Laurelhurst Fiber Art Studio & Urban Farm
Tablet Weaving * Ply-Splitting * Mindfulness * Permaculture
Ply-Split Baskets
You can order kits for several of these baskets. I also teach ply-split basket workshops.
Baskets are arranged by fiber:
Paper, Fishing Line, Cotton, Stainless Steel, Raffia, Wool
Click on any photo for a larger view and more information.
Paper
Garlic Baskets. These baskets are made with 3-ply Danish cord, a commercially-made paper cord used for weaving chair seats.
The Medium Garlic Basket can be completed in a one-day workshop.
John and I have produced an instructional DVD on how to make the medium-size garlic basket. You can find a description of the content of the DVD and information about ordering it on my Books and DVDs page.
You can order a kit with pre-cut lengths of Danish cord from my Kits page, and a 1/4" gripfid from my Tools page.
Cylinder Baskets. These are my first baskets using a graphed design while working in cylindrical SCOT. I'm really excited about the possibilities! When the cords are arranged to alternate dark/light as they begin going up the sides, every crossing involves a dark and a light cord. Either one can split the other, so there is almost unlimited design potential.
For the tall cylinder basket, I used Wraphia II paper ribbon to make the beige cords, and Wraphia rayon ribbon to make the blue cords. The rayon is much squishier than the paper, which causes irregularities in the shape, especially where there are larger areas of one color/fiber. I used 48 cords, 60" long. The basket starts with a square base about 6" wide. It is about 13-1/2" tall. November 2006.
The other photo shows a basket bottom design derived from concentric squares. By switching just a few squares on the graph from dark to light and light to dark, the design becomes a spiral. Start at the upper right, and you can "walk" this path to the center.
Brighton Basket. For the basket on the left, I make 4-ply cords using Wraphia paper ribbon. For the basket on the right, I use 3-ply Danish cord. The Brighton Basket can be completed in a one-day workshop.
Lotus Basket. For this basket, I make 4-ply cords using Wraphia paper ribbon. This basket needs 45 cords.
Using prepared cords, students with no previous ply-split braiding experience are able to complete a beautiful basket like this one in a two-day workshop.
More Paper Baskets -- Star Base, Mandala Variation, and Frog.
Fishing Line
Blue Mist. This basket was shown in the exhibition "Beyond Tradition: New Ply-Split Fiber Sculpture" at Contemporary Crafts Museum and Gallery in Portland, Oregon in 2004.
I made the cords from "extra-limp" fishing line, and unplied all of the ends. They have a mind of their own!
Anemone. This basket is made from 2,350 yards of 12 lb. test fishing line. It was fairly easy to make the cords. I discovered right away from making a sample that it's best to keep the initial overtwist low with this material, so these cords have only 5% shrinkage during IOT. I like the green color and the translucent quality of the cords.
I finished the ends by holding each one over a candle until the individual strands started to curl and melt. Approximately 7-1/2" high; basket base 4" square and overall width about 12". January 2001.
"Anemone" was shown in the exhibition "Down to the Sea Again: A Fibre Challenge" at Convergence 2002 in Vancouver, BC. The theme was "Textile Tides".
These two photos look down into the basket, which has been placed on a light box. In the photo on the left, the light is on, while in the photo on the right, the light is off.
Cotton
Mandala. This basket was shown in the exhibition "Beyond Tradition: New Ply-Split Fiber Sculpture" at Contemporary Crafts Museum and Gallery in Portland, Oregon in 2004.
The design grew out of experiments on variations of the Lotus Basket. Here I've tried something new with the perennial question of what to do with the ends of the cords -- I used my sewing machine to sew close zig-zag stitching around each petal and then cut off the cords. Then I went over any beige threads with black magic marker, and finally saturated all of the sewing with Fray-Check.
Lotus Basket.
I started this basket in October 2000, while teaching at the San Juan Island Textile Guild in Friday Harbor, Washington. The shape evolved slowly over several months, as I tried this and that, and practiced a lot of "un-splitting"! Approximately 2" high x 6-3/4 wide, including fringe. I used 10/2 perle cotton to make the cords. Completed in March 2001.
Stainless Steel
This basket was shown in Small Expressions 2001 in St. Louis, MO, juried by Randall Darwall.
I made this SCOT basket using stainless steel yarn manufactured by Bridgestone Metalpha Corporation, Tochigi, Japan. The brown color is the result of a special heat treatment. This is the yarn that Peter Collingwood used for his macrogauze hanging in the Kiryu Cultural Center. Peter made the hanging in 9 separate strips, each with its own differently colored warp, so there were lots of thrums; he generously sent me this dark brown and some "natural" stainless steel (which I haven't used yet). I think this is the first ply-split basket made with this yarn. Stainless steel yarns and fibers are available from Textura Trading Company.
I made the cords in the usual way, except that since I was working with thrums, I had to tie each end separately to the cordmaker and the outend. The basket is heavy, and very flexible. I was quite surprised to see how "lacy" the stainless steel looks. I was able to cut individual strands of the yarn with scissors, but had to use wire cutters to cut the cords. I used 50 cords, and finished the basket by wrapping the 100 ends with the same yarn. Approximately 2-1/2" high and 8" across, including fringe. February 2001.
Raffia
It takes time to make raffia cords, but they are easy to use, and I think the results are worth the trouble. The base of this basket, shown on the right, is Jim Pochert's star bottom design. The basket is 9" across at the top, and 3" high. September 2000.
Wool
I started at the center of the base with a dark cord splitting another dark cord at right angles. Then added the four light cords to form the center square, and continued to add cords, always alternating dark/light. Cords changed function -- either splitting or being split -- as necessary to create the hairline design. It has the appearance of SCOT, though it wasn't made in the usual way. The rest of the basket is traditional SCOT worked in transverse sections, and is my first attempt at creating the design on the bottom of the cheekah shown in Plate 114, bottom, Techniques of Ply-Split Braiding . Approximately 6" wide and 5" high. Summer 2000, wool.
When I saw Errol Pires' ply-split "Palm Trees", which have a zig-zag design, I was inspired to make this basket. The bottom of the basket is shown on the right. Starting with this very orderly base, I worked the sides in transverse SCOT sections, always splitting five cords and pulling one through (see The Techniques of Ply-Split Braiding, p. 122). The zig-zag design develops naturally. The base is 4"x4" and the top is 7" across; approximately 10" high. Summer 2000, wool.
This is a basket inspired by seeing a collection of ply-split baskets by Jim Pochert at Convergence 2000. Jim's work really got me excited about making baskets! This one is worked in SCOT variations, and has a star base in five colors. In an effort to keep the sides from drawing in, the cords are not pulled very much, so there is an interesting see-through effect with the splitters visible. Summer 2000, wool.
This page updated December 6, 2006.