.6 to 7.6cm) wide. Splints of larger widths, from ½" to ¾" (1.3 to 1.9cm) wide, are excellent for several of the simpler ear patterns.

Cross-sections of the different reed shapes.

Handling Basket Reed

Open a reed coil carefully by cutting the strings or ribbons that bind the coil together. In general, the longest reeds will be on the inside of the coil or bundle and the shortest reeds on the outside. Short lengths are excellent for weaving just a few rows near the ear of a rib basket. Save the long inner lengths for filling in large areas on the sides of a basket or for more difficult weaving patterns where you want to avoid needing to add a new reed.

Remove several lengths of reed and roll them into small coils of individual reeds. Feed the end of each reed through the center of the coil several times to secure it. Smaller sizes of reed, whether flat or round, can easily be coiled into small circles around 5" (12.7cm) across without presoaking. Larger sizes may need to be coiled in 8" (20cm) or 10" (26cm) circles.

These small rolls are ready for the soaking pot. Recoil the unused reed bundle and tie it with a string. Store the coil in a small trash bag, keeping the bag open to allow airflow.

Flat and Round Basket Reed

Flat reed is sold in widths expressed in US inches (imperial measurement). Rib basketry commonly uses flat reed weavers from " to ½" (0.5 to 1.3cm) wide.

Round reed is sold under a numbering system; the larger the number, the larger the diameter of the reed. #00 is the smallest size, and #8 is the largest size commonly used for rib baskets.

In general, the longest reeds will be on the inside of the coil or bundle and the shortest reeds on the outside.

A Note on Metric Sizes

Throughout this book, metric equivalents are given for all measurements except for actual reed sizes. If you are a reader who uses the metric system, simply refer to the flat reed size table on this page to double-check which size reed to purchase or use.

Flat reed size (inches)	Approx. width in millimeters	Approx. feet per pound
	4.4	410
	4.8	400
¼	6.4	370
7mm*	(0.275")	300
⅜	9.5	210
½	12	150
⅜	15.9	120
¾	19.1	90
*This metric size is commonly sold by basketry suppliers.

Round reed size (designation #)	Approx. diameter in millimeters	Approx. diameter in inches	Approx. feet per pound
0	1.2		2,200
1	1.6		1,600
2	1.75		1,100
2.5	2		900
3	2.4		750
3.5	2.5		600
4	2.8		500
4.5	3.2	⅛	400
5	3.6		350
5.5	4.0		325
6	4.4		200
6.5	4.8		160
7	5.2		150
8	6.0		105
9	7.1		90