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Recently I took an all day class in Japanese basket making from Flo Hoppe. The class took place at the Multnomah Arts Center, and was sponsored by the Columbia Basin BasketryGuild. These are some of the baskets I made in the class and afterwards.
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Here is Carol sorting reed in our living room. We are preparing to teach a class in round reed basketry at the Multnomah Arts Center.
These are fun to make and come in so many colors.
My baskets start by the side of the road. As I gather vines of different lengths and diameters, I am already thinking about the baskets they will become. I have been weaving with honeysuckle for over 25 years and am still impressed with its beauty and versatility both for functional basketry and sculptural pieces. I enjoy working with the material myself and almost as much, I enjoy teaching others how to use this amazing “weed” that is found running wild in many backyards.
Hand Dyed Reed Basketry
Color is fun! It is a mood changer. It can soothe you or dazzle you. We do all of our own hand dyeing and since we are “frugal” we don’t want to waste any of that precious color. This leads to many combined shades; we estimate that we work with 100 different ones. In some baskets, we just have fun running through the whole rainbow; in others we check out the blues or the greens or the Hot Colors of reds and golds. You change the mood of a whole room.
Woven Rainbows 