Posts

Creative Activities to Practice

/2 Comments/in , /by

I am glad so many of you enjoyed my thoughts on Creativity and Excellence.  And now, as promised, here are some of the things you can do to encourage creativity. These are things I do – things I practise. It is not a list of rules, it is a decision to learn and to grow and to make things – this is my life.  I hope you will find some of these practices helpful.

Surround yourself with books and patterns, your favorite baskets, art, color and just enough weaving material to make your hands itchy to weave. Books inspire me. A table with a project in process or reed in a variety of beautiful colors make me want to touch. Beautiful things make me smile.

Read more

October Classes and Color

/0 Comments/in /by

Well, October has come and gone. My month started with a trip west to see family. The Bighorns in Wyoming were snow covered, brilliant colored aspen and birch trees  lined the valleys in Montana and the sugar beet harvest was in full swing in Alberta. I was thankful for clear roads and time with people I love.

  

Then it was home and time for October classes. Read more

Twining a Round Base

/9 Comments/in /by

There are a couple of ways to weave a round base on a basket. Today, I am posting my tutorial on how to twine a perfectly round base with round reed on flat or flat oval spokes. I took lots of pictures and I am just going to start at the very beginning. I will post some pictures of baskets with twined round bases at the end of the post.

Read more

How to use Clips – Weaving the First Rows of a Basket

/11 Comments/in /by

Today I am going to talk about one of our favorite tools and using them effectively. Clips.  

When I tell students to get out their clips, some pull out their old faithful wooden clothes pins and others pull out a wide array of clips and ask which ones are best. 🙂 Like many of you, I have a variety of clips, wooden clothes pins work for almost anything, but sometimes you need something smaller.

CLIPSAnd when you are a basket teacher you accumulate all kinds of clips – this is what was on my weaving table today! The bottom line is, almost any clip can be used, the important thing is to learn to use them effectively. Read more

Locking the Base – Part II

/3 Comments/in /by

Another way to weaving a locking row

I have two favorite locking rows: the sanity row and the locked locking row.   You can read about the sanity row and other ways to lock your base here.

Today we’ll focus on what I call the ‘locked locking row‘- which is a locked four rod or three rod wale row. This is a technique often used in willow or round reed baskets, but it also works nicely in a basket that uses a variety of material. It’s one of my favorites for a few reasons: Read more

Basket Weaving with …

/2 Comments/in /by

Asher.  Asher is six and would probably tell you what he loves most is to play Minecraft. But his Oma (me), doesn’t play Minecraft so this month we wove a basket together.  It was lots of fun for both of us. His mom said I could share a few pictures with you. Read more