Thomas Okey

“ A considerable training and natural aptitude go to form the expert workman, for the ultimate perfection of shape and beauty of texture depend upon the more or less perfect conception of form in the craftsman’s mind and on his power to impress it on a recalcitrant material. ”

“ It must be admitted, however, that basket-work in these developments has encroached somewhat on the domain of cabinet-making; for wood and nails are now much used in constructing basket-work chairs, tables and other furniture.
With splits of various species of bamboo the Japanese and Chinese manufacture baskets of unequalled beauty and finish. The bamboo wicker-work with which the Japanese sometimes encase their delicate egg-shell porcelain is a marvellous example of manipulation, and they and the Chinese excel in the application of bamboo wicker-work to furniture. ”

“ Basket-making, however, has by no means been confined to the fabrication of those simple and useful utensils from which its name is derived. Of old, the shields of soldiers were fashioned of wicker-work, either plain or covered with hides. Xenophon, in his story of the Thirty Tyrants at Athens, relates that the exiled Greeks who had seized on the Peiraeus made themselves shields of whitened osiers; and similar weapons of defence are still constructed by modern savages. The huts of the earliest settlers in Rome and in western Europe generally were made of osier work plastered with clay. ”

“ An ordinary oval basket is made by preparing the requisite number of bottom sticks, preserving their length greater than the required width of the bottom. They are ranged in pairs on the floor parallel to each other at small intervals, in the direction of the longer diameter of the basket, thus forming what may be called the “woof,” for basket-work is literally a web. These parallel rods are then crossed at right angles by two pairs of the largest osiers, on the butt ends of which the workman places his feet ”

“ Employment is given by the London Association for the Welfare of the Blind to a number of partially or wholly blind workpeople, who are engaged in the making of some of the coarser kinds of baskets; but the work, which bears obvious traces of its origin, is not commercially remunerative, and the association depends for partial support on the contributions of the charitable, and on supplementary sales of fine or fancy work produced under ordinary conditions and largely imported. ”

“ Some harder varieties, known as stone osiers and raised on drier upland soils, are peeled and used for fine work. S. fragilis, with some half-score varieties, is almost exclusively used by market gardeners for bunching greens, turnips and other produce. Owing to the increased demand for finer work much attention has been given (see Basket) in recent years to the cultivation of the more ligneous and tougher species, S. triandra, S. purpurea and S. amygdalina with their many varieties and hybrids. ”

“ The cost of planting and the outlay for manuring and weeding during the years of maturity of the crop, are higher in the Midlands and the yield was estimated by Ellmore at 6 to 10 tons per acre, green, worth from £3, 10s. to £6, per ton. White rods, costing from £3, to £3, 7s. 6d. per ton for extra labour, will realize from £22 to £24 per ton. Buff rods costing (with coal at 10s. per ton) £5 per ton extra, will realize from £22 to £32 per ton. From 23/4 to 3 tons of green are required to produce one ton white or buff. ”

“ It is commonly supposed that osiers or willows will prove remunerative and flourish with little attention on any poor, wet, marshy soil. This is, however, not the case. No crop responds more readily to careful husbandry and skilful cultivation. For the successful raising of the finer sorts of willows good, well-drained, loamy upland soil is desirable, which before planting should be deeply trenched and cleared of weeds. ”

“ In the northern and midland counties the stuff is invariably sold by weight. On the continent of Europe osiers or willows are bunched in sizes of one metre in girth at the butts and (except in Belgium) are also sold by weight. ”

“ Wealthy Americans have formed collections of the beautiful ware treasured as heirlooms in Indian families, and large prices have been paid for baskets made by the few squaws who have inherited the traditions and practice of the art, as much as £300 having been given for one specimen. ”

“ In addition to the foregoing the chief categories of English manufacture are: vegetable and fruit baskets, transit and travelling hampers, laundry and linen baskets, partition baskets for wine, and protective wicker cases for fragile ware such as glass carboys, stone and other bottles. ”

“ The defects of this method are that the tops are liable to split in the brake and the butts to remain foul. A third, known as the “pie” system enables the grower to bridge over the interval, and to keep his hands employed, between the end of the “head” and the beginning of the “pit” strippings. The willows are cut at the first indication of the sap rising and “couched” in rotten peelings and soil at a slight angle, the butts being on the ground, which should be strewn with damp straw from a manure heap. ”

“ Peeling is chiefly done by women and lasts from early May to the middle of July. After stripping, the rods are bleached in the sun and stored for sale as White. If the rods are to be buffed they are immersed in large tanks of boiling water from 4 to 6 hours. ”

“ In England at least, he rarely uses a mould; every stroke made has a permanent effect on the symmetry of the whole work and no subsequent pressure will alter it. Wages in London vary from 25s. to 50s. ”