Small basket with English oval base
With thanks to Isobel Edge who taught me this technique in a recent workshop
- noting that any mistakes in this interpretation are mine!
Materials
For
the base:
1 x 10" (25cm) thin pencil thickness
4 x 5fts (1.5m) of similar thickness at butts
6 x 6" (15cm) of similar thickness
4 to 8 x thin 4fts (1.2m)
For
the sides:
24 thicker 4-5fts(1.2 - 1.5m)
24 3fts (1m)
24 thinner 4fts (1.2m)
Arrange
the 10" (25cm) and 4 thicker long rods in front of you as shown.
Pick
up rods 1,3 & 5 and put in a pair of the 6" (15cm) rods (thick
end to thin), about 3" (7cm) from Left hand end.
Put your foot on the LH side of the base, if you can.
Pick up rods 2 and 4 and add a second pair of 6" (15cm) rods at
the centre. Try to hold everything in place however you can!
Pick up rods 1,3 & 5 again and put the final pair of 6" (15cm)
rods about 3" (7cm) from right hand end.
Put
your crossed sticks on the RH edge of a table or chair.
At the RH end, pull 3 up and take 4 towards you, over the short and 2
long sticks, then left along the long side of the oval going under/over/under
the 3 pairs of short sticks.
Again
at the RH end, take 5 towards you, under the short and 2 long sticks,
then left along the long side of the oval going over/under/over the 3
pairs of short sticks. Hang on tight!
Turn the base by 180deg. So the all the long ends at far edge to you and
are pointing right.
Continue this end the same way as the other. Pull the middle end short
stick up then take the long rod nearest to you towards you, over the 3
end stick and weaving it back along the side, then taking the next long
stick under 3 pairs and along as before.
Take the two long sticks around again in the same way.
Next
time round, start opening up the outer pairs, and change the stroke to
pairing at the corners and randing along the sides. (Always treat the
pair at the centre of the long side as one). Now start opening up the
groups of 3 sticks at the ends.
When you need to join in new rods, take 4 thin 4fts (1.2m) and join them
using butts along the straight edge.
Carry
on till large enough, curving the base up towards you and finally ending
with tips. Trim the base sticks. (The concave side of your base is the
underside.)
Staking
up sides
Slype 24 thicker 4fts (1.2m) on the belly. Add these stakes cut side downwards,
at points shown above with singles at the 8 base sticks on the curves,
and pairs everywhere else. Bend up and tie or add a hoop
Waling
Start a 3 rod wale at the left hand corner, by slyping 3 rods of the thinner 4fts(1.2m) and inserting the butts between the edge stick and side stake. Wale along the long side, pulling each rod down to create a false foot. Start a second 3 rod wale at the opposite corner and chase round these two sets of weaving to the tips, try for vertical sides, or put a slight flair at the round ends if wished.
Sides and Border
I'm
going to skip a lot here since it's fairly standard. Work the sides and
border as you please. For the basket below, I've done 2 rounds of French
randing (for the first round, I cut back the stakes (uprights) and used
these for the first round, followed by 2 sets of 3 thin rods in a 3 rod
wale, another round of French randing with left over thin stuff and finally
another 6 rods in a 3 rod wale. The border is 5 behind 1. (This is not
one of my best efforts, I was in a hurry to get it done for the group
meeting - but you get the idea).
Page Created Mar 2003. Caj
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