Basket maker

“ I saw a woman who merely colors willow. She could make a comfortable living at it, if she could give all her time to it; but she cannot, as she has two small children, and must give part of her time to them. In Williamsburg, I had a long talk with a basket maker. He says it is best for an [Pg 282] apprentice to learn basket making of a practical worker who has not many hands, and who will give instruction himself. He can give the more time to his learners. He spent seven years learning the trade in England. It requires knowledge of form to make the baskets of a handsome shape. ”

“ In a tavern of the Faubourg he made the acquaintance of a basket-maker who worked at home. He offered to help him. In a short time he learnt to plait baskets and hampers—a coarse and poorly-paid kind of labour which finds a ready market. He was very soon able to work on his own account. This trade pleased him, as it was not over laborious. He could still indulge his idleness, and that was what he chiefly cared for. He would only take to his work when he could no longer do otherwise; then he would hurriedly plait a dozen baskets and go and sell them in the market. ”

“ Further excavation may reveal that crude, hogan-like structures were in general use at an earlier date than has been realized.
The absence of pottery during Basket Maker times resulted in a widespread use of baskets and, as the name implies, basketry was the major craft. Many of the baskets of this period are superb examples of workmanship and design. Skillfully woven, artistically decorated and gracefully shaped they are outstanding among the basketry of the early Indians. ”

“ It was the basket-maker’s business over again on a larger scale. Chance had put an exceedingly clever hard-working man in my way, and he must be retained so that a steady and profitable trade might be given to the place. There is a constant demand for foot-gear, and a very slight difference in price is felt at once by the purchaser. ”

“ As it was generally understood that a person must be in an excessively critical position before daring to address this high ecclesiastical functionary, one will easily understand the impression upon the neighbours of such an important act upon the part of the basket maker, who was generally known as rather a timid man. We will leave them for a moment discussing their opinions, to follow Dewis, but before all, we must make known to the reader the reasons which had induced the basket maker to take such an important step. ”

“ In drawing95 or weaving the work in and out over the switches they turn to the left hand side and the basket-maker always keeps a basket of water within her reach, and at short intervals dips her hand into the water, moistens the switches and straightens them back into their proper places, thus building the basket up straight. ”

“ It can’t be much of a trade. Anybody can make a basket that has got any Indian suet. I can make as good a basket as anybody.”
“You can make a corn-basket or a clam-basket; but the basket-makers make chairs, and cradles, and carriages, and fishing-creels, and work-stands. It is as much of a trade as a joiner’s or a shoemaker’s. There is more call for basket-work in England than here. ”

“ A bushel may hold a peck more or less, according to the last jump made upon it. The basket-makers are by no means rogues, because the contents can make no difference to them. They turn out strong ware, at a very high price, so many inches in width, and so many in depth, according to tradition. Then they pat it, and pitch it down, and paint the name upon it; and their business ends, except to get their money. And of this they never fail; for the grower, as a rule, grows honesty as his chief, and often only crop. But after that basket’s virgin fill, how many meretricious uses does it undergo! ”

“ Just as the Hurons of Lorette are snowshoe, canoe and moccasin-makers, the Abenakis are sweet-grass basket-makers. And their market? Mais oui—all over Canada—east and west—,{156} north and south, and the United States. Rumour says that the turnover to the village and region from the baskets is in the neighbourhood of $250,000 a year. Men, women and children work at this basket industry. There is no factory. It is all pleasant homework. Women at work sit on their porches. Housewives ply their fingers in the kitchen, picking up the basket, as other women pick up knitting. ”

“ Of necessity it was born, and in its infancy was made into simple forms, but very soon its importance to man was so duly felt and appreciated that new forms took shape, and its uses were so extended that the early basket makers vied with one another in producing pleasing work and in discovering new and various kinds of materials to put into it.
Though the Chinese and Japanese have sent us, for long years, marvelous things of beauty, it is to our American Indian that we owe our debt for beauty and artistry of this industry; for industry it is. ”

“ It is very interesting to watch the small children in their endeavors to make the rougher baskets, and then, as they grow in skill, try the finer work. Pul-a-gas ́-a-a is not more than eight years of age, and yet a basket—kű-ű—she brought to me was one of her own make, and it now occupies a place in my collection. The work is irregular and crude, but shows skill, and if the child has patience to stick to it, in time she will become one of the most accomplished basket makers of the tribe. ”

“ These hoops are then to intersect each other half-way up, one being perpendicular, to form the handle and the bottom of the basket, the other being placed horizontally, to form the rim. More wire will be needed to fix them in their positions. Much finer willow-wands are used to wattle, or weave, the basket-work; ribs of split osiers are added, and the wattling goes in and out among them, and at once secures them and rests upon them. ”

“ 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 ”

“ During practice and ordinary games leave the netting open at the bottom of the basket, that the ball may fall through the basket to the floor or ground beneath, it being difficult for girls to get the ball out of the basket when it is closed at the bottom. Using a pole to push the ball out is not always attended with satisfactory results, and the effort consumes valuable time and strength.
Fig. 626.
The baskets are called the goals; usually they are hammock nets of cord, sometimes metal chain links; they are always suspended from metal rings eighteen inches in diameter (inside) . ”

“ Follow the upset with eleven rows simple weaving. Consider every group of fours as one spoke. With two rows of triple twist in No. 3 reed, separate the groups of fours into groups of twos. Weave twenty-eight rows in simple weaving.
For the sides, take one spoke of each group, pass123 it back of next two groups, bring it down the outside of basket and through the triple twist at base. The spokes will run singly on the outside of the basket, but will pass through the triple twist at the base in groups of twos. ”

“ That the authorities are desirous that a high standard of workmanship be mantained, is evident from the fact that instruction in the art of basket-making is compulsory in the special school established at Mělník by the government. Dealers generally make their purchases during the winter when prices are favourable for the buyer, they often succeed in getting baskets in the cold season at 3 d. ”

“ The basket should then be suspended from a little stick, laid across the top of the jar, in such a manner that both basket and handle will be covered by the solution. It must be set away in a cool place, where not the slightest motion will disturb the formation of the crystals.
The frame may be made in any shape you fancy. It is [104] usually made of small wire, woven in and out like basket-work; but a common willow basket may be used for a frame. Whether it be wire or willow, a rough surface must be produced by winding every part with thread or worsted. ”

“ The importance and influence of basketry is being recognized now and the work is being carried on in earnest. Within the past five years it has made a great jump and in most institutions where manual training has been introduced, basket making has attained a prominent place in the training of the child. ”

“ At last, fearing that the basket-weighing might be ended before he could reach the ginhouse, a half mile distant, he emptied his pick-sack, belted at his waist, into the tall barrel-like basket, tramped the cotton with a few movements of his bare feet, and then kneeling got the basket to his shoulder: he was not used to the balancing on head which seemed natural as breathing to the old hands. ”

“ The work is exceptionally good—a fact not to be wondered at, considering they count amongst their ranks journeymen and cutters from many of the principal West-end houses. The basket-making is exceptionally good, and to a great extent made to the order of the leading shops ”

“ You can buy strawberries in baskets very cheap, partly because the baskets cost very little for labor. The man who tacks them together uses a magnetized tack hammer. This magnetic tack hammer picks up the tacks of its own accord, and the man drives them in the basket as fast as he can touch the magnet to the heads of the tacks and strike the basket. ”

“ When all the darning is done, detach the card-board which forms the bottom, tack the wadding down on one side of it, and cover it on this side with the black satin and netting, and on the other with the black satin only. Now all the framework of the basket is to be entirely covered with the narrow sarsnet ribbon I have given you for the purpose, the short wires being covered, and the ends secured, before the handle, top, and bottom of the frame are done. Stretch the netting which forms the sides very carefully on. ”

“ The close work was better adapted for baskets used in carrying berries. The impacted work was used [180] for baskets for carrying or for holding water. The child should be encouraged to use such a mode of weaving as is best adapted to the use to which he wishes to put the basket. The making of a water-tight basket involves more skill than the child has attained. He can understand, however, how such a basket was made, and the importance of the invention.
Lesson XXX. There are enough suggestions in this lesson to occupy the child for several days. ”

“ Decorative designs in old ceramic ware are derived from the marks left by the basket mould used before the invention of the potter's wheel, and in the willow pattern on old china, and the basket capitals or mouldings of Byzantine architecture, the influence of the basketmaker's art is clearly traceable. Essentially a primitive craft, its relative importance is in inverse ratio to the industrial development of a people. ”

“ Place the baskets in a row on the floor so their numbers cannot be seen.
Choose sides, giving the red checkers to the leader of one side and the black checkers to the other. One side lines up about 10 ft. away from the baskets, the leader giving each player a checker; if there are any left he keeps them and has the privilege of throwing them. Each one in turn throws his checker into any basket, trusting to luck that they fall into a basket with a number on it.
When all have played the leader turns up each basket to see its number and counts the number of checkers thrown into it. ”

“ The Indian box-and-basket trick was for a long time a mystery even among magicians, and now it puzzles astute people to understand how the young man or young woman who has been tied in a sack and placed under lock and key in a wicker basket on top of a box not only locked and sealed but tied in all directions with stout rope, can get out of the sack and basket and into the box within very few minutes. ”

“ Place the ends of the handle through the border, down about 21⁄2 or 3 inches in the weaving. Measure 7 inches, from the border of the basket, up the handle. Beginning here, with fine No. 1 reed, make a continuation coil around the handle of basket until it is 7 inches from the end of the handle on the opposite side. Now separate each piece of reed, and in simple weaving, weave the remainder of the handle over one spoke, under one, until it is 11⁄2 inches from border of basket. Fasten the end of the weaver up between the weaving. ”

“ As this nerve-racking music holds the spectators under its awful spell, the basket begins to rock, the contortionist-subject gradually raises himself inside the basket, and when the noise is at its height he straightens up in the basket and raises it with his back as far as it will go. ”

“ The above is the form in which the trick was first introduced to the London public, but another modus operandi has since been adopted by some performers. The low table or bench on which the basket is placed is in this case constructed on the principle of the Sphinx-table, with looking-glass between the legs, and with a large trap in the top. The basket used is not made like the inexhaustible box, but the bottom is moveable, and hinged against the front, so as to lift up flat against it when required. One lady only is employed. ”