Hallson Gardens

Care to see some more of my slightly unconventional baskets? lol! I do weave very traditional baskets as well, but I thought it would be interesting to experiment a bit this past year...

This is a coiled basket that I made of daylily leaves from my gardens:


The 'pink' one here is a fun sling ribbed basket -- my elderberry lost a branch in a storm this summer and when I picked it up it had a perfect "feel" in my hand, so I wove the branch as a handle, then stained the basket with homemade elderberry dye:


Here I experimented with twined iris leaves from my garden:


I thought long and hard about collecting hosta leaves to make a basket, but I just didn't have enough of the 'color' I wanted this past year. Maybe next autumn.....

Hope you enjoyed them!!!
A.

Those are wonderful!

Thank you, tsneal!

What great ideas! I don't have a decorative bone in my body. It just amazes me how people think things up.

Just wished you were closer, I have a lot of grasses and I hear they make for great baskets?

Remarkable! What talent!

Wow!! Very Cool!!!

What lovely baskets! I love imagination...and you've surely shown YOURS! Thanks for sharing.....Pam

Gee, thanks so much. I never thought of it as using my imagination. For me it's a problem-solving challenge. lol!

karma -- (I love your screen name ) -- I'm sure your long grasses could be used to make fantastic baskets! They would probably be treated like sweetgrass, and though I've never made a sweetgrass basket, I have seen it done. The grass is braided into very long strands and then the strands are either coiled into a (usually solid) shape -- like a straw hat -- or they're woven into an intricate, delicate, open pattern that's shaped. I have a gorgeous breadbasket made like that, and it's almost like straw 'lace'. Beautiful.

I love baskets and weaving (and so many other things!) -- I just wish I had more time to do all of it!

Great baskets!!! You have amazing talent. You and Wanda need to get together and make a straw hat! I bet it would be perfect

Ginger

Thanks for the kind words!

Just thought I'd post that in a strange turn of events, I have become the new basketry instructor for the city's Art Community Center.

There was an 8-week session being offered and the original (new) instructor only showed up for the first week of classes, then blew off the next two, and finally quit (citing work conflicts). I took over after that, in the middle of their first basket. I had to figure out what they were making (and how to complete it) by just looking at what the students had to show me -- and then had to design two more that fit the brief class description, order materials, etc....

After the first night's class, the Director let me know how thrilled the students were with me, and she told me they'd like me to teach any future classes that I'd be willing to teach.

The 8-week session finished last week, and their baskets came out great. As we were ending the final class I asked a few questions about how they liked an 8 week session, how they liked the baskets they'd made, what other basket classes they'd like to see offered, etc. They immediately let me know that they hated the other instructor. lol!

They've asked me to do a one-month exhibit of my baskets in their beautiful facility next year. I'm thrilled! and I chose the month of February. I may be posting some photos of my new baskets occasionally to ask which ones you think I should exhibit.

Congrats!! You must post pictures of the baskets your class makes next time!
Ginger

That's fantastic! An opportunity to exhibit your baskets. Great word of mouth from the students who were so happy with your classes. It's all good!!

Goes to show that you never know when/how an opportunity will pop up!

Thanks, Ginger and Jane!

I wanted to take photos of the class with their baskets, but as soon as I mentioned it they started ducking. Their last basket was most interesting: it was a large twill-weave shaker cathead that requires lots of hand-shaping. Each one was different, but they were all great!

A:

I've been trying to decide which one I like best . . . I love the grace of the daylily coiled basket, but the elderberry one is so perfect because it utilized two parts of the plant! I wish I were close enough to take your class!

Congratulations for making lemonade out of a lemon-situation for your students!!

Arlene