Baskets from Nature's Bounty

by Elizabeth Jensen

In just an afternoon or evening, you can fashion beautiful and useful containers from weeds growing by the roadside or the vines and bushes in your own backyard. This handy guide includes thorough information on collecting and preparing common plants for use, plus clear instructions for transforming them into woven, plaited, twined, and coiled baskets.

Genres: Reference

197 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1991

Reviews

[Virginia · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first I almost dismissed this book because the information seemed overwhelming but after a couple of days of basically just staring at the pages, I actually started to read it, and it's really good! It has tons of information on what kind of plants you can make baskets with. But more importantly it taught me that you can make a basket out of almost any kind of plant. If you're waiting for the straightest honeysuckle vine known to man to pop into your hands, it's not going to happen. The book tells how to make splits for woven baskets and what trees to get your splits from. It also tells which kind of grasses, vines, bark, and needles are the best for making other kinds of baskets like the coiled or twined variety. After reading I went exploring for basket-making materials and I felt like everything I saw could be made into a basket of some sort... Actually making the basket on the other hand is much, much more difficult. Although the directions are very clear, with good illustrations, I'm still having a very hard time actually making a basket. I'm not faulting the book for that though; I'm pretty sure I just need more practice. Overall, I think this is a great book for beginning basket-making. Favorite part so far: The book explains how to dry corn husks, rip them into fibers, and then roll them into a sort of rope for basket weaving. Who knew?

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful reference book for plant materials that can be used for basket making. Topics include - regional availability, gathering, preparation, dyeing, storage, as well as the best time of year to gather them.

I would also recommend a wild plant book with good colored pictures for identifying the plants/trees for the area(s) you plan to collect in.

With this book most people will be able to find some of the listed materials near where they live.

[Ami · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent resource for baskets made from natural sources (cattail, dogwood osier, willow, horsetail, etc.)