What is used for basket weaving?
There are many types of natural fibers that can be used to weave a basket, like various kinds of tree bark. For example, grasses, bamboo, vines, oak, willow, reeds, and honeysuckle are all commonly used materials for weaving.
What are the two most common methods of basket weaving?
There are three main weaving techniques: coiling, plaiting and twining. Basketry of the Northwest Coast uses numerous variations of these methods.
What are Choctaw baskets made of?
Early Choctaw baskets are made of split river cane and palmetto, colored with plant dyes. A wide variety of intricate forms were made and developed by ancestral Choctaw people, many of them were used for food preparation, storage/transportation, or as items of gift and exchange.
What are the Choctaw food?
The Choctaw relied a great deal upon corn, and also cultivated beans, squash, pumpkins and sunflowers. They gathered many wild plants, fruits and vegetables from the forests that surrounded their villages. They also relied upon hunting and fishing for subsistence.
How do you prepare honeysuckle for weaving?
Whenever you’re using honeysuckle vine, you’ll want to boil it for 3 reasons, pliability, bugs and bark. Obviously, boiling makes the vines much more pliable and easy to use when weaving. Also, any bugs that are on the vines or in them for that matter will be nixed when you boil the vines.
Why are rivercane baskets double woven?
Double woven baskets were particularly appropriate as storage containers; their dense weave allowed for security and, in some cases, were water repellant. The double weave is not the only way to weave a basket from rivercane. Single weave rivercane baskets have remained an enduring tradition.
How to weave a cane?
The new cane is started behind the same rib, lying on top of the end of the old cane, and thus weaving is continued. Take the 8 equal length sticks. Make 2 pair from 8. ( separate 4-4 sticks) Put 1 pair on another pair in such a way that it make cross in middle. Take another straw of cane (9th stick should be as long as possible).
When did the rivercane basket originate?
In the southern Appalachians, fragments of rivercane baskets have been found that date to the 1400s and 1500s; some scholars believe that this tradition may have begun as early as 600 AD. 1 If there is one craft object that is emblematic of Cherokee culture, it is the rivercane basket.
Does rivercane basketry have a future?
Today’s tradition of rivercane basketry is flourishing due in large part to the efforts of teachers like Lottie Stamper and organizations like Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual. Still, its future rests on three interwoven factors, each a necessity for the tradition to continue.