"Weavers Words" Vol. 1 Iss. 14 Compiled By David Collins Owned By Weavers Everywhere Date Sent: June 02, 1997 Subscribers: 171 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Hello Everyone, I would like to apologize if some of your messages aren't spaced properly in the digest. I have been trying to fix the problem. I compile each digest in Microsoft Word 97 and then transfer it to Netscape Communicator for mailing. Somewhere in the transfer is misaligning some of your messages. I assure everyone that it is currently out of my control. I'm not sure why some messages are affected while others aren't. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Take Care, David Collins davidc@iei.net @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Subject: tulip handles Date: Sat, 31 May 1997 14:39:03 -1000 From: The Keener Clan To: davidc@iei.net Aloha! I thank you all for the well wishes for my chicken-pox bout---but as it turns out, it was not the pox, but a viral infection my dog happened to pick up from Hawaiian grass and gave to me. Of course, it didn*t affect him, but it was a long itchy week before I saw a dr. who did the diagnosing (in the ambulance bay as they wouldn*t let me sit amongst the un-blemished patients!) But thanks to pills and creams, I*m better. Roberta asked about the tulip D handle. Is that the handle that is narrow at the base but grows outward toward the top--sort of a thin Williamsburg? I*ve seen them for sale here and there, but have never seen a pattern for one. Whose pattern is it, how tall is the basket? I*ve taken the summer off from weaving to get the family moved, graduated, etc. and I*m teaching only once a week. I*m finding that my shoulder has stopped aching and my fingertips are actually smooth for now. What a change. My mother is visiting and thinks the birdhouse I paid $89 hard earned dollars for is lovely, so she*s taking the hideous thing back to Virginia--good riddance to bad rubbish.--the birdhouse, not my mother. Does anyone know of a good purse pattern that would be simple to do and look spiffy? Aloha nui loa, Lois Keener Honolulu @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Subject: Lurking Date: Sun, 01 Jun 97 12:54:43 GMT From: oldcrows@uninet.net To: davidc@iei.net Hello everyone, Another one who has been lurking! Thanks to David for such a great job with this list. Glad to be part of David's list. My name is Sandra Kervin, and I live in Maine. I have been weaving baskets for 7 years. Another addicted soul! Haven't stopped since. I'm a stay at home mother with three childern. I supply about 12 shops with my baskets, do craft fairs, teach, and do the local farmers market in the summer. My daughter helps me and she weaves with me at the market. People are amazed to see a 12 years old weaving. I have my own separate building for all of my weaving. I can just leave the mess and not see it from home. Beverly: I have a pattern using a 5" bean pot handle from Baskets of Joy. The pattern is by Mary Skillings. It is called a Shaker Bean Pot. A contineous twill weave, a cute little basket. Will join in at another time. I've said enough. I've enjoyed hearing from all of you. Have met a couple of great ladies from the list. Sandra Kervin, Maine @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Subject: Weavers Word Date: Sun, 01 Jun 1997 22:03:10 +0900 From: Steve & Kat Montminy Organization: 909th ARS To: davidc@iei.net Hi, I am trying to make a blanket basket by Carol Matteson. I ordered it from Basketpatterns.com. The directions to the base are very confusing. Has anyone every made this basket? It says to use fillers- which I've used before but it doesn't say what to do with them when I have to upset the sides. Can anyone help me? Thanks Kat P.S. David I think your doing a wonderful job keeping everyone informed. Also thanks to everyone who Emailed me with the stain question I had. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Subject: Fw: active chats Date: Sun, 1 Jun 1997 12:36:54 -0400 From: "Joy Moody" To: Hi everyone. I'd like to thank those lurkers who have joined in, & encourage those still lurking to share their comments, questions etc. We'd love to hear from you! You all have something to contribute! Thought I'd share my antler find: last weekend my husband and I went to one of those flea markets that are so popular here in Maine. Well, what did I happen upon but a moose rack....somewhere between three and four feet across! Can you envision what kind of basket THAT would make!? Now, if I happened to have an extra $230 it would have been a project worth pursuing........a real museum piece, I'm sure! I recently was fortunate enough to receive permission from our Town Manager to remove the bark from a number of birch trees that came down in the winter storms. I now have a nice stash of bark to play with. I've never used this material, so any recommendations will be gladly accepted! I'm currently working on a HUGE basket to replace my "clinical counselor" sign that came down when I closed my practice. The basket is round, two feet across & God knows how tall it will be in the end. Working with stakes that are longer than a man is tall is quite a challenge! I find I love working on this basket. It could easily hold a medium size dog or a child! So many !!!!!!!!'s Isn't basket making great? Joy Moody Sign of the Crow Hampden, ME @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Subject: Re: "Weavers Words" Vol. 1 Iss. 9 Date: Sun, 25 May 97 23:33:14 PDT From: "BasketMaker's Shop" To: David Collins References: 1 , 2 Boy, it seems like a long time! I've been right out straight these days too, but it's always nice to read the newsletters from everyone on this new list after experiencing the mess of the other list. I also went to Stowe for 2 days and had a great time learning to make birch bark baskets. My husband drove me up there ( a 2 hour drive ) and sat in the parking lot for 5-6 hours until I was finished. He says he loves me and I guess this was the test of love!!! Last year I took classes with Bob Coker on working with ash trees & oak trees. When I got home no tree on our 100 acre lot was safe. This year no birch is safe ! Birch bark baskets were really interesting. They are so strong and can be decorated with such beautiful designs, but for now I only have time for what I do best. Maybe when I'm old and gray...oh well, may be OLD not gray , I'll change over. I spent most of my winter days making Nantucket baskets with wooden lids. I also bought a 12" oval mould and made some really nice bread baskets and taller baskets with a single handle or double handle. I was surprised to see Gladys Ellis 12" ovals for $490.00 at Stowe Vt. and it gave me alot of joy to see their worth.! Of course she does a gorgeous job. I had my first 3 day show this memorial week end and thank goodness the windy days that we were experiencing had stopped in time to do the show. I wasn't going to do it if the wind had prevailed. And that bring me to the topic of tents so close to each other and damage that could be experienced at shows. I found that my tent with sides that zippered down gave me alot of protection from the neighbors. I also had pottery next to me and on the other side we had a man that made frogs from nuts & bolts...They were really funny and he had a very profitable weekend with these stupid little frogs .I can't help but laugh about it! ! After the show my husband & I had dinner out and then stopped at Basket World....20% off, girls...hurry in. ! And what junk,,,I felt better as we drove home afterwards. !!!! But, another thing that I wanted to mention was suits! A friend of mine had someone trip over one of her tie downs for her tent. The woman is in the process of suing her for a multitude of problems she now has! My friend has taken steps to protect this women from possessing her house, because her insurance doesn't provide her with enough money to please this women ! My friend had the insurance company provided her with something called the homestead protect , something or rather ??? so this woman can't attach her house!!! And you think you've got problems. I sometimes use fabric softener in my water, during the winter months. it helps my hands out and I have never had problems with the reeds slipping around. I don't use a lot of this stuff in the water and my students will comment that the shop smells like spring time. So , each to their own ! This variegated reed seems to be turning out to be the hottest thing. I had a lady come into the shop and she wanted me to teach her how to make Grace Kabels twilled utility basket, but she had her own ideas of what she wanted it to look like. We had fun picking out our own colors and making the basket, but I did notice that the colored reed that she bought ( * at $12.00 a pound * ) was turning a pastel shade. I like to dye a hard color so it doesn't fad as fast, and then later I like to put on 2 coats of clear stain on the basket.. It seems to make the colors more vibrant if you don't want to add a colored stain to the basket. I just finished a twilled sewing basket with green and purple variegated reed. It really looks hot ! After this show is over I'm going to dye reed with green and teal colors and make cloverleaf bowl, which has already been sold before its made ! Oh, I forgot, someone asked me about the Drum sander. Martha W group uses it and that's how I found out about it. Her retired mould maker showed me how to use it and I love it. You have so much more control when you make handles or anything. It is a round sander that is filler up with air and makes contoured sanding easier. They can be expensive and hard to find but it makes your job much easier. Who would guess that GIRLS would need all these manly tools to make baskets.! Can we all now grunt like Tim the tool man, no that wouldn't be too cool ! Lisha Kimball Webster, N H Basketmaker's Shop web-site * http://www.weavenet.com/Basketmaker's-Shop.html @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Subject: Re: "Weavers Words" Vol. 1 Iss. 13 Date: Sun, 01 Jun 97 19:11:21 PDT From: "BasketMaker's Shop" To: David Collins References: 1 , 2 Hi all, sounds like everyone is having fun weaving. I just finished the Memorial show monday. Thank goodness thats over ! 3 day fairs are always so exhausting. My grand babies just left so in the morning we can start weaving again. The show was interesting and I thought that you might like to hear what happened and how I survived the sales Sometimes it feels like 90% of New Hampshire people are weavers , and from what I've been hearing from all of you out there, the sales have been down at the fairs for you also. We did fairly well for a 3 day fair but a fee of over $200.00 can kill you. I had no other basket makers to compete with so that was a plus. The last day of the fair I knew was going to be a bummer ! So I decided to have a Sale!. That always starts a feeding frenzy and it worked. When I got home after the 2 days of slow sales ( but not really bad sales ) I decided to clean the shop out of any baskets that were headed for the damp anyway. I'm always trying new patterns and sometimes I hate them. My husband usually takes them to the dump and the man has his own flee sale ! Or I have people that have shops and they will buy them because I mark them way down to get rid of them. Well, being spring...and my first show, I had alot of baskets from the winter try out days, so we marked them down and took 5 garbage bags of baskets to the fair for Monday morning. Mondays can always be really slow since the tourists are heading back, but I sold all of them and had $600.00 in my pocket for one day. Rae Gillott was asking about shirts. I saw people at the fair this week end and they had sweat shirts on with there grandchildren's pictures on them. They were so cute. I've got a picture of a new basket that I made this winter for my grandchildren's toys. It looks like a large shaker field basket. The smallest grandchild got into it and thank goodness I had my camera handy. Just the little squeekers head was poking out. So, when I saw the other grandma's sweatshirts ...I've now got to have one too. At our grocery shop in town ( Shop N' Save ) they has a place to send your pictures out and they will put them on a sweat shirts for you. I thought this picture of the my grand baby in the basket will make a great shirt to wear to the fairs. ! It could also be made into a jacket if you cut one side open and add a zipper to it and with the picture on the back of the shirt. Well, off to get groceries. Men can never find anything to eat in the house ! Lisha Kimball Webster, New Hampshire web site >>http://www.weavenet.com/Basketmaker's-Shop.html @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Subject: "Downsizing" Date: Mon, 2 Jun 1997 07:12:37, -0500 From: BDKE97B@prodigy.com (MRS BILLIE A DORRIS) To: davidc@iei.net Just had to share with you something new that I learned at our guild meeting yesterday. Of course it may be something that you knew all along. Our program dealt with reducing patterns to create miniature baskets.Joyce Smith, one of our members and a 8th grade math teacher taught the class. When you want to reduce the size of the basket and you use spokes that are 1/2 the size of the original i.e 1/4" instead of 1/2" and use the same number of spokes and layout, the resulting basket will be one fourth the size of the original not one half. To make it even smaller use 1/8" spokes and it is again one fourth the size. She had made several examples for us to see and it was truly amazing. (at least to me) Math has never been my strong point. Another example she used that I suspect is what she tells her students. An 16" pizza is NOT twice as big as the 8" but four times as large over all. I remember in the past a discussion about miniatures so here is the answer folks. Do remember tho' that when you get to the mini sizes you really need to use ash as reed is just not flexible enough. I know that Margaret Blythe uses can with the shiny side scraped off. Another think I had never thought to pass along when we have had discussions on organizating your materials has to do with keeping your tools in reach but out of the way. I work at a tall table so I don't have to bend over the table when weaving bases and I use a bar stool type chair. A bank tellers stool is better constructed and more comfortable. Although they are expensive you can find second hand ones. I had searched every where and bought a million things trying to organize my tools(and I have one of everything-for I'm a tool junkie) One day I was having my hair cut and notice the carts that beauticians use to hold there supplies for doing perms. They are ideal. They are the right height and come in various styles with lots of drawers. They too are expensive (mine was about $100.) but they can also be found second hand often in the classified ads in the paper. Mine is rectangular with 3 shelves of pull out drawers that are divided. The outside also has storage bins. Mine is called a Kaytrolley. It is on wheels so it is easily moved around. I have had mine for over 4 years so the price isn't too bad for such a long use and will probably last forever. I actually could use a second one but will make do for now. So keep an eye out for one and you will find it will make your life easier. Mary Normand. What is this about your moving. You would think we live half way across the country not 10 miles apart. (I would e-mail you privately but that would mean I would have to find your address) Billie in Va. Beach. Billie in Va. Beach. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Subject: Re: "Weavers Words" Vol. 1 Iss. 13 Date: Mon, 02 Jun 1997 20:12:50 +0000 (GMT) From: KHOURY LORA L To: David Collins To Diane - I wouldn't be concerned yet about your Michigan booklet. I just got mine Saturday, and I know from coordinating the Indiana convention that the books will not all arrive at the same time, and they aren't always prompt. We had some booklets arrive within 1 week, and others arrived just days before our convention - which was nearly 4 months later. I don't know the registration deadline for Michigan, but I'd wait until a couple of weeks before the deadline to panic. I see a lot of you will be going to Missouri later this week. I'm going just to teach a class on Friday and then leaving early Saturday morning. Just can't afford the time right now to stay gone longer than that. I did find a very inexpensive flight, so I'm going to save myself the 9 hour drive. I look forward to seeing lots of my weaving friends while I'm there! Lora Khoury Indianapolis @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Subject: just a few words.... Date: Mon, 02 Jun 1997 15:08:21 -0700 From: Ralph/Annetta Kraayeveld To: "davidc@iei.net" Hello weavers, I have gotten a few "weaving days" in :^) and oh it has been so wonderful. Especially now that the weather is nice and I can sit outside, weave and watch the birds. So many birds nesting here this year ... Rose-breasted grosbeak, scarlet tanager, indigo bunting, Baltimore oriole ... and I know the hummingbirds have a nest somewhere, but I can't find that iddy-biddy little thing. I understand what you mean Christine, isn't it amazing how being home is so time consuming!! I think that my life is one big interruption. But I am learning to be flexible :^{ ...and we all stay happy when Mom gets to touch a basket once and a while!!! Ann...you asked if we might be related to Adrian Kraajeveld. It is a possibility. My father-in-law said he'd look in to his stacks of papers. Interesting how they changed the 'ij' in Kraaijeveldt to 'j' and my FIL changed it to'y'. I think immigration related name changes are fascinating. Back to baskets... I have a few questions: On making curls with maple and/or ash: Do you soak and cure the weavers overnight then make your curls or do you weave the maple/ash dry and wet the 'curl as you bend it? I have heard of both ways, used both ways and wasn't sure which I liked best. What do you all do? Is there a 'right' way? I have bought a stool frame and plan to weave a rush seat on it. Do any of you have some suggestions/tips/warnings? I can't find any one to teach me so I am looking for a book or something. I would appreciate feed back! Well someone wants the computer again and its time to make supper!! (Why do they have to eat every day?) THEN I weave!! Annetta Beloit, WI @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Subject: Re: "Weavers Words" Vol. 1 Iss. 10 Date: Mon, 02 Jun 1997 20:41:22 EDT From: froggestow@juno.com (Roberta R Comstock) To: davidc@iei.net References: 1 Re: Easter egg dyes. I used to use them to dye pieces of old sheets for making doll clothes. Since the quantity is so small for egg dyeing, I think you would need to mix a multiple batch to get enough dye in the bath to work on reed. The colors will probably be somewhat pale. I bought some on sale after Easter this spring, but haven't used them yet. Do you have access to Ukranian egg dyes? They are much stronger than ours and the colors are deeper to begin with. To Gail Johnson: I don't have any of the supply catalogues you mentioned: Restoration Products in Indiana, County Seat in Pennsylvania, and August Moon in South Carolina. I would very much like to have the addresses of these suppliers so I can request catalogues from them, please. My email address is Froggestow@juno.com. Thank you. To Pam Woodbury: I think a smoker set up has a very low heat - high smoke fire. Otherwise the meats would burn. Testing my theory is on the 'back burner' for now though. But someday I'll try it with soaked reed & let you know what it does. To Joy Moody: There are several grasses listed in the book 'Plant Fibers For Papermaking" by Lilian A. Bell. Being fibrous, I would expect any of these to be good for basketry: sea grass or beach grass (Ammophila arenaria), pampas grass (Cortaderia selloana), rice straw (Oryza sativa), feather grass (Phragmites communis), bamboo (Phyllostachys aurea), sugar cane (Saccharum officinarum), esparto grasss (Stipa tenacissima), wheat straw (Triticum aestivum), and corn husks and stalks (Zea mays). Corn stalks and sugar cane are not hollow, Large tough woody grass such as bamboo would need to be split to get the necessary flexibility. If there are ornamental grasses available to you, try to get samples and test them for flexibility and toughness. Some grasses have tough fibrous leaves, too. Prairie cordgrass, for example has very tough leaves. If I had an acreage in the country, I would grow an assortment of ornamental grasses to play with. To all: Well, my 'warm-up' basket class at the Fiber Fest and sheep show last week was a lot of fun! The basket is a small rectangular market basket with a swing handle and some decorative rows of dyed reed near the top. Louise Page was a well organized and attentive teacher. The class was small, but very satisfying. And, Louise had her Missouri Basket Convention book with her, so I got to browse through it before I went shopping and found several new basket books. Gotta go pich strawberries now, before the birds gobble them up! More later. Bert Comstock Independence, MO @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ If for any you would ever like to cancel your subscription, simply send me a message with "unsubscribe" as your subject.