Materials required:
A green pottery bowl 5½ inches in diameter at the upper edge and 3¼ at the bottom,
30 pieces of pale-green No. 00 rattan 48 inches long,
2 lengths of pale-green No. 00 rattan.
This green bowl, inclosed with a knotted covering of pale-green rattan, may be used as a hanging flower-pot or for cut flowers. The original was a piece of deep-green Spanish pottery, but if one can make the bowl, so much the better—as long as the dimensions are those given above. In starting, fifteen pieces of No. 00 green rattan which have been wet until quite soft and pliable are laid side by side in a group which is doubled at its centre, and the ends tied securely together, about two inches from where it was doubled. One group of ends, containing fifteen pieces, is made flat and even, and then separated into three groups of five pieces each and braided in a three-stranded plait ten and a half inches long. It is then tied securely. The other group is separated and braided in the same way, keeping the strands flat and the plaiting close and even. Fifteen more pieces of rattan of the same size and length (which have been wet until pliable) are now passed through the loop made by doubling the other pieces, bent at the middle and tied as the others were, two inches from the place where they were doubled.
The ends of these pieces are also braided in two plaits for ten and a half inches and then tied firmly.
Holding the braids so that the ends of the strands turn up, and starting at about two inches from where the braiding stops, a pliable piece of No. 00 rattan is doubled around the pair of ends on the left of one of the groups, and is woven in pairing upon these ends and those succeeding them—keeping them about half an inch apart. As there is an uneven number of ends in each group, the fifteenth one is brought beside the first end in the next group, and the pairing woven upon them (see [Fig. 50]). Thus it goes on, until the circuit has been made, when the bowl is fitted into the ring (the braided handles, of course, turning up; and the ring about an inch below the top of the bowl). If the ring is too loose, the stitches may be wet and drawn up a little; if too tight, they are wet and stretched. Two more rows are woven with the handles turning down; then the work is reversed, so that the unfinished ends shall turn down. The ends are wet until soft and pliable, and at three-quarters of an inch from the last row of pairing they are tied into a row of the knots described on page 132. A second row of knots is made at an inch from the first. The case is then fitted over the bowl and wet if it is necessary in order to mould it in to fit the shape. Turn the bowl upside down, and at half an inch from the last row of knotting double a pliable piece of No. 00 rattan around a pair of ends anywhere on the circumference of the covering and weave one row of pairing, drawing the ends of the strands in, to fit the bottom of the bowl. This will bring them about three-eighths of an inch apart. Another row of pairing is woven, and then a base is made as follows: After the ends have been wet until pliable, start with any one of the pairs, bringing it over the first pair on the right, under the second, over the third, and under the fourth, taking care to leave the base loose and open where it begins, that the last strands may be easily woven in (see [Fig. 51]). The next pair of ends on the right is woven in the same way over the first on its right, under the second, over the third, and under the fourth. So it goes on around the bowl until the time comes to weave in the last strands, which will not be difficult if the caution in regard to leaving the beginning open and loose has been heeded. When the base is finished, wet it thoroughly, and draw up the strands or let them out until the edge is even and on a line with the bottom of the bowl. The ends of the strands are then cut so that the tip of each will lie behind the last strand it went under.
