Behind the Scenes - Making the Basket behind the Banner

When I first thought of the name "Turquoise and Twill" for my Etsy shop, I immediately knew what kind of banner I wanted to make for the storefront. The background would be a detail of a twill-pattern basket stained dark brown, overlaid with the shop name in a bold, cursive script in turquoise. There was just one problem... I hadn't recently made a brown twill basket. So making one to photograph for the banner got put at the top of my to-do list!


Back-story aside, the main purpose of this post is to give you a glimpse into the basket creation process, and the basket I'm using to show the basic stages of that process is the basket behind the shop banner. There are basically 6 stages that every basket goes through, from the moment I sit down to sketch it out to when I stain and finish it.


Stage 1: Design & Material Prep

I knew I wanted to make a market basket in the traditional style, and I knew it had to be twill. I also remembered that I had an ash handle with an 8" spread lying around (decisions about basket design are often made based on the materials I have on-hand!). After I dug up the handle I got started calculating the dimensions for an 8" wide market basket.

The finished rim measurements of a basket are always a bit larger than the dimensions of the base, so I calculated how many 1/4" stakes I would need to make a 6x10" rectangular base (about 18x28). The final step in this stage was to get out my materials and cut the reed I would need to weave the base. If I was making a basket with colored reed, dying the reed would be an additional part of the material prep.


Stage 2: Weaving the Base & Locking Row

The base was woven in a 2x2 twill pattern, which gives the basket a very solid, filled bottom. When the base was finished, I twined a quick locking row to ensure that the base stayed rectangular. Especially with twill bases, the corners like to slip, and this row prevents that. You can see the locking row in the second picture below.

Stage 3: Weaving the Walls

The walls were woven in the same 2x2 twill pattern. It took about 16 rows to get to the height I was aiming for; it's more important for the proportions to feel right than to have any exact ratio, unless you're working with a repeating pattern.

I always stop after the first few rows and let them dry before continuing, because the first few rows are always a bit uneven and I like to pack them down before weaving the rest of the walls. Reed shrinks a bit when it dries, so it's a good idea to let the basket dry before packing the rows to remove any gaps or unevenness.

Stage 4: Cut & Tuck

This stage is pretty self-explanatory: stakes that end up on the inside of the basket get cut while stakes on the outside get tucked over to secure the top row in place.

Stage 5: Lashing the Rim

Rimming the basket can be very time-consuming, depending on the size of the basket. This one took about an hour to rim. The first step is to cut the rim pieces; for this one, I used 3/8" flat oval reed. The pieces are cut with about 1" of overlap; then those end pieces get shaved down so that the overlapping section is the same thickness as the rest of the rim.

Stage 6: Staining

To create a traditional finish for the basket, I stained it a dark walnut brown with standard wood stain. This color imitates the look of early American baskets made from brown ash splint, which darkens with age.

The finished basket!

That's it! From start to finish, it took about 6.5 hours to make this basket, and since my goal is to create both beautiful and functional baskets, I pay close attention to detail at every stage so that all my baskets are made to the highest standards!

Shaker Baskets - A Brief History

The Shakers were a splinter sect of Quakers that was formed in the 18th century in England. Several Shaker communities were founded in the American colonies in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, most famously at Mount Lebanon, NY. The Shakers were known for their simple lifestyles and religious beliefs, being a pacifist society in which men and women shared equal responsibility in the church hierarchy. They are also known for their architecture, furniture, and crafts, among which are the many styles of baskets that can be found today in museums and private collections.

Authentic Shaker Cheese Baskets (www.journalofantiques.com)

One of my favorite baskets to make is in the style known as the Shaker cheese basket. Historically, this type of basket was used in the cheese production process to drain the curds and separate them from the whey. It is made using a traditional hexagonal weave, which can be manipulated to create many variations in shape and size. I prefer to make them in a form that begins with a hexagonal base and rises with straight walls to a round rim, either with or without a handle.

In the image above, you can see that a pair of runners has been lashed to the bottom of each basket; these were used to hold the baskets to a cheese ladder. Below are examples of two different sizes of Shaker cheese baskets that I've made.

Shaker Cheese Basket

Miniature Shaker Cheese Baskets

Several other styles of Shaker baskets exist, including types that were used for work in the field (like wash baskets and fruit baskets) and more decorative types used within the home (known as "fancy" baskets, often in a shape known as a Shaker cat's head basket). For more information on Shaker baskets, check out Shaker Baskets (1988) by Martha Wetherbee and Nathan Taylor, or Basketry: The Shaker Tradition (1990) by John McGuire. I've also included a list of several websites at the end of this post that provide more information and pictures.

Shaker Wash Baskets (www.journalofantiques.com)

Shaker Herb Drying Basket (www.pinterest.com)

Two distinctive features of authentic Shaker baskets are their rims and handles, which are often carved from the same piece of wood and lashed together with the same brown ash or white oak splint in which the rest of the basket is woven. These baskets display incredibly fine craftsmanship using hand-split and hand-carved local materials and are beautiful examples of early American basketry!

Typical Shaker Handle and Rim Design (www.journalofantiques.com)

http://shakerworkshops.com/resources/who-are-the-shakers/shaker-fancy-baskets/
http://shakerheritage.wordpress.com/2012/03/28/the-shaker-basket-making-tradition/
http://www.journalofantiques.com/Jan04/featurejan04.htm

The Shop Doors Open!

This is it - the inaugural post!  After a few weeks of intense preparations, which included compiling lists of articles that compile lists of articles on everything you could possibly want to know about selling on Etsy, I've finally opened the doors of my Etsy shop, TurquoiseAndTwill.  A few listings went up today, including the large and small versions of my take on the traditional Shaker cheese basket (a popular early American basket that uses hexagonal weave).

There's still so much to be done, but I have been busy on Pinterest where I've organized several boards on topics like basket storage ideas, decorating with baskets, gift basket inspiration, historical baskets, and eclectic home decor. I'm hoping to use this blog - and, by extension, my pinboards and Facebook page - as a place to showcase my past and current work as well as give insight into my creative process, share interesting tidbits on the history of basket-making, and post basket patterns and tutorials. It's a daunting task to be setting out on, but I'm hopeful that things will start coming together soon!