I have learned two things about basket weaving in the last five/six hours. You must do one or the other.
- Follow the basket weaving directions to the letter.
- OR abandon the basket weaving directions completely.
Here’s where I apologize to Lyn Siler. Lyn is the author of the book I used today. Lyn’s Flat-Bottom Egg Basket is beautiful.
MY Flat-Bottom Egg Basket is ….. is…… well, I think you could put eggs in it. :-D
One of the first and important steps was to assemble two hoops – one would provide the handle & the other would provide the top rim of the basket. It was important that the handle hoop be on the outside when they were fastened together. To assure this, we were to put our initials on the inside bottom of the vertical (handle) hoop. I did that. The reason is so the handle hoop will not be able to move. It was after I became so engrossed in weaving the “ears” on the sides of the handle, that I forgot about the “initials.” Oopsie. ;-) And after the ears were woven & the basket weaving started, I saw the initials on the side of the horizontal hoop. ;-) I left it that way. Sorry, Lyn. I promise to do it right next time. Here’s what it looked like at that stage. 
The thing about a ribbed basket is that you are supposed to add ribs as you weave. I found this to be more difficult that I thought it would be. In fact. I had a few ribs that I trimmed. And a few ribs that I stuck in at random…and a few ribs left over. Sorry Lyn. I’m determined to do it right the next time.
It was at this point that I completely abandoned the instructions. Obviously this is not recommended. When I finished the weaving of the basket, I was tempted to leave off any trim that was to be around the top of the basket. However, having nothing to lose at this point and all to gain, I added the trim. I’m rather pleased with the trim.
Tomorrow I will stain the basket with a coffee/tea concoction, as I like the richness those colors that add. Plus maybe all the mistakes won’t be so noticeable.
Post Script: I need to add that these photos were shot with my beloved Nikkor 85mm 1.4. I dearly love how fast that little lens is in low light & also the delicious bokeh (shallow depth of field = blurry background.) OH, and the top banner shot was done with it as well.
Update: FYI, this basket was chopped to shreds last night…and re-woven. You may see the new one here.
Beautiful. Simply beautiful.
Thank you so much, Nancy. That’s very kind of you. However, I’m a better photographer than a weaver, so I carefully hid the horrible mistakes. ;-)
I have since taken the basket apart and started over. It’s now 75% finished & I’m feeling better about it, even though I was still unable to get all the ribs in. I’ll figure that out someday. ;-)
Thank you again for your YouTube videos! That’s so kind of you and so very helpful.
[...] October 12, 2010 by Lela Bouse-McCracken This basket weaver was more than a trifle unhappy with the previously posted flat-bottom basket. [...]
Lela, I love the rim treatment you gave to your flat-bottom basket, it looks great! Would love to meet you at the Oklahoma Basket Weavers Retreat sometime, I usually propose my antler baskets, you’d LOVE them!
Come visit my basket blog that I’ve just recently moved from Blogger.com to my own website. Lots of basket hints, tips and care articles on the site, too.
Happy Weaving! The Wicker Woman-Cathryn Peters
http://www.WickerWoman.com/articles/basket-care
Hi Cathryn – thanks so much. I appreciate you stopping by. I would love to see your antler baskets. I’ve made a couple of them and they are really a challenge!
Here’s a link to photos of some of my baskets. One of my antler baskets is there. Thanks again!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/that_owl/sets/72157625284906510/
Edited to say: LOL! You beat me to the flickr link. :-)