In my younger years, there were two things which led my focus to basket-weaving. One was my interest as a Boy Scout in Native American culture, though back in those days we called them American Indians. The other was getting an Easter basket at Easter. My grandfather and father didn’t use baskets for farm work, they used metal foot tubs, metal wash tubs, and metal and wooden buckets.
Easter baskets were usually flimsy, though they were made of natural materials (no plastic baskets back then).
In Boy Scouts, we learned about Native American tribes, and how they made such things as arrow heads and splendid baskets. I learned that the Cherokees and numerous other tribes used cane or river cane to weave their baskets. The Navajos used sumac, and the Mayas used pine needles of all things!
In recent years baskets appeared on store shelves made of plastic or nylon or some other faux material, but most folks who love baskets want the “real thing.” And today, the “real thing” is available from many sources, including from the Amish communities.
When I did a little research on the “real thing.” I was amazed at how many different kinds of real things are used! I learned the short list from the Boy Scouts and the brief basket-weaving course I took at a summer camp. My list of natural basket-weaving materials comes from a combination of about six sources.
Hold on to your hat because here comes the list: cane, mulberry, willow, cottonwood, devil’s claw, sumac, pine needles, palmetto, African bamboo, broom sedge, corn husk, corn stalks, wheat and rye straw, twigs, and rushes. And that is only a partial list.
Unfortunately, I am not talented at crafts, patience is not one of my virtues. There are, of course, some basic techniques for basket weaving, and you only have to learn one. Some weavers talk about 5 Basic Techniques, others talk about 3, but whether 5 or 3, there are variations on each of these techniques, which make it look like you could have 9 or 10.
Here are the 5 Basic weaving techniques I learned about: (1) plaiting, (2) coiling, (3) twining, (4) rib basketry, and (5) twill or twilling. One technique is called “plain weaving,” but I don’t know if that is one of the five listed.
I know you are going to want to ask me which one of those 5 techniques I used in my basket-weaving class. First of all, unlike most of the others in the class, my basket was not the size of an Easter basket nor the size of a fishing basket. No, it was about 4 inches in diameter, about 3 inches high, and a handle taking it another two inches. One could serve after-dinner mints in it!
As to which technique I used, either I don’t remember or I used no technique. That’s why I call it an example of “plain weaving.” If you need a class in basket weaving, I’m obviously not the one to call!
Ray Spitzenberger is a retired WCJC teacher, a retired LCMS pastor, and author of three books, It Must Be the Noodles, Open Prairies, and Tanka Schoen.