I have been distracted with doing more processing of the vines before making a basket and this basket was the result of that tedious struggle. I have changed my building techniques and I am happy with this  market basket which I finished last Thursday of Friday!It's about 12 inches in diameter. Since then I spent a great deal of time processing vines and experimenting with ways to use all of the elements of the vines in creative ways, but yesterday (Wed 6/14/) I started to make a basket to hold my toilet…

I started this project on Friday as I set out to make a small basket. I tried different types of weaving material around a light basket frame without the results I had hoped to achieve when my thoughts turned toward the hair- like, material that becomes available in quantity when the top layer of bark begins to break down. Pearl though that it makes a good bed for her afternoon catnap!Then long threads are strong and I knew that it could be spun into a light cord that could be woven around the light weight…

Today, I spent most of the day trying to use up the pieces of vine that remained and at Jean"s suggestion, I came up with this little waste paper basket  complete with a bag retaining attachment. I have become aware of baskets and realize how many of them have been here in the house all along and Gretchen definitely had an eye for baskets. I found this basket in G's library and it was filled with little pieces of wood and the like that she had found interesting enough to bring home, but it was really…

On Tuesday 5/30/23 I went on a vine harvest mission and returned with these lovely vines.I hauled them back to the basket shop, as my back room has become known and produced these 2 baskets.

I still have enough vines to make one more basket from this lot but I am getting the itch to go back and get more grapevines…

As I continue with this basket work I am reminded of how when I do something for several hours a day, I start to get better at that activity. Immediately humbled, by people who make baskets for a living, I liken it to playing any musical instrument and find that there is Peace to be had, making baskets. The process forces mindfulness of the stresses in the wood and in my hands and I started using a different method of weaving which produces better results with less strain on my hands and much improved…

So, last Sunday we went out to harvest grapevines and returned with this bundle of vines which I turned into the basket below. Notice a handful of willows that we also cut and brought home as willow is a preferred basket making material to grapevine and I had used a few willow sticks in the baskets that I made, but I have a strong leading to use the grapevines. The weaving process is so rewarding, especially when things go right, and the finished product is such a cool object.

Around Easter 2023 I started to make a grapevine basket as I had trimmed my own grape plants earlier this year and had these beautiful, long pieces of grapevine and I thought that I should do something with them. I became aware of a seemingly endless supply of grapevines and began to harvest them and after viewing one tutorial video on making a grapevine basket I completed my first basket in time for Easter. Here is my accomplice, Jean Dickson, holding that basket. 

It was crude as I tortured the vines into…