Читать книгу Basket Essentials: Rib Basket Weaving - Lora S. Irish - Страница 18

Just as they can be formed into hoops for your rims (see page), grapevine, honeysuckle, and wisteria vine, among other dried botanicals, can become the weavers of your basket design, adding texture and color to your work. The three materials listed can be purchased through basketry supply stores, and some can be harvested directly from your backyard, depending on where you live. In fact, the species of dried botanicals that were traditionally used in basketry depended on the artist’s location. A basket maker who lived in the Appalachian Mountains, on the east coast of the United States, may have used wild grapevine, bark strips from the poplar tree, or splints of oak, ash, or maple. Along the Pacific Northwest, the main basket-weaving materials available would have been cedar bark, willow branches, and beargrass. The extra-long needles from the long-needled pine were often used in basketry in the American South.

The top coil is ¼" flat reed; the middle coil is ⅜" purple-dyed flat reed; under that is dried honeysuckle vine; and the bottom coil is dried wisteria vine.

If you want to harvest your own fresh botanicals for use in your basketwork, choose healthy, mature leaves or plant stems. Rinse the harvest in water mixed with a small amount of bleach to remove any insects or insect eggs. Gently rinse with clean water and then set on a clean towel to dry. Bundle the leaves or stems at the base with a string and hang upside down in a paper bag to protect the weaving material from sunlight and dust. Leave the bag slightly open to allow for air circulation. Place the bag in a dark, dry area and allow the plant material to dry completely before use.

Thickly stemmed natural weavers, like willow branches or wisteria vine, can take up to a year to dry thoroughly, but most finer branches and leaves will be ready to use in about one to two months. If the material feels cold to the touch of your cheek, that material is still damp. When the material held to your cheek has no temperature feeling, then all of the moisture in the plant has dried out.

Suggested Common Plants

 Alfalfa stems

 Bamboo sheaths

 Cattail leaves

 Clematis vine

 Corn husks

 Crownvetch stems

 Daylily leaves

 Honeysuckle vine

 Horsetail grass

 Japanese iris leaves

 Long-needled pine

 Pampas grass leaves and stems

 Sedge grass

 Tansy stems

 Virginia creeper vine

 Wheat stems

 Yucca leaves

Suggested Bark, Branches, and Splints

 Ash

 Black walnut

 Forsythia

 Maple

 Oak

 Poplar

 Willow