The basket maker

by Luther Weston Turner

This chapter contains all that will be said, in this booklet, about mats. But let me say,—“Not half has been told” of the designs which might be woven into mats and basket covers. Read over the first chapters on weaving and then see how many designs can be thought out by one who does some thinking for himself.

Figure 1 shows six mats. A and B are the same diameter, of equally good workmanship, and are woven with the same kind of weaving. So are C and D. To be critical, A lacks color. It is supplied in B. The spirals in C seem to be “in the air,” neither starting from anything nor ending anywhere. In D this is overcome by starting them from a band of color and having them die into a similar band, thus giving unity to the whole design. Woven bands in poor proportion are worse than plain weaving. Just enough color must be added in the right place to give proper tone and balance.

Figure 2 shows another device for illustrating work. This gives the construction of closed borders. The four illustrated are the simplest which can be made. In weaving them around the edge of a mat the weaving is started either at the top or right hand side and continued around in the direction of the movement of the hands of a clock. When using these borders on a basket the weaving is started on the side nearest to you and continues from left to right, while the basket itself is moved from right to left. In A and B the left hand figure shows the starting of the first row of the weaving and the right hand figure the finished row.

Let us suppose the left hand spoke in each case is No. 1 and that the others follow to the right in order. In A, No. 1 goes behind No. 2 and out; No. 2 behind No. 3 and out; and so on around the circumference, the last spoke going behind No. 1 and out of the loop left by it in going behind No. 2. Pull all ends tightly to the right, finishing the first row as at A, (left). For the second row, start with any spoke, put it in front of the next to the right and through the loop, into the inside of the basket just before getting to the next spoke. A (right) shows a portion of the finished border. The ends of the spokes are next cut off just inside of the border and close to it. In B, in the first row each spoke goes to the right behind two and out. In the next row in front of two and through to the inside just before getting to the next. In the first row of C, each goes behind one and out and in the second row, in front of two and to the inside. In D, each goes behind two and out in the first row, and in front of three and in, in the second row. If the spokes are approximately one inch apart A will take 3½ inches outside of overcasting, B 5½ inches, C 4½ inches, and D 6½ inches.

Mat B, Fig. 1, is made as follows: For material—Eight pieces of No. 5 rattan 17½ inches long and some No. 2 natural and colored weavers. Split four of the No. 5 pieces and put the other four through them.

The center is started with a colored weaver, as shown at E, Fig. 3. Double the weaver near its center and put the loop back of the horizontal group and to the left of the vertical group, having one weaver come to the front above the horizontal group and the other to the front below it. Bring the lower one to the right and up diagonally across the vertical group, and then down behind the horizontal group and to the front. Then bring the upper one to the right, diagonally across the vertical group, and to the left behind the vertical group below the horizontal. This will bring the weavers in the exact position shown in the cut. The whole thing may now be revolved until the weavers come above the horizontal group, and the weaving may progress according to the directions for a sixteen spoke center (Figure 12, previous chapter). When the spokes are evenly separated into singles the weaving should be about 1½ inches in diameter.

Cut off the weavers on the back side and start a natural weaver as shown in Figure 4. Weave with this until the work is about four inches in diameter, using the decorative feature spoken of in chapter I, Fig. [5], Indian method. Figure [5] shows the weaver passing behind two spokes in order that it may start on the second row of double weaving.

Figure 6 shows the stopping of this weaving and the starting of the band of color. Weave five or six rows of the color and then two rows of natural weaving. Instead of overcasting all around as described in the previous chapter, the weaver may be stopped by tucking it through the last row of weaving once, as shown at A, Fig. 7. In Figure 7 notice also the single spiral made by the consecutive crossing of two spokes by the weaver as the weaving changes from one course to the next. This is a result of the Indian method of working one weaver with an even number of spokes. If the above single overcast of one stitch does not seem satisfactory, overcast the edge of the mat as shown in Figure 7, chapter II.