While the wood bottoms have been used for this class of work for a number of years, the roll is new and is very popular with those who have seen and used it. The roll can be placed in many ways on different-shaped baskets, and other reed pieces, so that it is best to master this piece of work thoroughly before attempting the other, or larger, pieces that will be described later, in other articles.
The description is for a basket 5 in. in diameter and 3 in. high, as shown in the illustration. A disk of wood, 1/4 in. thick and 5 in. in diameter, is required. Basswood makes the best bottom, but pine, or cedar, will do. Cut a board about 6 in. square, and draw diagonal lines on it intersecting at the center, then draw a circle, 5 in. in diameter, as shown in Fig. 1; also another circle, using the same center, 4-3/4 in. in diameter. Set compass points about 5/8 in. apart, and step off spaces on the inner circle to make 24 points. This will have to be tried out more than once, to get the spaces to come out evenly and just have the right number of points. Holes are bored with a 1/8-in. bit, just inside of the inner circle, back of the places marked by the compass points, as shown in Fig. 2. Cut the board on the outside circle with a coping, or turn, saw, to make the circle, as in Fig. 3. Do not saw out the circle before boring the holes, as otherwise the disk might split out in places.
The Bottom is Cut from a Piece of Wood to Give Strength and to Avoid the Most Difficult Part of the Weaving (Fig. 1)
(Fig. 2)
(Fig. 3)