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The Details
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My first frame basket with hazel ribs was made during a workshop with a French basketmaker, an expert in his field, at a festival called Tear Up in 2024. Skeining was becoming a rare sight in Britain, and this much finer work was very different from what I’d been weaving and creating. It appealed to me.
Weaving a basket is a slow craft. A basket usually takes half a day to three days, but a frame basket like this can take three to five, depending on its size. Both the framework and the weavers are painstakingly shaved to exact measures, to complement the shape and balance of the basket. Handmade precision work! Is that not always the case with handbags?
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Brush with a soft brush if dusty, or hoover the inside with the soft brush attachment.
Made with a Respect for the Material
Give every basketmaker the same project and they'll each finish a very different basket. I like to work very neatly, but I also like things to be natural. If a willow rod isn't quite what you'd expect, and it doesn't affect the integrity of the rod, I make a feature of it.
The connection between the material, me as the maker, and you as the person who will love and use it for many years is one of the main reasons I'm a full-time basketmaker.