Not quite what I had in mind.

 When I began to weave the sides of my planned round market basket, I soon realised I could only weave with the very thin grapevine branches. The thicker ones either broke as I tried to bend them round the willow stakes or so distorted those stakes as to make the basket unworkable.

 I also had only six or eight thin enough branches. So my 12" high basket with handle became a 3" high tray.

In future years I will harvest only the thicker grapevine branches. The thinner will be discarded to the green bin. As shown above, the thicker ones make ideal hoops for rib baskets.

Progress in weaving with grapevine

 My original intent was to use the grapevine weavers to make a rib basket. However, as I focussed on the nature of the grapevine I could see I would have problems joining the two hoops of the frame together with God's eye weavings. So I decided to make a round shopping basket instead. I used "brown willow" as the stakes for this. (Brown willow is willow with its bark still on.) I cut six eight inch stakes to start, forming a cross by piercing three of the stakes and inserting the other three stakes through them. I then chose two thin grapevine weavers and wove three rounds around the cross. I then separated one stake from its companions in the four segments and wove three more rounds before separating the remaining two stakes. After three more rounds I inserted two long stakes on either side of  each of the stakes and wove three more rounds. A close up of the rustic weaving that resulted is shown above. The grapevine, with its brown outer bark removed, is a palish green in colour.

The next step was to do what my English basketry books call the upsett. In this I used needle nosed pliers to crush the willow stakes at the edge of the round base. I was then able to bend them upwards without the stakes braking.

My next task is to weave the sides of the basket using an English randing technique. In this i will use one weaver at a time and weave one round at a time. Each grapevine round will be woven starting at it butt end. Each round will be staggered one stake to the left of the previous round. With 24 stakes I will need to weave 24 rounds to achieve symmetry.

I will also have to remember to put in two thicker false stakes after I have woven several rounds so a handle can be inserted later.

Preparing the grapevine: second stage.

 Today I began to strip the bark from the grapevine that has been in soak for a few days. It is a laborious and time-consuming activity. I use my finger nails to separate the loose outer bark from the branches, while bending and twisting each branch.

 This is the result of 90 minutes of work. I hope to weave with the thinner branches as I make a rib basket. However, that will have to wait a few more days since this quantity of stripped grapevine will not be enough. My back aches!

When I was in Vancouver, B.C., a few years ago, I visited a First Nations craft store. There I was intrigued by a small basket where I could not readily identify the weaving material used. It turned out it was woven with willow bark. Here you can see the stripped grapevine bark. I will keep the longer strips and see if I too can weave with bark.

Preparing grapevine: first step

I have all the grapevine branches I cut down earlier in soak. This enables me to remove the loose outer bark much more easily.

In previous years, I only kept the long, thick branches which I used as hoops for rib baskets. This year, in a moment of inspiration, or madness, I also kept the long, thin branches. I hope to be able to use them as weavers. Stay posted to see how successful this inspiration works.

Given the weather forecast for the next seven days or so, I will be unlikely to be able to get to this grapevine to remove the bark for many days. I prefer to do this job sitting in sunshine on the deck. Today's hot weather is not likely to return for a while.

Completing the seagrass rib basket.

 The rib basket with seagrass weavers is now finished. I am quite pleased with the result.

 To begin, I added five white willow ribs to each segment of the frame, ensuring that the inside hoop was the horizontal hoop. This meant that any weight on that inside hoop pulled it into the the decreasing circumference of the outside hoop.

 The next step was to weave several rows with the seagrass around the ribs.

 After six rows of weaving, I added another four ribs to each segment so that the spaces from rib to rib did not become too large.

 These additional ribs were then separated as I continued with the weaving.

 I tried to keep a balance between the weavings on each side.

 Eventually, the weavings of the two sides met, but, as usual with the "make its own shape" grapevine the segments were not equal. If you look closely at the photo above you will see the far side rim of the basket has a gap of around four inches still to be woven while the near side segment is complete at the rim.

 At this stage there are small gaps at the base that remain to be filled with weavers.

The finished basket .

Using seagrass to make a rib basket

 My regular rib baskets make use of flat cane for the God's eyes and weavers. Today's inspiration (?) is to use seagrass instead. I will use grapevine hoops as in the example above and white willow for the ribs.

 To make a rib basket I choose two hoops of grapevine similar to these. Unlike these, I choose two of a similar size.

 I then place one hoop inside the other and at right angles to it. I then join the two hoops with God's eye weavings. This gives me space behind which to insert the ribs.

The ribs I will use are currently in soak. They are of "white willow", that is willow that had its bark removed when I cut them down in the spring after the first flush of leaves appeared. I will be able to continue this project on Monday when I have free time for weaving once more.

Preparing grapevine branches as hoops for rib baskets.

 Last fall I took the first steps in preparing grapevine branches to serve as hoops for my rib baskets. Two hoops of grapevine branches, with one inserted inside the other at right angles, serve as the frame for rib baskets. In the photo above, one of my grapevines was cut down last October and the branches saved ready to prepare them as hoops.

 Last fall I did not have the energy to complete the preparation, and so some of my vines were left uncut as shown here.

 While those I had cut lay all winter long without any attention being spent on them.

 However, today, a warm spring day, was the day to begin preparing them for use. One of the fall's branches is here ready for final processing.

 Grapevine has a loose outer bark that has to be removed before it can be used as a frame. To remove the bark, I bend the vine until the outer bark springs free of the branch. It is then relatively easy to remove it.

 My first hoop made from a grapevine branch with its bark removed.

Three hours after I began, here are about twenty hoops of varying sizes. These will be sufficient for ten rib baskets. All I need now is to wait a few more days or weeks for the willow to flush out with its first leaves of spring, then I can strip it of its bark and reveal the white flesh beneath. I prefer ribs of this white willow for the rib baskets.

(One thing I learned today is that the grapevine branches I cut in the fall had bark that was troublesome to remove. However, the newly cut grapevines had bark that was very easy to strip. Next year, I will do my hoop preparation in the spring!)

Beginning to weave a rib basket

Since the weather lately has not been conducive to sitting outside and stripping the loose bark from the cut grapevine vines, I chose two of the grapevine hoops I had to serve as the frame of a new rib basket. These hoops were approximately the same size in circumference, a similar colour, and similar in thickness. One hoop was placed inside the other at a 90 degree angle. The two hoops were then joined together by weaving "Gods Eyes" where the hoops intersected.

The Gods Eyes provided an anchoring place into which to insert the white willow ribs. (White willow is willow harvested in the spring after the first flush of leaves occurs. At that time it is easy the strip the bark from the willow whips and reveal the white flesh beneath.) I placed five ribs in each of the two segments of the base. These were then secured into place by continuing weaving with the rattan cane from the Gods Eyes.


For the Gods Eyes and the initial weaving of the basket I am using 1/4" rattan cane dyed with homemade natural walnut dye. Later I will use wider rattan cane and add more ribs to the basket. I will decide on the colour of this wider cane when I reach that stage.

Finishing the harvested grapevines

After another hour's work, I now have eight finished hoops of grapevine ready to use as frames for rib baskets. The vines needed to have their loose outer bark removed. If you click onto the photograph, you will see that the vines and hoops come in two colours: green and brown. For the green vines, all I needed to do was to remove that loose outer bark. However, the brown hoops needed more work since there was a loose, powdery coating beneath that loose bark that also had to be removed. A thorough scraping was all that was needed to finish the preparation.

There are still more vines I cut yesterday that need finishing. And then there are four more grapevine plants that need to be harvested. I hope for more good weather to allow me time to do this.

Harvesting the grapevine vines

Now is the time to harvest the grapevine vines before the snow begins to fall. This photo shows the vines harvested from two grapevine plants that grew over an arch leading to the rear of our home. Each of these will need further processing by hand to remove the loose outer bark. Then a six to eight foot length can be formed into a hoop of one foot or more in diameter. Two such hoops form the frame for a rib basket.


Ready for collection by the city are the thinner, unusable vines.








This photo shows other grapevines I have yet to cut down and prepare for use.







Here is what remains of one of the vines I did cut down.

At last: progress on the rib basket

The white willow ribs soaked for about four days before being wrapped in a damp towel and allowed to "mellow" overnight. They proved to be supple enough to bend and put in place behind the God's Eyes without breaking.





I took the remaining tail of the God's Eye weaving and wove it around the initial ribs I had in place. At this stage I usually place five ribs in each segment of the basket frame, alternating butt ends and tip ends. After weaving several rows of the 1/4" flat cane I judged it was now time to add more ribs.




I added a second rib beside each of the five ribs in each segment. I also added a rib at both grapevine rims and on either side of the hoop that formed the intersection of the two woven segments. Weaving then went around these twenty-four ribs, the hoop and the rims.













As you can see this weaving process nicely separates the ribs. The placing of the initial ribs, the weaving, the adding of more ribs and more weaving took around two hours of work. The 1/4" flat reed makes a very nice, solid and compact basket, but it does take a long time to see any major progress.

Maybe I will finish this basket tomorrow!

Beginning to weave a rib basket

After the successful use of walnut liquor as a dye yesterday, I decided to start making a rib basket using the newly dyed flat cane. The fact that the weather is somewhat miserable with rain and thunder showers was a major influence in this decision too.

The first step was to collect the materials I would need. For the "hoops" of the basket I chose two grapevine hoops of approximately the same size and thickness.





I then selected around 30 brown willow stakes and cut sections to form the ribs of the basket. (Brown willow is willow with its bark on.) This willow is from last spring or even the spring before. It is dry and brittle and has to be soaked for at least 24 hours before I can bend it to use a ribs without fear that it will break. It is now soaking in the basement bathtub.



The next step was to join the two grapevine hoops with the flat cane by means of a God's Eye. One hoop was placed inside the other at right angles, and then the God's Eye was woven.






Here you can see the two hoops joined together with two God's Eyes. This frame is ready for tomorrow when I add the soked ribs and finish weaving the basket's body.

A Tale of Two Baskets

Over the last two or three days I have worked on adding two rib baskets to my Etsy shop. The photographs here compare and contrast those two baskets.








This basket uses hoops made from homegrown grapvine to form its structure. The grapevine is not uniform in thickness and it is far from straight along its length. For the ribs I used homegrown willow. Again this is far from uniform in thickness. Rods vary in thickness from tip to butt and well as from rod to rod. The end result, even when woven with uniform flat cane, is a basket that forms its own shape even when manipulated to the best of my ability.



This basket, on the other hand, is woven completely from round and flat rattan cane. Though this cane is a natural product, it has been processed so that the cane is uniform in shape and thickness throughout its length. Thick round cane was used to form the hoops and thinner round cane for the ribs. It is this uniformity that enabled me to weave a less eccentrically shaped basket.

Some buyers like more eccentricity while others like less.



It would not be a basket of mine,however, if it were to be completly uniform in shape. I always have some room for variability.