Today I finally put my Christmas tree and other Christmas decorations in the storage closet in my carport. In that closet I found several baskets I have collected over the years and never used. I just kept thinking I would use them for making up gifts or display them on my walls, but I never have and don’t think I am going to. So, will be donating them soon. Looking at all the different kinds of baskets, I marveled at the skill it must take to make one of these creations by hand. I do have a handmade basket I bought in Hawaii and treasure its craftsmanship. According to the April 26, 2019 article “How these Ghanian women have made basket weaving into a million dollar industry” at CNN.com, basket weaving is a skill learned in childhood in the African country of Ghana. In 2017 Ghana exported approximately $800,000 worth of baskets to the international market. According to the article “Native American Basket Weaving: History & Techniques” at study.com, the oldest examples of Native American basket weaving have been found in the American Southwest. The dry climate of the Southwest helped preserve these baskets believed to be around 8,000 years old. Basket weaving is an ancient and fascinating art. Let’s learn more about it.
According to Wikipedia, basket weaving — also basketry or basket making — is the process of weaving or sewing pliable materials into three-dimensional artifacts, such as baskets, mats, mesh bags or even furniture. Craftspeople and artists who specialize in making baskets may be known as basket makers and basket weavers. Basket weaving is also a rural craft.
Basketry is made from a variety of fibrous or pliable materials — anything that will bend and form a shape. Examples include pine, straw, willow, oak, wisteria, forsythia, vines, stems, animal hair, hide, grasses, thread and fine wooden splints. There are many applications for basketry, from simple mats to hot air balloon gondolas.
Many Indigenous peoples are renowned for their basket-weaving techniques.
History
While basket weaving is one of the widest spread crafts in the history of any human civilization, it is hard to say just how old the craft is, because natural materials like wood, grass and animal remains decay naturally and constantly. So, without proper preservation, much of the history of basket making has been lost and is simply speculated upon.
Middle East
The earliest reliable evidence for basket weaving technology in the Middle East comes from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic phases of Tell Sabi Abyad II and Çatalhöyük. Although no actual basketry remains were recovered, impressions on floor surfaces and on fragments of bitumen suggest that basketry objects were used for storage and architectural purposes. The extremely well-preserved Early Neolithic ritual cave site of Nahal Hemar yielded thousands of intact perishable artefacts, including basketry containers, fabrics and various types of cordage. Additional Neolithic basketry impressions have been uncovered at Tell es-Sultan in Jericho, Netiv HaGdud, Beidha, Shir, Tell Sabi Abyad III, Domuztepe, Umm Dabaghiyah, Tell Maghzaliyah, Tepe Sarab, Jarmo and Ali Kosh.
The oldest known baskets were discovered in Faiyum in upper Egypt and have been carbon dated to between 10,000 and 12,000 years old, earlier than any established dates for archaeological evidence of pottery vessels, which were too heavy and fragile to suit far-ranging hunter-gatherers. The oldest and largest complete basket — discovered in the Negev in the Middle East — dates to 10,500 years old. However, baskets seldom survive, as they are made from perishable materials. The most common evidence of a knowledge of basketry is an imprint of the weave on fragments of clay pots, formed by packing clay on the walls of the basket and firing.
Industrial Revolution
During the Industrial Revolution, baskets were used in factories and for packing and deliveries. Wicker furniture became fashionable in Victorian society.
World Wars
During the World Wars some pannier baskets were used for dropping supplies of ammunition and food to the troops.
Types
Basketry may be classified into four types:
Coiled basketry, using grasses, rushes and pine needles.
Plaiting basketry, using materials that are wide and braid-like: palms, yucca or New Zealand flax.
Twining basketry, using materials from roots and tree bark. This is a weaving technique where two or more flexible weaving elements or "weavers" cross each other as they weave through the stiffer radial spokes.
Materials used in basketry
Weaving with rattan core — also known as reed — is one of the more popular techniques being practiced, because it is easily available. Rattan, also spelled ratan, is the name for roughly 600 species of Old World climbing palms belonging to subfamily Calamoideae. It is pliable, and when woven correctly, it is very sturdy. Also, while traditional materials like oak, hickory and willow might be hard to come by, reed is plentiful and can be cut into any size or shape that might be needed for a pattern. This includes flat reed which is used for most square baskets, oval reed which is used for many round baskets and round reed which is used to twine; another advantage is that reed can also be dyed easily to look like oak or hickory.
Many types of plants can be used to create baskets: dog rose, honeysuckle, blackberry briars once the thorns have been scraped off and many other creepers. Willow was used for its flexibility and the ease with which it could be grown and harvested. Willow baskets were commonly referred to as wickerwork in England.
Water hyacinth is used as a base material in some areas where the plant has become a serious pest. For example, a group in Ibadan, Nigeria led by American-born entrepreneur Achenyo Idachaba have been creating handicrafts.
Vine
Because vines have always been readily accessible and plentiful for weavers, they have been a common choice for basketry purposes. The runners are preferable to the vine stems because they tend to be straighter. Pliable materials like kudzu vine to more rigid, woody vines like bittersweet, grapevine, honeysuckle, wisteria and smokevine are good basket weaving materials. Although many vines are not uniform in shape and size, they can be manipulated and prepared in a way that makes them easily used in traditional and contemporary basketry. Most vines can be split and dried to store until use. Once vines are ready to be used, they can be soaked or boiled to increase pliability.
Wicker
The type of baskets that reed is used for are most often referred to as "wicker" baskets, though another popular type of weaving known as "twining" is also a technique used in most wicker baskets.
Popular styles of wicker baskets are vast, but some of the more notable styles in the United States are Nantucket Baskets and Williamsburg Baskets. Nantucket Baskets are large and bulky, while Williamsburg Baskets can be any size, so long as the two sides of the basket bow out slightly and get larger as it is weaved up.
Basketry around the world
Asia
South Asia
Basketry exists throughout the Indian subcontinent. Since palms are found in the south, basket weaving with this material has a long tradition in Tamil Nadu and surrounding states.
East Asia
Chinese bamboo weaving, Taiwanese bamboo weaving, Japanese bamboo weaving and Korean bamboo weaving go back centuries. Bamboo is the prime material for making all sorts of baskets, since it is the main material that is available and suitable for basketry. Other materials that may be used are rattan and hemp palm. In Japan, bamboo weaving is registered as a traditional Japanese craft with a range of fine and decorative arts.
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia has thousands of sophisticated forms of indigenous basketry produce, many of which use ethnic-endemic techniques. Materials used vary considerably, depending on the ethnic group and the basket art intended to be made. Bamboo, grass, banana, reeds and trees are common mediums.
Oceania
Polynesia
Basketry is a traditional practice across the Pacific islands of Polynesia. It uses natural materials like pandanus, coconut fiber, hibiscus fiber and New Zealand flax, according to local custom. Baskets are used for food and general storage, carrying personal goods and fishing.
Australia
Basketry has been traditionally practiced by the women of many Aboriginal Australian peoples across the continent for centuries. The Ngarrindjeri women of southern South Australia have a tradition of coiled basketry, using the sedge grasses growing near the lakes and mouth of the Murray River. The fibre basketry of the Gunditjmara people is noted as a cultural tradition, in the World Heritage Listing of the Budj Bim Cultural Landscape in western Victoria, Australia, used for carrying the short-finned eels that were farmed by the people in an extensive aquaculture system.
North America
Arctic and Subarctic
Arctic and Subarctic tribes use sea grasses for basketry. At the dawn of the 20th century, Inupiaq men began weaving baskets from baleen — a substance derived from whale jaws — and incorporating walrus ivory and whale bone in basketry.
Northeastern
In New England, they weave baskets from swamp ash. The wood is peeled off a felled log in strips, following the growth rings of the tree. Maine and Great Lakes tribes use black ash splints. They also weave baskets from sweet grass, as do Canadian tribes. Birchbark is used throughout the Subarctic, by a wide range of tribes from Dene to Ojibwa to Mi'kmaq. Birchbark baskets are often embellished with dyed porcupine quills. Some of the more notable styles are Nantucket Baskets and Williamsburg Baskets.
Southeastern
Southeastern tribes, such as the Atakapa, Cherokee, Choctaw and Chitimacha traditionally use split river cane for basketry. A particularly difficult technique for which these tribes are known is double-weave or double-wall basketry, in which each basketry is formed by an interior and exterior wall seamlessly woven together. Double-weave, although rare, is still practiced today, for instance by Mike Dart of the Cherokee Nation.
Northwestern
Northwestern tribes use spruce root, cedar bark and swamp grass. Ceremonial basketry hats are particularly valued by Northeast tribes and are worn today at potlatches, gift-giving feasts. Traditionally, women wove basketry hats, and men painted designs on them. Delores Churchill is a Haida from Alaska who began weaving in a time when Haida basketry was in decline, but she and others have ensured it will continue by teaching the next generation.
California and Great Basin
Indigenous peoples of California and Great Basin are known for their basketry skills. Coiled baskets are particularly common, woven from sumac, yucca, willow and basket rush. The works by Californian basket makers include many pieces in museums.
Louisa Keyser or Dat So La Lee (ca. 1829 - December 6, 1925) was a celebrated Native American basket weaver. A member of the Washoe people in northwestern Nevada, her basketry came to national prominence during the Arts and Crafts movement and the "basket craze" of the early 20th century. Many museums of art and anthropology preserve and display her baskets, such as the Penn Museum in Philadelphia, the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., the Nevada State Museum in Carson City and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Southwestern
Southwestern Native Americans are known for their basketry skills. Annie Antone (born 1955) is a Native American Tohono O'odham basket weaver from Gila Bend, Arizona. She has exhibited throughout the country, as well as the British Museum, and won awards at the Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair and Market, Red Earth, Gallup Ceremonial, the O’odham Tash Rodeo and Fair and the Santa Fe Indian Market. She was first invited to exhibit and demonstrate basketry at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. in 1992 and has been invited back by the National Museum of the American Indian many times.
Mexico
In northwestern Mexico, the Seri people continue to "sew" baskets using splints of the limberbush plant, Jatropha cuneata.
Africa
Bolga baskets
The Bolga baskets are made by the Gurune community in Ghana. They are made from veta vera straw which is found locally. They are round-shaped baskets with sturdy handles and can actually be used as means of storage. Some baskets even come with leather handles and certain basket patterns can take up to three days for weaving.
Bukedo and raffia baskets
Bukedo and raffia baskets from Uganda are made using dyed raffia which is weaved around banana leaf stems. These baskets are dyed in bright colors and made of different patterns as well. The baskets are mostly used as decorative items in houses.
Bwindi baskets
Bwindi baskets from Uganda are weaved using local grasses and papyrus. These are open bowl-shaped baskets and can be used to hold fruit and other decorative items on dining tables.
Coiled sisal baskets
Coiled sisal baskets are made from the sisal plant that grows in abundance throughout Swaziland. The sisal fibers are sturdy, so the baskets are sturdy too. These are the most labor-intensive of the African baskets, as it takes around 30 hours to create an 8-inch basket. Only very skilled weavers are able to weave a perfect sisal basket. The weaving is complex, and the patterns delightfully bright. These baskets make good decorative items and can even be displayed on walls. The people of Swaziland give the baskets as gifts which signifies a long and happy life.
Kenya beaded wire baskets
Kenya beaded wire baskets are put together by stringing tiny colored glass beads on wires in a pattern. The beauty of it is that the beaded wire baskets are made using only a pair of pliers to cut the wire and give it the desired shape. In Kenyan tradition, the beaded wire baskets are mostly given as gifts. These African baskets can be used to store jewelry or ornaments of daily use.
Makenge bush root baskets
Makenge are large bushes that are found throughout Zambia. The roots of this bush are cut and peeled, and the interior is used to make the baskets. The beautiful baskets are woven in intricate patterns and given the shapes of vases and other forms.
Lutindzi grass baskets
Lutindzi grass baskets are from Lutindzi grass found on the mountains of Swaziland. They are woven in intricate patterns which makes them very beautiful. These baskets are woven by local women, and the patterns use traditional weaving techniques.
Nubian baskets
Nubian baskets from Sudan are made from papyrus stalks on the inside and palm leaves on the outside. It is a complicated weaving process which produces a top-quality basket with wonderful patterns and color dyes.
Tonga baskets
Tonga baskets from Zambia are woven using creepers, palm leaves and tiny vines. These are simple style baskets mostly used for grain winnowing. The baskets are colored using natural vegetable dyes.
Wolof Baskets
Wolof Baskets are woven by the Wolof people native to Senegal. These are coil baskets with rigid walls and soft colors. They are mostly used as a home décor item and can come in various shapes and sizes.
Zulu ilala palm baskets
One of the most famous basket types in the world, Zulu ilala palm baskets are woven by the popular Zulu tribe in South Africa. The pot-shaped baskets are hand-woven using grass and ilala palm leaves. Zulu ilala palm baskets are used as decorative items due to the attractive finishing and color combinations, using natural materials which are found locally.
Zulu telephone wire baskets
Zulu telephone wire baskets from South Africa are very popular and come in gorgeous colors. These are collectors’ items, but also accessible for daily home use. They are made with telephone wire, originally discarded pieces, but now are bought in special factories — creating employment for the makers of the wire and the artisans that produce the baskets.
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