Contemporary and Traditional Basketry

Category: Found Material Project (Page 2 of 2)

Baskets From Found Materials Week 9 – Rushes and Carpet

Basket made from Carpet Thread and Rush Rope

Basket made from Carpet Thread and Rush Rope

This week I used some more of the rope made from rushes that I used for the basket in week 6.

Rope Made From Field Rush

Rope Made From Field Rush

I also used part of some old strips of carpet found in a skip.

Strip Of Carpet

Strip Of Carpet

I removed strips of synthetic thread, from the woven back of the carpet, in order to get a material that I could use for sowing.

Synthetic Thread Removed From Carpet Strips

Lengths of Synthetic Thread Removed From Carpet Strips

This proved to be a great material for holding the rush rope together in coils to create a small basket.

Basket made from Carpet Thread and Rush Rope

Basket made from Carpet Thread and Rush Rope

 

 

 

Baskets From Found Materials Week 7 – Tinsel and Cardboard

Well, my basket this week is very seasonal.

A very Christmassy Basket

A very Christmassy Basket

The main structure of the basket comes from a section of an empty Pringles tube. The cardboard tube was cut to length and then the sides were divided into sixteen strips.

Pringles Tube cut into strips

Pringles Tube cut into strips

This was woven with some tinsel and a length of gold beads that I had left over from my Christmas decorations.

Christmas Decorations

Christmas Decorations

The result is an amazingly sparkly basket. Just right for this time of year!

Basket made from a Pringles Packet and Christmas Decorations

Basket made from a Pringles Packet and Christmas Decorations

Happy Christmas Everyone!

 

Baskets From Found Materials Week 6 – Rush and Rope

This week I made a basket using rope made out of rushes and some bits of synthetic rope I found when clearing out my loft.

The rushes I used are soft (or field rush) which grows on wet bits of land.

Soft Rush - Juncus Effuses

Soft Rush – Juncus Effuses

This was made into rope and then I used a tying technique with the orange bits of rope to make a small basket.

Basket made from Rush and Rope

Basket made from Rush and Rope

 

Baskets From Found Materials Week 5 – Moss and Grass

This week I went back to using natural materials rather than man made and made another tiny basket about 2 inches high.

I used hair moss which grows in clumps and has stems up to two foot long. Hair moss grows on wet, boggy ground and so there is an abundance of it on the Isle of Arran where I live.

Hair Moss

Hair Moss

The moss was coiled and sown with lengths of this ornamental grass I have growing in my garden

Ornamental Grass

Ornamental Grass

Here is the final result

Basket Made From Hair Moss And Grass

Basket Made From Hair Moss And Grass

 

 

Baskets From Found Materials Week 3 -Plastic and Seaweed

This week my basket is a bit different. Instead of natural materials found outside I have mainly used man made materials that I had in the house that would have been thrown out if not used in the basket. I’ve had two empty tonic bottles hanging around my kitchen waiting for recycling for a while and I also found a few old plastic bags that I had kept because I thought they might be useful one day. This week I decided to make use of these as the raw materials for my basket.

Plastic Bottles and Bags used in Basket

Plastic Bottles and Bags used in Basket

The technique used is stake and strand rather than coiling using an idea I found in Lois Walpoles book Weave, Coil and Plait Crafty Containers from Recycled Materials (Leisure Arts). This book has a wealth of ideas on how to recycle materials but the one I used was to cut a section of bottle and then cut the sides of this into strips that are used as stakes to weave round with strips of plastic cut from the bags.

Basket Made From Plastic Bottles and Plastic Bags with seaweed

Basket Made From Plastic Bottles and Plastic Bags with seaweed

I used sections of two bottles to make a wine goblet shaped basket and decorated the rim with seaweed.

Basket Made From Plastic Bottles and Plastic Bags with seaweed

Basket Made From Plastic Bottles and Plastic Bags with seaweed

Baskets From Found Materials Week 2 – Seaweed and Rope Strands

This week the basket is made all from materials I found on the beach. Seaweed and again strands of a rope that had been washed up.

Section of rope found washed up on the beach

Section of rope found washed up on the beach

This time I managed to find some longer bits of rope all the same colour which made sewing the coils easier. I also found a shell with a hole in it which I included in the finishing off.

Basket made by coiling with seaweed

Basket made by coiling with seaweed

Basket From Found Materials Week 1 – Sycamore Leaf Stems And Rope Strands

Basket made from coiled sycamore leaf stems and strands of rope found on beach

Basket made from coiled sycamore leaf stems and strands of rope found on beach

This week I decided to use the stems of sycamore leaves that can be found in abundance on the ground at this time of year near where I live on the Isle of Arran.

Sycamore Leaves

Sycamore Leaves

After removing the actual leaves from the stems I left them for a few days to dry out a bit as I knew they would shrink as the moisture evaporated from them. They actually shrank quite a bit and I used a lot of stems to make a tiny basket.

I used a coiling technique where bundles of the stems were sown together with strands of a piece of rope that I found washed up on the beach here.

Start of coiling with strands of rope and sycamore leaf stems

Start of coiling with strands of rope and sycamore leaf stems

Section of rope found washed up on the beach

Section of rope found washed up on the beach

The picture above is of the rope I found pictured with some seaweed I also collected (look out for that in another basket!). The length of the rope was quite short and so I had to join new bits in while coiling quite frequently making it quite a time consuming process. As you can see the strands in the piece of rope were all different colours so the result was quite colourful basket, however.

coiled baskets 031

Basket coiled with sycamore leaf stems and strands of rope found on beach

The basket is only about 2 inches high, took several hours to make but I like it. It was satisfying to make something without having to pay for materials and hopefully I will get faster and neater with my coiling with more practise.

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