Basket Weaving Tips
The following tips have been submitted by students and weavers. If you have a great tip you would like to share, please e-mail it to intheworks@aol.com
To help reduce dye bleeding when working with dark or bright colors, stain the pieces of dyed reed first. I will dip the whole bundle (or 1/4 bundle) in a large light stain bath mixture. Swish the reed around to be sure it is covered. Let it dry and you are ready to work with it! Wet it as usual before weaving with it.
When cutting spokes, cut the ends of your horizontal spokes straight across and the ends of your vertical at an angle. This helps you identify which are which more easily.
Use cable ties to help keep your bundles of reed together. As the bundle gets smaller, you can pull the cable tie tighter. Submitted by Lisa Kemp
Use plastic cable ties to hold inside and outside rims and seagrass in place while you lash-or to hold everything together. This works great if you don’t have time to finish the basket right away. When you finish the basket just snip them off and throw them away. You can find these at a hardware store for about $1.79 for a pack of 40. Submitted by Pat Creech.
Homemade spoke weights right from your pantry! Why do weavers always think of food! Packages of spaghetti make great spoke weights. Use your favorite brand and best of all they are edible! Submitted by Bonnie Pacher.
Place the spokes and the reed you will need for your weaving project in a jumbo storage bag. Add a cup of warm water, seal and shake. Let it set until you start class. Pour off the water and reseal the bag until ready to use. Keep the dyed reed in a separate bag. Be careful not to leave the reed in the bag overnight or for long periods of time, damp or wet reed will mildew in plastic. Submitted by Doris Carl.
Use a clothespin with an X marked on one side. Clip this to the end of the right side of the weaver. After ending a row of weaving I pick up the weaver with the right side marked and begin weaving. Place the clip on the end of the weaver again so you are ready to weave the next row. Submitted by Kit.
Use pony tail holders (the kind with two balls) to secure the end of a coil of reed. This really works! Place it on the end of the coil right after opening it. This works better then rubber bands. Submitted by Diana Dorsey.
Use a teaspoon of lemon oil in the bucket while soaking your reed. It smells great, keeps your hands from getting too dry and helps keep the reed damp and pliable longer. This is a great substitute for glycerin and it cost less. Submitted by Leesa Tipton.
Use a vegetable brush to clean the blade of your Stanley shaver. This is a great idea and it works on wet shavings as well as dry! Submitted by Rita Brownawell.
Use a pair of panty hose to strain your stain mixture. Your stain mixture may develop clumps after setting for a while. Stretch the hose over the open can and pour the stain into a new container. The clumps will be trapped in the hose and your stain will be clump free. Use newspaper to clean the old container before you put the stain back in it.
Keep a piece of sandpaper with your basket tools. You can easily remove the pencil marks from your spokes with it and use it to sand the handles of your baskets before you weave.
Don’t want to get your whole basket wet to cut and tuck your spokes? Try clipping a small towel to the top of the basket and using a spray bottle to wet the edge of the spokes where they need to bend. Cut the inside spokes off first. Clothespin a folded towel to the top row of weaving. Wet the spokes with a spray bottle at the edge. When they are wet enough to bend, gently bend them to the outside over the towel and wet the entire spoke. Blot the excess water with your towel and bend them inside to tuck. This is very useful when your last few rows at the top of your basket are woven in color and you don’t want the color to bleed.
For easier lashing of your rims: place the clothespins that hold the rim pieces on your basket, directly on the spokes. This will allow you to lace with your lashing piece between the spokes without removing the clothes pins.
When cutting off the inside spokes on your basket, place the scissors behind the adjacent spoke to the right of the spoke you are cutting. This will allow you to cut the spoke off even with the last row of weaving so the rim filler will lie flat between the rims.
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All rights reserved. No part of the photos or patterns may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission of the author.
Monica Impellizzeri 702 Spring Cypress Road, Spring TX 77373 (281)-288-7332