9. BASIC BASKETRY TOOL SET, AND WEAVING YOUR OWN TRAY (Basketry Pt 3 of 3)

What’s in the cheapskate’s basic basketry tool kit?  What is a tension tray and why is it tense? And how can you make your own beautiful Catalan tray from foraged materials? All this and more! If you’re new to basketry you don’t have to outlay a lot of money for tools. You can buy tools online or you can use common household and workshop tools as substitutes. I tell you how to assemble a basic basketry tool set. One of the easiest basket-weaves to begin with, if you’ve never tried basketry before, is the Catalan tray or tension tray. This works well with either bought, home grown or foraged materials.  They can be made any size and from most woody materials, such as dogwood, beech, spruce, willow, larch, ivy honeysuckle or grapevine. Anything that grows long slender flexible shoots can be used. They have a round or oval frame, with two pairs of cross ribs, and numerous closely spaced weavers at right angles to the cross ribs. This is the third of the Craftsteading Basketry episodes.  See our photos on Instagram at Mill Cottage, the Little House on the Peninsula Watch our videos on YouTube at Craftsteading Visit our website at www.craftsteading.com