Arts & Crafts. Art | A Whole Lot of Weaving

Japanese/Penland Style Basket

I was asked by another blogger to explain how the handle of the basket was made. Foolishly, I only took the one photo and the basket has sold so I cannot show the handle from a better angle.

I took 3 pieces of flat reed and sandwiched them together. It is wrapped with 2 pieces of flat/oval reed in an “x” pattern up the two sides, leaving about 4″ empty at the top. Very simple.

The top Knot is called a “Butterfly” knot or “Japanese” knot. I have given you a top and side view (from another basket) but, please don’t ask me how to make it. Not so simple!

I hope this post helps a little in understanding the handle.

Yotsume (Square Plaiting) Purse

This was an experimental piece. I was trying to copy a bamboo purse that I saw on Pinterest. Again, as with “The Third Lid”, without a pattern this weave was very difficult.

I think the Japanese name is ‘yotsume’ which just means square plaiting. All in all I think it came out nicely. The handle is a 10″ square closed notch make of oak. I probably spent more time on it than the actual basket. There was a whole lot of sanding and retooling of the notch to get it to fit without a gap at the rim and I drilled two holes on each side to secure it tightly.

Not having large size bamboo, I used reed. Each ‘stake’ is comprised of two 1/4″ flat pieces. I call them stakes because there are no seperate weavers added. The double strips are laid out at crossed 45 degree angles in a simple over/under pattern. This created a basic mat in the center which formed the base and part of 2 sides.

I then folded up the 2 ‘sides’ and clipped them together. This left all the unwoven ends which I took and wove together to finish the four sides. I know this makes no sense but I really can’t explain it better. I should have taken pictures from the beginning!

I have no idea if this is the correct way to weave this pattern but it worked for me. The weave is not perfect but not bad for working in the dark. I plan on lining it with the material you see in the pictures. Of course it looks nothing like the purse I was copying!

Oh well, try, try again.