The first basket is made from tiny honey suckle vines and three different grasses (Chinese silver grass, Johnson grass, and a grass I collected from some sand dunes after theyd been weed whacked) and the second basket is cattail leaves, common rush, and cordage I made from yucca!! This is my new obsession… so much fun!!
Update:
Wow thank you all for your kind comments!! Im genuinely so touched reading them. A lot of folks are asking how I learned and how long the baskets took to make. I have watched hours of YouTube videos at this point by a lot of talented creators. Matt Tommey has been a really great resource, especially concerning the foraging and processing parts. He has some paid classes but ive just used his free content. I’ve also done a lot of experimentation playing with different materials. I wander around outside touching anything that looks like it might be weavable and when in doubt i just try it! I started one large, ribbed basket that I haven’t finished yet and Ive used that project to try every kind of bramble and vine i could find without doing any fussy material preparation or worrying about making it perfect just to familiarize myself with how they behave. I highly recommend starting out that way. A couple tips: vines growing along the ground (“runners”) are typically less woody and more pliable than climbers, and first year brambles are significantly easier to work with than older growth. When it comes to picking leaves and grasses, there are some popular choices to look out for (like cattails and iris leaves) but you can also just go by feel and try twisting whatever you find into a quick cordage to test its strength. I think the key is to just begin and be curious. The weaving itself doesnt take too terribly long, especially once you get the hang of each new technique, but figuring out which materials you like for different applications and how to prepare them takes some time at first. Good luck!! Youre gonna have so much fun.
