I’m retiring a set of sheets and gave them a good wash and dry, then Izzy the cat discovered them in the laundry basket.
Photo description: white foldable laundry basket, gray sheets, and a happy calico cat snuggled on the top
Izzy was so happy and spent all her nap time for days in the basket. But the basket was in the middle of the floor and in the way, and eventually I had to give in to practicality and put the basket away. As a peace offering, I took a portion of the sheet and put it in a smaller basket.
Photo description: Izzy in a woven basket looking at the camera
The offering was reluctantly accepted, but not fully embraced. She will occasionally use it, but not to the extent she did the clandestine basket.
It took a couple weeks, but my eldest’s snake is now using the new basket as a hide! He has crawled over and around it and squished it out of shape, but not crushed it. I’m calling it a successful creation.
Waiting for the outside cat to finish her dinner (she needs a guard while she eats because of Big Orange Tom), I was distracted by the honeysuckle runners reaching into the grass. So I grabbed a knife and trimmed the stems that were going out of bounds, which left me with a dozen or so long bendy pieces. The cat was still eating, so I made an attempt at a basket. I laid out six of the thicker stems as my spokes and used the other stems to twine around the spokes. When I ran out of material, I wove in the tops of the spokes. Huh. I can make a basket. There we go. The cat was long gone, at this point.
Fresh honeysuckle vine basket
It is a rough little basket, but was straightforward enough that I looked up honeysuckle basket making online for more information. It turns out the best recommended time to harvest honeysuckle vine is in the fall, and once harvested, the vines can be stored. Then the traditional method is to boil the vines to kill any bugs, assist in removing the bark, and make the vine more pliable before making a basket. So I’ll give that a try this fall.
I’ve been exploring other looping methods, since nälbinding has caught my attention. I found reference to sculpture artist Ruth Asawa who did amazing installations with wire. I love working with wire, so decided to try to make a basket using a similar technique. What attracted me to the method is there is no welding, it uses only wire, and it makes a very attractive, and surprisingly sturdy vessel. Ruth Asawa suspended her sculptures from the ceiling (it really is worth doing an image search, the amount of work that went into her sculptures is amazing), but I wanted a free standing basket.
First basket experiment, with the final loops folded over
I started with a coil of round cooper wire that I found in my stash. I was able to verify that the technique would work by making a small curved form. I was a little stymied about how to finish the edge so just folded over the last loops. This technique works from the bottom up.
Square copper wire worked from the spool
I then moved on to my intended basket. Using a roll of square copper wire and a dowel, I built up the basket in rounds, similar to how crocheted hats are made.
Finished basket
When the basket was the size I wished, I changed my finish method so the final loops angled out to be a decorative element. I held these last loops in place by weaving wire through above and below the last row. Overall I am very pleased with the outcome! I sent this to my Mom for her birthday since Dad just installed a copper backsplash in their kitchen.
Critters and Craft 