A round tray with elephant gray basket edging.

Earlier in the month a retired teacher from Pakenham dropped off basketry supplies she no longer had any use for. Among the supplies were several predrilled bases. This afternoon, I used one of these after I had sanded it and added a coating of beeswax.






The round cane, dyed Elephant Gray, fitted nicely through the predrilled holes to form the stakes. I used round and flat can then as weavers, adding black pony beads as handles.

The overall result looks pretty good. I added the tray to the inventory in my Etsy shop.

Custom orders

In the last few days I received two custom orders. The first was from Anne, my wife, for a tray type of basket that had to be six inches high so the contents could not be seen when sitting. The photo here shows the finished basket. It has the Anne Seal of Approval. (The home pictured in the background was our home in Red Lake.)


The second custom order was mailed to the buyer earlier today.

I received a "convo" (Etsy speak for an email over the Etsy network) asking if the basket shown on my Etsy shop with red beads could be changed to have brown beads. As you can see the answer was yes. I soaked the basket for a few minutes, undid the weaving until I could remove the red beads, replaced them with the brown ones, rewove, and it was done.

LoveTaryn: a talented Etsian.

One of the joys of Etsy is "meeting" many other talented Etsians on line and in chat groups. Recently I came across the beautiful work of Taryn Law in an Etsy chat group. I was so impressed that I asked Taryn to become a featured artist on this blog. As you will see she agreed.

Taryn writes:

My name is Taryn Law. I grew up right outside Chattanooga, Tennessee in a little town called Oolteweh. I moved to South Carolina in 1989 and currently reside in the lovely city of Aiken. I just started going back to school full-time. I am a Communications major with a track in Public relations. I love this field for it embraces my creativity and encourages me to use it to the best of my abilities. I enjoy doing anything that requires me to use my hands. I even find it more enjoyable when I can walk away from a project with a bit of paint, glue and sawdust on my clothes.

In February of this year, I was laid off from my job due to the economic crisis. As crazy as it might sound, it's the BEST thing that's ever happened to me! The job was far from rewarding and required all my time and energy. I never had time for myself or to work on the things I loved most. The day after I became unemployed I got down to working on my Etsy shop! I have always been a huge fan of Etsy but only recntly began selling my basket purses here. (The photographs that accomany this blog show three examples of Taryn's basket purses.) So far I have enjoyed every minute of it! I have met so many wondeful artists and have received so much support and encouraging feedback from so many talented folks.

The idea of the basket purses began a little over a year ago. I am a HUGE fan of the folk artist, Enid Collins. I always loved the basket purses of CaroNan. I collect Enid Collins handbags and had a ton of extra original jewels that I had acquired over the years and decided to make an Enid Collins inspired purse for myself. (See Karen's blog at http://lovetaryn.blogspot.com for her blog 2009/07.) It turned out great! The response was out of this world, and I immediately knew that making these purses was my calling. It was a bit of a merger of the two artists that I so adore. I would certianly never compare my work to theirs, but they have been such a powerful influence on me.


I thought it would be fun to launch character-inspired handbags for the first set of my product line. Each of these characters holds a special place in my heart, one way or the other, and I wanted to pass it along for others to enjoy! (Dorothy's Red Shoes are perhaps an example from this line.) I just launched my collegiate collection and have many more designs coming soon. (See the other two posted examples.) I have so much fun making these handbags for I get to use power tools, sew, paint and you name it. So much is incorporated into the creative process and it is so rewarding to see each of my basket purses come to life.


My creations and my Etsy shop are very special to me. They raised my spirits when I was going through a difficult time of trying to figure things out. I am so grateful to have this opportunity to share my creations with others and offer them one-of-a-kind hand bags that are truly made with LOVE by Taryn."