The weaving basket
The weaving basket; Sisal rope and various yarn; 7 cm Diameter x 12.5 cm Height; 2017
This was the first weave basket I have ever made. Its shape was like a vase. I created it by wrapping and attaching different yarns to a thick rope. Once every 5 cm I attached the ropes together to make the vase not collapse and be a spherical shape.
This type of weaving was done in ancient times for household uses as containers. Materials was from the environment, such as grass, string from the hay or some plant stems. Aboriginal people in Canada made these woven baskets. It was part of their culture. There were similar cultural objects in Asian and African cultures.
The techniques to make a woven basket was simple. Attaching the yarns to the rope and made the rope be tied together were the only two steps to make a woven basket. Repeat the steps for many times until you got the shape for the basket. If you wanted to make some decorations on the basket, add patterns by different colours of yarns and make different length of each type of yarn.
The woven vase was hard to keep the shape at the first time. The rope was non-flexible and the yarn was to weak to weave. I wanted to make a circular bottom surface but it turned out to be an oval. However, the colours and types of yarns worked out well. Next time I will try more pattern on the outer surface of the basket.
I wanted to know more techniques about how other artists weave and what materials they used in their work. Experiences from other artists will give me inspiration and add more variety to my own project.
