THE FAMILY GROWS

I'm still having lots of fun with the pine needle baskets. Have found a source for nice thin bendable needles right in front of the library. It is so much easier to gather green ones but it has been two weeks since I hit the trees and while the needles are dry they have not turned brown.

My current project has a walnut slice in the center and after looking at it for a bit It looks like a top, so may be trying to match it up and make a bottom with a traditional coiled start. We'll see...

BASKET FAMILY

Basket saga, Chapter Two.
Meet Small, Medium and Large, though none of them is too big as the base for this picture was the top of a wooden kitchen stool. I am getting better--practice, practice, practice. The small one was done the day of the workshop with Nadine Spier (see Basket Workshop) and then about a week later I attempted the medium-sized one and found that I had forgotten everything. In addition I was using some local needles whose gauge is much finer. Finishing was a struggle. The larger one is much more on track with my memory restored. It was done with some pine needles that I purchased whose gauge was much larger. In comparison, now that I know better what I am doing, I do like the thinner needles better but do need more experience. On to Chapter Three.