Back on track

Basket-making is theraputic. After the disappointment of warped plywood, I settled down and made two more trays and a trivet. One tray, pictured with the flowers, used a 12" by 12" laminate base, and the other a small but useable piece of that warped plywood. That small tray is shown here in what I call "wine red" basketry edging, while Anne calls it Peptobismal Pink.

I also made a trivet with a marble insert on a small laminate base.

Aaagh!

After extolling the virtues of Lee Valley and its Finnish birch plywood, the last batch proved to be not suitable for the tray bases. This plywood was warped. The first tray base I worked on was 9" by 12" and was reasonably flat. The photograph shows the finished tray. The next tray I finished was 12" by 16" and did not turn out well at all. The base was too warped. It was so badly warped I could not put it among my sale items.

I took the plywood sheets and the remaining warped bases back to Lee Valley. They accepted the returns and refunded my money. The only sheets they had in stock were also badly warped.

I have since visited another supplier of plywood, "The Wood Source" near Manotick, some 30 kms from home. There they recommended 1/4" plywood as providing a more solid base with little chance of warping. I will try again.

Tray making

Today I finished preparing the tray/trivet bases. The first photograph shows these after each had been cut to size, had holes drilled at one inch intervals around their perimiters, and after each had been sanded. The sanding blocks, numbered "1", "2" and "3", have sandpaper with finer and finer grits as one moves from 1 to 3.

Two potential trivets are also shown in this photograph with their marble tile inserts.

Photograph #2 shows one of the selected tray bases after it had been given a light coating of beeswax. This non-toxic finishing coat is widely used for finishing salad bowls and other wood products. It gives a nice sheen to the tray surface and brings out the grain. Its gives the tray base a warm feeling.

This particular tray base had forty holes drilled around its perimiter. Photograph #3 shows the tray with forty stakes placed through these holes in readiness for the weaving process. In photograph #4, the tray base is secured with these stakes by going "in front of one then behind one and over the previous stake end."

The last photograph shows the tray base in readiness for the weaving.

Photographs of the finished trays will come in the next blog. Be patient!

Rube Goldberg Lives!

Rube Goldberg lives again in my basement work area in Kanata!.

Rube Goldberg was, among other things, a cartoonist who illustrated very elaborate and convoluted ways to achieve simple tasks. When I begin to make simple trays with basket edging, Rube Goldberg lives again. My table saw becomes converted into a Rube Goldberg type of contraption just to keep the plywood steady as I cut it to size. The highly magnetized Feather Board (shown in yellow) is attached to the saw fence. This reduces the chattering as the plywood is passed through the saw blade and gives a nice, smooth cut. However, before I secure the Feather Board I have to ensure that the 3mm thick plywood does not ride below the saw fence. This fence sits more than 3mm above the bed of the table saw. Hence the large square that is secured to the fence with two clamps. This square sits solidly on the table bed. Very Goldbergian.

After I cut the plywood to size, I then mark where I will drill holes around the circumference of each proto-base, marking drilling sites at every inch. I then use my drill press and drill all these marked places. For a 12" by 12" base this entails 48 holes being drilled. Before I bought the drill press I did this by hand. Drilling holes for up to twenty bases at a time, and over 600 holes, was quite wearing on the wrists.

Tomorrow's stage, after I complete drilling all the holes for the prepared bases, will be to sand the bases and to give each a coat of beeswax. The actual basket-making, putting on the basketry edge to the tray bases, is the last and shortest step in making a tray.

The same processes are followed in preparing the bases for the trivets I make.

Back to the blog

Wednesday through Sunday were not good days. Stomach flu (non-Mexican) laid me low. Anne was a bit pointed in her remarks today when I got up early and joined my golfing buddies and walked eighteen holes without problems. "A remarkable recovery", she says.

The garden beckons too. I had planned to purchase some five-ply plywwod from Lee Valley last week. This makes excellent tray bases and is to be the subject matter of the next two or three blogs. I might have a chance of purchasing the plywood tomorrow, but there are other tasks too.

Lee Valley is an Ottawa based company which makes excellent products for gardeners and woodworkers. Non-Ottawans should google "Lee Valley" and check out their on-line catalogue.

Willows in early spring

The first photograph show one of the species of willow I grow, a red twigged willow. This is good for winter interest as its bark colours stand out well in the snow. It is not so good for basket-making as its "whips" are often too branchy.

The second picture shows a "stool" of "basket willow", a species I bought from the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington, Ontario. Each fall or spring I cut down the willow to a height of around six inches. The willow then grows back with double the number of shoots until a mound or stool of shoots is created. This species of willow grows annually to a height of around nine feet. Its "whips" are not too branchy and I use it for the hoops of my rib and fanny baskets. A six to eight foot whip when twisted around itself in a circle makes an excellent hoop.

The willow from this stool was cut down last fall as "brown" willow, that is willow with its bark on. Some of it is stored in my basement studio as hoops for future baskets. The willow I cut down in the spring, after the first flush of leaves has occured, can be made into "white" willow, that is willow with its bark removed to expose its white flesh. This process of stripping the willow can only be done easily at that time. My studio storage area contains lots of white willow too.

The third picture shows a Japanese species of willow that is excellent for the ribs I use in rib and fanny baskets. It grows to a height of around six feet and features many slim whips with no branching.

Catkins are appearing and a few tiny leaves. I will have to be patient for a few more days before I can begin stripping the willow.

Victorian Shopping Basket: finished product

It took me about three hours this morning to finish this Victorian Shopping Basket, much less time than I expected.

This basket has a background of Earth Tones (natural, brown and tan) with highlights in blue and pink. Its Victorian character comes with the pink "flowers" and the blue "leaves" that decorate the body as well as the brown "scollops" that decorate the border. To see a close-up of these features, click on the photographs to enlarge them.

Another feature is the "Swing" handle. This is a hardwood handle finished with a light coating of beeswax to add to its luster.

It is a basket to place on display or one to use on those very special shopping excursions.

An English Shopper: Victorian style

Today I began work on a Victorian style English Shopping Basket. The first photograph shows the rounds of cane ready to be untied and then woven along with the cane I dyed earlier. The Book in the photograph is a basket-making book by Lyn Siler, one of a half-dozen or so I use.

In the second photograh, I have begun to weave the base, weaving natural and dyed cane together. The tile and green marble slab provide the weight to keep the horizontal weavers steady while I interweave the vertical strands. The tile and the marble will become inserts sometime in the future for trivets.

The third photograph show the base after it had been trued to size. The tape measure is a handy tool in this process. The ruler forms a straight edge against which I score the cane at the edges of the base. The pizza cutter is the scoring tool, with scoring done on both the top and bottom of the base.

Photograph #4 shows the basket with several rows of the vertical weavers in place. The open book shows the model I am embellishing. Again, you will note the high-tech handy-half-house brick used as a weight in the weaving process!

Photograph #5 show three rows of "curls" to give some of that Victorian feel to the basket. (Yesterday I visited an etsy forum where people promote their items. One promotion was for items as gifts for men. I do not think this basket with its pink or wine coloured curls would fit in that promotion.)

This basket to this stage took about four hours of work, interrupted by shopping, lunch, and an English Premier League soccer game between Liverpool and Arsenel (4 -4.)

Tomorrow I will continue working on this beautiful basket. Later in the week, I will begin working on two or three models of a hanging tray as propotypes for a custom order request I received today.

Two steps forward, one step back

Its very useful having an ex-programmer in the household. After my unsuccessful attempts to register for Google's Web Analytics, Anne succeeded. I can now see a range of data about the visits to my shop. What words did they use in their searches? Where did they come from? How long did they stay? How many pages of my shop did they look at? And so on. Since the data today only refers to one day's visit, I have not learned much about the traffic to my site. But as the weeks go on, I might learn enough to tweak elements to encourage more traffic, and, hopefully, sales.

Later today, I will also check to see if registering was successful on that Google shopping site.

We have been unsuccessful in registering this blog on the Technorati site. (When I say "We" this means Anne met and did not overcome the same roadblock that I encountered.) That roadlock seems to be one met by many people trying to register their blogs on this site according to a site forum. We might give up on this or continue to monitor the forum for any breakthroughs.

Another step back came with the news that my basket-making class next Saturday with the Ottawa Valley Weavers ' and Spinners' Guild has been cancelled due to insufficient registrants. That does free me to take Adrian to a huge garage sale. And, I will be able to attend the dress rehearsal for the upcoming Annual Church Show that celebrates 40 years of the church as well as 40 years of Seseme Street.

Google product search

Today I was browsing the Business Topics on Etsy's Forum pages when I came across: "Get into Google's "Shopping" search results - use Google Base." It went on to say "It only takes 10 minutes - so don't just bookmark this thread - try it now." I tried it, and 30 or so minutes later, with Anne's help, I succeeded. (Steps 1 to 10 went fine, but step 11 was a bummer.)

When you enter Google, you will notice the "shopping" link at the top of the Google search page. Have you noticed "Shopping results for XXXX" at the top of the Google search results? To have your shop items show up in these specialised results you need to upload your items to Google's free advertising program, called "Google Base." The article on the Business Topics Forum linked to the step-by-step process to get included in that "shopping" search base.

This base gets your items into their product search results, not their regular search results.

Mother's Day Special

For the Mother's Day Special visit my etsy shop at www.JohnToftBasketry.etsy.com.

Mother's Day Special

At my etsy shop, I am offering a Mother's Day Special if a buyer purchases a sewing basket on or before May 1st. Then the purchaser can choose one of my trays and have that included as a free gift.

Shipping costs: a conundrum.

Last night I spent over an hour on my etsy shop site changing information about shipping costs. For the last two weeks I had a shop announcement for potential customers to contact me about shipping costs for articles selling at $30.00 or more. This announcement was a copy of a similar one I saw. I had not established actual costs for shipping my buky but lightweight baskets.

On reading etsy material, I realised I was putting an unnecessary barrier between me and a potential customer by asking them to contact me. I then checked out a variety of sellers of wicker baskets and established a pattern of their shipping costs, with the variable being the sizes of the baskets. I then changed all my costs to reflect those of other sellers, changed my shop announcement and my shop policies to reflect this change. Time will tell if this starategy helps.

Catherine Gutsche: artist.

My introduction to the on-line marketing system called "etsy" and to blogging came via an artist friend, Catherine Gutsche. Catherine invited me to join etsy and then challenged me to blog. Recently she added photographs of three of my baskets to her blog after asking me for the code from which to do this. That was another task in itself, finding, copying and pasting that code! Today, curtesy of Anne, three examples of Catherine's work are added to my blog as well as a link to her etsy shop. Look, browse and enjoy.

A satisfied customer

Wanda came to pick up her basket today. She was very excited by its appearance, size and shape. Her sister will visiting her this weekend and Wanda will show of her custom-made basket.

A day to reflect

Today is a non-basket-making day. Its a day to get out into the garden. Its a day to plan more detail about our one week holiday with our autistic adult son the last week in May when we go with him to Westerly, Rhode Island. Its a day to wait for a response from the registrar of the Ottawa Valley Weavers' and Spinners' Guild about whether or not there are enough registrants for my basket-making class scheduled for a week on Saturday.

Wanda's basket is drying nicely. The Danish oil gives it a faint sheen and an arometic odour. I have invited Wanda over for the "reveal" on Friday afternoon. I hope to include a photograph of a satisfied customer and basket later that day in this blog.

Today is also the day I placed one of my baskets, a fanny basket, on the etsy housewares showcase. I hope to turn "views" into sales through that marketing medium. I am considering placing one of the vintage charm bracelets onto a vintage showcase early in May too.

This marketing takes time! Other suggestions as to how to engender sales are most welcome.

The finished products: Wanda's basket and its twin

Wanda's basket appears in the first image. Its barrel shape and its earth tones are a reflection of what can be accomplished with rattan cane. The second image shows its twin, dressed up so as to be distinguishable from its sibling. The patterns are different as is the mix of earth tones and the texture and style of the decorative braiding. Its shape also reflects the different personality of that twin. (As a twin myself, personality and style differences are very important.)

The third image shows the twins together. Their family resemblance is clearly seen as are their indiosyncratic differences. The smaller twin will apear later today on my etsy shop site.

Waiting patiently

I have finsihed the not identicle twin to Wanda's basket and am waiting patiently for it to dry. Then I will add a linseed oil finish to both. Then I can show you the finished products, and add the twin to my etsy shop for sale. This should happen tomorrow.

In upcoming blogs I will address other topics about basket-making such as:

White, buff and brown willow.

Propagating willow.

Stripping willow.

The history behind buff willow.

Harvesting grapvines.

Using a fettucini cutter.

Panier pour ma belle fille.

Basketry books.

Visiting basketry suppliers.

Visiting other basket-makers.

Shipping baskets to customers.

Basket-making classes, etc.

Wanda's basket: almost done

Wanda's basket is complete except for a finishing coating of polymerised linseed oil (Danish Oil.) The non-identiacal twin basket will be complted today or tomorrow before the linseed oil is added. I hope linseed oil is not a cat nip delight!

Wanda's basket: penultimate stage

The afternnon session went well. The lower bands of flat cane were removed successfully and replaced in a pleasing pattern. Three-rod arrow pattern frames the two bands of braid. The pattern of the lower band is repeated in the upper band, while the middle band is a solid brown.

I am quite pleased with the result. On Sunday or Monday I will add the lid.

One step forward, two steps back

After a vist today to the dentist for a regular check-up, I will be revisiting Wanda's basket. I am not satisfied with the "twill" pattern weaving in the first section of flat cane weaving. I think I can remove it and replace it with a more solid type of weave without having to undo all the rest I have woven. (The present weave is too open and not as solid feeling as I want.)

I base this optimistic view that I can replace it on an experience I had during a exhibition and sale event in Almonte. There a customer really liked one of my trays, but wanted flat cane dyed green instead of the brown flat cane that it featured. Fortunately, I was demonstrating how to make a basket and had some of the green cane with me. I carefully removed the two rows of brown and replaced them with green. Sale made!

I hope for the same success this afternoon.

Progress on Wanda's basket

In the first photograph, you can see the first several rows of the upsett. Some of the tools of basket-making are also shown. From left to right these are: snips, needle nose pliers, bead wire cutters, an awl, a ruler, tape measure and the half housebrick.

The second picture shows progress in the first segement of weaving with flat cane in a twill pattern.

The last blog did not turn out the way I expected

The last blog about Wanda's basket did not turn out the way I expected. The posted blog has a different format than the one I created. Next time I will select "small" for the photographs rather than medium. Then the text will not be scrunched up!

Wanda's basket: continued

Cane in soak: To work the cane it must be wet. I soak it in my wash tub for a few seconds to a few minutes depending on its thickness. The rocks and half-housebrick are some of the high tech tools of basket-making.

Four through five: for Wanda's basket I started by threading four 10" cane lengths through five 10" lengths. (I use an awl or bodkin to split the cane.)


Why this number? The designs I will use on the basket sides need a total number of side stakes that are divisible by two, three and four. The nine starting pieces have 18 ends. When I add two side stakes per end, the total number is 36.

Weaving the base: I weave three rounds with two weavers around the cross. I then begin to separate the stakes, separating the fours into two sections, and the fives into two, one and two as shown. After three more rounds I separate every stake.

Adding the side stakes: When the base reached 10" in diameter, I added two side stakes on each side of the initial stakes. I then wove with three weavers to create a different pattern until the base measured 12" in diameter.

Creating the "Upsett": Using needle nose pliers, I crushed each side cane as close to the edge of the base as possible. This enables me to create the "upsett" without breaking the cane. With the handy housebrick as a weight, I bent the side canes until they were close to verticle and tied them together. I could then begin to weave the sides.

(To be continued.)

Dyed Cane Lots: a photograph

These are the cane skeins I dyed last week. From left to right are: wine colour, Navy blue, brown then tan.

Wanda's basket: introduction.

Wanda's Basket:

My across-the-street neighbour has asked me to make and design a custom basket for her. (Wanda was born the year Anne and I were married, so she always knows which particular anniversary is coming up.) When she visited my Studio, she was very exact in what she wants. The basket has to be 18" high, twice the height of my sewing baskets. It has to be barel shaped, and 12" across at its base and top. Its lid must fit over the top rim so it is cat proof. Wanda's family has two cats. One, the most people freindly cat I have ever met, Winston, would live in the basket if it was accessible.

The body has to be natural cane but with light brown and dark brown earth-tone patterns, designs and textures. An earth-tone braid should also be used in decoration. And its lid must have a special ceramic knob.

I agreed to these requests. The customer is always right! But I said while I was making this custom design for Wanda I would also make a similar one (not identical) to put on my etsy shop.

(Last week's episode of dyeing cane was in response to Wanda's request. The tan and brown dyes were used to make her chosen colours available.)

Over the next two weeks I will describe the processes of making Wanda's basket. And, as suggested by one of the blog followers, I will try to add photographs to this blog to show what I am doing.

My etsy website

In my first blog I inadvertantly added a space before .com in my etsy web address. The proper address is www.JohnToftBasketry.etsy.com. That should work now.

Dyeing: using the bar-b-cue

Often I am asked at Studio Tours or Exhibitions and Sales, "Do you dye your own cane?" The answer is, "Yes." The question that then follows is "How?" The answer, "I dye on my bar-b-cue."

After lighting the bar-b-cue, I place my wash bucket, containing two pails of water on it. I add Rit dye of a selected colour and then place the selected skein of rattan cane into the mixture. (Rubber gloves are essential unless you want to be a charter member of the Black Hand Gang.)

I ensure the skein is fully immersed and that all parts of the cane get dyed. This involves swishing it, turning it over several times, and thoroughly enjoying the process.

The skein is removed and hung to drip. (Last week when I dyed about a dozen different skeins the decking was wet following an overnight rain. A quick mopping ensured the deck was not dyed too.) Other skeins of different cane size, flat and round, were then dyed the selected colour. The dye vat was emptied and a new colour selected.

When all the cane chosen had been dyed, I then soak each skein in cold salt water to set the dye. Then I rinse in clean water an hang to dry.

I learned that dyeing on the bar-b-cue is much more fun than dyeing on the kitchen stove. I no longer have to spend as much time cleaning as I did dyeing.

My first blog

WELCOME TO MY FIRST BLOG.

Basket-making is my passion since I retired from teaching in 1998. My baskets reflect the traditions of English weavers and designers and American weavers and designers. They combine my English heritage, since I was born and raised in England, with the North American heritage of my adopted land, Canada.

You can see these influences on my on-line shop at www.JohnToftBasketry.etsy .com.