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Woven Basket

Woven baskets are great for both decoration and storage.  They come in an array of sizes, shapes, materials and colors.  There is a perfect woven basket to decorate every room in your house or to store your household items in.  They are very durable because of their excellent craftsmen ship holds the basket tightly together.  There are many different ways to weave a basket and each has a different look to the finished product.  Every woven basket must contain three basic elements: the base, side walls, and the rim.  A basket can also have a lid or a handle but those are not necessary for the construction of the basket. 

A woven basket must begin with a base.  The base can be made from wood or it can be woven.  It can be shaped into almost any shape or size imaginable.  The side walls are then attached to the base and extend to the height that you desire the basket to be.  The more side walls the basket has the more support the finished product will have.  Reeds are then woven through the side walls of the basket, over one, under the next.  The tighter you are able to weave the reeds and the tighter they are pressed together will make the basket more durable as a finished product.  This process is continued until you have almost reached the end of the side walls.  The side walls then need to be attached to a rim which will give the basket better shape and support. 

One of the most popular types of woven baskets are made by splint weaving.  This technique uses only flat materials, like reed and cane.  Cane is from the bark of the tree, and reed is from the vine.  The can is then used to make the basic elements of the basket and the reed is woven through.  Round fibered weaving is done with many different materials which are processed to be round and stick like.  Because sticks are not malleable they are wetted and heated before they are woven.  This allows the basket maker to make the basket as tight and sturdy as possible.  When the materials dry they become hard so the basket is exceptionally strong. 

 

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