Share a Basket sunday

Good Morning Friends,

The basket I wove here has a 9" square wooden handle as one of the spokes.  It looks rectangular in the photo, but it is square.  I used 11/64" accents in hunter green, burgundy and navy blue in the basket and used all three of them again in the braided handle.

 

Today is our church picnic.  The weather has been wonderful lately yet in the late afternoon, the clouds often roll in with showers.  We're hoping for no rain this afternoon.  Hope the weather is lovely wherever you are.

 

Baskets of Blessings,

Nancy

Think Pink Raffle - Last Call for all Prizes

Hi Friends,
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and my Think Pink Raffle is getting ready to go into full swing.  If there are any of you wanting to donate prizes, please get them to me ASAP.  I'll send you my mailing address privately.  You may contact me at basketmaster_nancy@yahoo.com  Starting in September the raffle will begin.  You can read more about the raffle HERE.
Remember all money raised will go to the Susan G. Komen Foundation for the cure against breast cancer.  Thank you to everyone who has contributed and helping to make this a success.
Blessings to you all,
Nancy

Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend.  This basket is a tiny wall basket using 3/8" stakes.  The little curls are pieces of reed that are twisted and woven in after the basket is completed.  Enjoy!

Baskets of Blessings,

Nancy

Creating Custom Colors for Dying Reed

As many of you know, I use Rit Dye to dye my reed. Have you been to Rit's website to see all the beautiful colors that are available? Did you know that you can create your own custom colors with their custom color recipes? Be sure to check out the site when you are getting ready to dye your reed so you can get just the perfect color. Rit gives very specific recipes for many custom colors. You can just follow their color recipe along with my directions for dying reed that I gave HERE on this previous post.

When you are looking for places to purchase Rit dye, you can find it in stores such as Walmart and Target in the laundry section. Also many grocery stores sell rit dye with their laundry detergent. Keep your eyes open for it at fabric stores like JoAnns and Hancock Fabrics. Finally, sometimes you can get a great deal on it at places like Tuesday Mornings or Big Lots. It's out there and it's available if you just know where to find it. Also, if you are lucky enough to get some at a garage sale, grab it. I've personally not found it to expire and the colors still come out beautiful. I do buy mine in the powder form on most occasions just because it is less expensive than the liquid.

So try a custom color sometime. When you do, be sure to send me an e-mail and post a picture of it. I'd love to see how your custom colors turn out.

Baskets of Blessings,

Nancy

Around the House Saturday and Fright Night

Hi Friends,
How has your summer been?  It has been very busy around the Jacobs' household the past three months and I must confess, I am glad school has started this past week.  Over the summer we took a trip to Kansas to visit my family.  My mother celebrated her 80th birthday in June.  We also celebrated the birthday's of all my kids and all three are now teenagers!  Mike and I had our 22nd wedding anniversary, I had my birthday and we had many visitors staying with us.  Mike and Tim were also fortunate to get to attend the National Scout Jamboree near Washington DC.  This was the 100 year of Boy Scouts.  It has been one thing after another here and I'm ready for a slow season before the holidays.

Something else that has been cool is the remaking of the movie "Fright Night" here.  For the past two weeks they have been filming in my neighborhood.  One of the girls' friends even got to be an extra.  I must confess, I'm not familiar with the actors/actresses in the movie, but still it has been exciting to see all that has been involved in a real movie production just a few blocks from my house.  They film from 7 PM to 5 AM.  They want the night time setting, but boy they sure use a lot of lights.  One thing is for sure, there is an immense amount of set up and prep work and only a little amount of "action".  You can only imagine all the set up of lights, props, filters cranes and other things and even a rain machine.  I hope the movie is a success with good ratings.  Below is a bit from the Associated Press about the movie.

RIO RANCHO, N.M. (AP) - A remake of the 1985 horror and comedy film "Fright Night" has begun filming in Albuquerque and Rio Rancho.
Work will continue through October. State officials say the DreamWorks production is expected to employ about 175 New Mexico residents as cast and crew.

Gov. Bill Richardson says New Mexico's film industry has shown it is versatile enough to handle any kind of production or genre - including vampire films.

"Fright Night" is the story of a teenage boy who is convinced his neighbor is a vampire.

The remake stars Colin Farrell, Toni Collette, Anton Yelchin, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse. It will be directed by Craig Gillespie and produced by Michael De Luca and Alison R. Rosenzweig.

I wish I could say that I've been weaving.  I could give you a hundred excuses such as it's been too hot, or company or this or that, but I haven't woven since June.  I had every intention of doing some more YouTube videos this summer but that didn't happen either.  Hopefully this fall will give me a boost in creativity.
 
My garden is looking good and we are enjoying the fruits of my labor.  There is nothing better than home grown tomatoes and roasted veges like zucchini and eggplant.

Basket Weaving - Facts about Twining

Twining--A basketry technique using two or more sets of elements in which one set encircles the other.

Did you know that the first use of 'twining' was probably to hold twigs and sticks together to construct shelter walls?

Twining has also been used in ancient times by people as they spaced out twined rows to make traps and fish nets. They spaced their twined rows closer together to make lightweight baskets.

Stiff twining materials include: reed, rattan, cane, ropes, stiff grasses and stems of plants.

Flexible materials for twining include: cords, twine, jute and yarn among others.

I use twining on most every basket. On round or oval baskets I use twining to form the base. On square or rectangular baskets I use twining to stabilize the base and this keeps the base's shape. On some baskets, I will use twining on the sides for an interesting visual element.

You can begin by crimping one piece of material on itself and twining with just that one piece. You may also twine with two pieces of similar elements. An interesting technique is to use two pieces of the same size reed but have they dyed different colors and twining with the two colors. This is very pretty.

Enjoy twining and Happy Basket Weaving,

Nancy

Share a Basket Sunday - Kitchen Utensil Basket

Hi Friends,
This is my old kitchen utensil basket.  Since this picture was taken I have since cut it off it's wooden base.  It received so much use that it finally got holes poked in the reed from the utensil handles!  The cross stitch design and the lashing on the rim are made from space dyed reed.

Remember, baskets can last many, many years with care, but when you use one as roughly as I used this, there are times to say good-bye to them.  If you have a wooden base such as on this basket, or a wooden handle, cut the reed off the base or the handle and many times the wooden parts can be used again.  It is those wooden parts that are expensive and they can be used on another basket.

Baskets of Blessings,
Nancy

Today's Hand(y) Basket Weaving Tip

My hands can get so dry and having them in reed water does not help. Here is a simple tip to help keep our basket weaving hands soft. When you put water in your bucket to soak your reed, just put a small squirt of inexpensive hair conditioner into the water and swish it around. When I say a small squirt, I mean about a marble size amount of conditioner to about 2 gallons of water. I keep a sample size bottle of hair conditioner in with my basket weaving tools at all time. This will not hurt the reed and will help keep your hands smooth.
Happy Weaving!
Nancy

Share a Basket Sunday - Coffee Filter Basket

This basket makes me smile.  It is in my cabinet and holds my coffee filters and measuring spoon and I see it each and every morning.

Hope you all have a blessed Sunday.

Nancy