Patience is Your Friend

I love the comment in the instructions I found at Craftstylish.com for weaving a paper basket. "Patience is your friend at this point."

Here is my second attempt at basket making. So far so good?

I was trying to make a little basket for the bathroom. This is all I've done. I don't think I am destined to be a basket maker. My patience has run out!

It's back to the shower curtain. I'm hoping the glue I used this time will hold the hooks? We'll see how that goes. Remember, patience is your friend. = }

If you'd like to make some baskets, check out Casey's link/tutorials. I might try one of these instead? Thanks Casey.

Hope you have a beautiful day!
Blessings,
Kathi

My First Basket

Well, I started my first basket this evening. I'm a visual learner so I need pictures to follow. I'm using the About.com tutorial because it has several close up photos.

Here's where I taped the cording to a piece of mat board and glued the center.

Then I started weaving, following the instructions. It was very difficult to keep the tension even. As you can see the base is a bit out of shape. I'm going to keep going anyway. It is my first attempt, you know!

The base is supposed to be 1/2 inch X 1 inch. If I had read the entire tutorial before starting I would have measured first! I had to pull out this last blue row to get it the correct size...

So here's what it looks like now. A mess.

The sides are done with something they call "three rod waling." Whatever that is? It looks like you add two more cords and do a different pattern on the sides. I haven't figured that out yet. I'm going to bed.

Sweet Dreams,
Kathi

More About Baskets

Thanks everyone for your suggestions! Casey has several basket tutorials on her blog. Check them out if you're wanting to learn different techniques.

I also copied the link that Sylvia and Deni suggested and thought I would share it here.

This is a photo of the kind of basket I would like to make someday! These are not for a beginner I'm sure!

Aren't they pretty?

Here's a very helpful article about basket weaving. The ones I'm interested in are coiled baskets. They seem to be the easiest to make? Woven baskets are nice too.

Here is a basket I found at a yard sale. It is made of tree bark. I used to have tons of baskets in my home, but I found that they are real dust collectors so I got rid of all but my favorites.

I love the simplicity of this basket. Also that it was made from found materials. I'm sure it is quite old. I like that too!

I just found a basket weaver's blog this morning. Nancy Jacobs at Basketmaster's Weaving shares tons of information, videos and photos.

Being the dreamer and NOT the doer here, I just thought I would share these links in case anyone else is thinking about making some baskets. I hope you find them helpful!

Blessings,
Kathi

Basket Weaving??

I found some really pretty variegated blue cording that I want to use to make a little basket.
I also have some raffia. I need a simple pattern and instructions. I've never made a basket before.

I like this photo at About.com because it looks simple? I have experience with Leslie Shepherd's tutorials and so far I'm not too impressed. Maybe someone else has an idea?

This is the second part of Leslie's tutorial. Not so simple.

If anyone has made a beginner's basket, please let me know how you did it. I just want something simple that I can use to hold logs next to my fireplace. Nothing fancy. Easy?

I've heard that basket weaving is one of those skills we were supposed to learn somewhere along the way. Guess I missed that class. Come on Casey, help me out here!

Sweet Dreams!
Kathi