Basket weaving

“ Inasmuch as there is a great demand for reed furniture and since good weavers are comparatively few in number, it would be well to learn the process of reed weaving. The weaving operations can be learned much better through the construction of some small article, such as a basket or jardinière cover. The center is the most difficult part of the basket making, and it is best to begin with wood bottoms, as the whole basket can be kept in a much better form due to the stiffness furnished by such a bottom. ”

“ 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. ”

“ After the spokes are separated with the raffia, begin the weaving, and weave until a base three inches is woven, then weave two rows with a weaver of the tan reed. This completes the bottom of the basket. Wet the spokes well and with a plier press them hard and turn them up. With the same weaver continue the weaving until seven rows42 have been woven up the side. During the weaving hold the spokes firmly and straight. Change the weave now to the natural color and work twelve rows, then with another ring of tan reed complete the weaving of the basket with nine rows. ”

“ Continue weaving until the basket is three inches high, or until about one and a half inches of [Pg 78] spokes is left for the border. Finish the edge by turning down the spokes as in the edge of the mat, or bend them down flat with the edge of the basket. Take any spoke, as No. 1, bring from right to left over No. 2, then No. 2 over No. 3, and so on until the ends of all the spokes are turned to the inside of the basket. Keep both basket and weaver well dampened while weaving. After the basket is finished press it into shape while still damp. ”

“ Dye your reeds, put all the bright colors you like into your baskets, and see if they are not much prettier and more substantial than the so-called “Indian work.” Red, blue, green, yellow, black, purple—a butterfly’s wing need not be gayer nor an old-time work-basket more useful. Large, small, medium-sized, deep or shallow—only one’s desire need determine the question.
Materials for Weaving A variety of materials are adapted to basket-weaving, but the most substantial baskets are made of reeds. When the principle is mastered you may use anything you choose which will lend itself to the work. ”

“ In pairing, weave with No. 2 green reed, twenty-three rows. Insert 19 spokes and weave three rows triple No. 3 green. Follow this with forty-one rows green reed, in single weaving, and three rows No. 4 brown reed, in triple. Complete with the rope border.
The spokes should be held straight and firm until101 three inches of weaving are finished; then the ends are spread out and bent down towards the base of basket until the rest of the weaving is completed, Fig. 45.
When completed the sides should measure seven inches.
Handle.
Push the ends of handle well down amid the weaving. ”

“ The children would say to their mother, (Calk) “Why don’t you straighten the switches on your basket?” She would always reply, “Never mind, that is alright”, and tell them to stop talking so much about her basket weaving. She kept on weaving baskets in this manner until all of her children had grown up into man and womanhood.
One evening as the twilight was fast gathering into darkness, she was sitting working on her baskets as usual, with her basket material around her, she simply said, “My time has come, my husband is waiting for me.” ”

“ The Indians of South America weave baskets equally useful from the fronds of the Carnahuba and other palms. The Kaffirs and Hottentots of South Africa are similarly skilful in using the Ilala reed and the roots of plants; while the Abyssinians and the tribes of Central Africa display great adroitness in the art of basket-weaving. ”

“ 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. ”

“ There were two techniques for weaving baskets, twining and plaiting, though there were probably enough variations upon these basic techniques that not all baskets looked alike to the casual observer. Twined basketry was the more common type at the time that the Europeans arrived in New England. The baskets of “Hempe and Rushes” that Wood describes were probably made by this technique. [165] The manufacture of twined basketry involves wrapping a horizontal weft element, the hemp in this case, around what is usually a more rigid warp, the bulrushes. ”

“ We can make one clear distinction between basketry and cloth, for the latter is formed by the weaving of spun or twisted materials. It is therefore made of string, or yarn. We have noted that some knowledge of thread-making is universal among mankind, but it is otherwise with the weaving of cloth. Such weaving in the New World may be comprehended under two designations: loom weaving and finger weaving, or upward weaving and downward weaving. In the loom, the weaver begins at the bottom and builds the fabric upward, driving the weft home with a downward stroke ”

“ The better grades of fiber yarns are extremely tough and long wearing, giving the finished rug a tough, long-wearing surface. Also they are finer than the grass fibers, giving a thinner, less heavy feel, but increasing the cost because of the additional labor involved and the increased number of picks. Three basic weaves are used to give variety:
The basket weave.—In this 2-, 3-, and 4-weft or filler, yarns are shuttled across the loom between each raising and lowering of the warp. This produces a weave resembling the broad, flat weave of a market basket. ”

“ Lesson XXIX. If the child has made splints and has already tried to weave them into baskets, he will readily see that the women got a variety in their weaving through the use of splints of different width. He may find it to his advantage to sort his splints, putting those of the same width together. The relation of the different styles of weaving to the need which caused them to be invented should be emphasized. Economy of time and material led primitive people to use the open style of interlacing for baskets intended for carrying coarse materials. ”

“ The felt and paper mats prepare the way for loom-weaving; the free paper weaving, and the slats and splints for basketry. A few suggestions on the use [Pg 24] of the slats and splints have been given for two reasons: First, for the training which they afford in dexterity and great delicacy of touch, to say nothing of exemplary patience; and second, because the preliminary training for basketry should be given in the lower primary grades. The time necessary to train clumsy fingers can hardly be taken from the regular work in grades where basketry is a prescribed course. ”

“ 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. ”

“ There was no pottery of any kind in central or northern California.
The art of basketry included also a third type—loose or open weaving, sometimes of tules. The latter were also used extensively for making mats for a variety of purposes. Open weaving at other times was done with willow withes, split juniper twigs, or of another material tentatively identified as hazel. Fish traps, carrying baskets, some storage baskets, and bags were not infrequently of this type of construction. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Spinning and weaving are interdependent. Baskets are made of woody rods, cane splints, root fibers, or straws, all untwisted, but it is probable that the ability to twist cordage is about equally old as basketry. ”

“ In weaving with the draw loom two persons are required—the weaver, who works over the ground treadles, throws the shuttle, beats up the weft, &c.; and the drawboy, who takes the lashes in succession as he draws them down by the bridle, and by pulling out the simples raises the harness and holds it in this position till the weaver has worked as many shots as are required to be given to each draught. ”

“ They bound the rims on neatly, so as to make the baskets strong.
But for a long time they did not try to ornament their baskets.
They wove their baskets so carefully that they were beautiful without ornaments.
At first they wove each woof strand under and over each strand of the warp.
Then they began to weave each woof strand over one and under two.
“At first they wove each woof strand under and over each strand of the warp” This made such a pretty pattern that they tried other ways of weaving. ”

“ 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. ”

“ As it was impossible to unwrap the yarn and test it throughout its length, defects were hidden until it came to be used, and the complaints of weavers were not conclusive as to the inferiority of the yarn, since their own bad workmanship might have had something to do with its having proved unsatisfactory. It was therefore found best to saddle the weaver with full responsibility for both the spinning and weaving. Women and children cleaned, carded and spun the cotton-wool in their homes. ”

“ Mothers carry their babes curiously in baskets. They make a wicker board by plaiting willows and sew a buckskin cloth to either edge, and this is fulled in the middle so as to form a sack closed at the bottom. At the top they make a wicker shade, like "my grandmother's sunbonnet," and wrapping the little one in a wild-cat robe, place it in the basket, and this they carry on their backs, strapped over the forehead, and the little brown midgets are ever peering over their mothers' shoulders. In camp, they stand the basket against the trunk of a tree or hang it to a limb. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Black Ash is the wood chosen for basketry splints by the Ojibwe. While our Wisconsin Indians are skilled at basket making, their product is more useful than highly ornamental. If they had the yucca leaves, the devil’s claw fiber, the sumac twigs, the bunch grass, and the other splendid basketry fibers of the southwestern Indians, no doubt they would make equally fine baskets. The Wisconsin Indians exercise possibly more ingenuity in gathering and preparing their basketry material. ”