The final shape of the basket depends almost entirely upon the nicety with which these ribs are constructed.

If one wishes to construct the basket so that it will be more than a half-sphere in depth, it can be easily done by making a plan of rings and ribs of the shape wanted and laying out these rings and ribs from that. It may be necessary in teaching younger pupils the construction of these baskets for the teacher to do the drawing and laying out of the size and shape of these ribs, but this process should be thoroughly explained.

If difficulty is found in getting heavy ash splint for the rings and ribs, they may be easily constructed from the hoops of a sugar barrel or even wood from a cheese box, both of which must be soaked and whittled down thin, say to one-sixteenth of an inch in thickness. One of the best melon shaped baskets which I have seen had its rings and ribs constructed from wood taken from a butter box which was about eight inches in diameter. Too much emphasis cannot be placed on the necessity of getting the foundation features of this construction absolutely accurate. This is truer of this shape than of almost any other.

Where it seems impossible to get either the ash splint or other material spoken of, No. 8 or 10 round reed may be split lengthwise and used in the construction of the rings. If these are to be used it will be found necessary to have a greater number of ribs on which to weave than has been spoken of previously. It does not seem wise, however, to attempt a melon shaped basket over four or five inches in diameter with half round reed as a foundation.

“Think it up a little” and see how broad the field of basketry really may become.

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES