Unit 222: Concept development

Unit 222: Traditional basket design development

So, having spent so many happy hours scrolling', reading and visiting to try and find inspiration for my traditional basket, turned out my mum had it sitting holding firelighters in her living room the whole time. It started its life as her school bag 55 years ago, then I remember it as a milk basket that was left out for the old fashioned glass bottles dropped off by a milkman. It's a lovely, unassuming little basket but, as it turns out, was actually quite hard to recreate!

The base is a standard oval base, but then once the side stakes are in, you do a 4-rod wale tip to butt, butt to tip all the way round to create a foot.

Then the surprise: it doesn't have a traditional kinked rod upsett, you have to work the uprights round with some good old fashioned shaping and teasing into shape with thumb and fingers (now sore), tying it up in to galleon formation and then trying to use French randing (yes, Fernch randing) to try and aggressively shape it - both upright and from an oval into a round square.

The French randing finishes and then, rather than a 3 rod wale to pin it in place, it uses a double french rand for a turn, then back to single. This does produce a lovely subtle line though and is a good trick to know. There is no waling to finish either and rigidly purely comes from the border.

The handle uses three rods. One sturdy one and two slimmer ones that are scallomed and folded up through the border. has some lovely detailing from the wrapping used, in split rods, and the two side

Experimenting and sampling

The baskets below all helped to practice and experiment with the techniques needed for my basket with a handle made with traditional techniques.

Round base sample with pairing and 4-rod wale

After considering the Acton Scott market basket, I attempted to recreate the base using the 4-rod wale. However, I went on to then prick the uprights when bringing up the basket so didn't get the rounded shape on the bottom. This came in really useful for the final basket as it meant that I had worked out how to do the bunny butt basket shape (and went on to make this the piece to show case a void handle). The base also uses a pairing weave.

Oval base sample

This is the oval base we learnt to do in class. The base escaped my control and went on to produce a basket that I was very unhappy with and do not know if I'll finish it as I don't want to waste the willow. However, I learnt how to make an oval base and, more importantly, what to keep an eye on so it didn't escape control and end up with an untidy, out of control basket at the end. The base also uses a pairing weave.

French randing and wrapped cross over handle sample

This was a shopper I made to learn how to put handles on. It uses French randing to build up the sides and has a twisted cross over handle with a herringbone finish.

Cranked side handles and double French randing

Double French randing and twisted side handle sample

This is a kindling basket I made to learn how to put side handles on. I opted to crank the willow to get the rope like texture and was pleased with the result.

English randing with cross over handle sample

I made this little basket after the handle class to practice putting a handle on again. I used English randing on the sides and alternated the weaver colour which produced a great pattern but does hide the spiral effect of the English randing.

Slewing sample

This basket is included here to demonstrate a slewing weave. The bottom section after the 3-rod wale upset is 3 rod slewing, which helps to build up a basket quite quickly and is also good for using up material.

Also shows a zig zag, double double French randing and 3-rod wale.

3 behind 1 border in centre cane

This was a center cane border with dyed red inserts to show the flow of the border. This was good practice to get the hang of the way borders finish.

3 behind 2 border in white willow

This was a center cane border with dyed red inserts to show the flow of the border. This was good practice to get the hang of the way borders finish. The end basket used a 3 behind 2 border.

Combining colours sample

I made this little pen pot out of scraps after making baskets for the handle class. I liked the effect of using different combinations of willow varieties to get a graduated colour scheme. It fed into the next basket I made...

Combining colours sample 2

This basket combines different willow material to produce a random colour combination that shows off the natural colours of the willow. The weave is a rope weave which adds to the wild feeling of this basket, which is a traditional basket with a none traditional finish.

Combining materials

I made this basket for the Design Unit and it was a great experiment in combing materials and working with found material. The basket is made from reclaimed copper flashing from my house renovation and leather scraps. It is a plaited weave, altered a little to work with the copper.

Experimenting with materials

I made this base for the Design Unit from soft rush picked on a walk. As it dried it shrank a lot but I thought if it was dried out then it could be used to make a coiled or twined basket.