"Weavers Words" Vol. 2 Iss. 104 Date Sent: March 25, 1999 Web Page: http://www.iei.net/~davidc/ Subscribers: 986 David Collins 408 North Devon Avenue Indianapolis, IN 46219 317-899-5747 davidc@iei.net %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Do You Like Weavers Words? Click Below To "Recommend-It" To A Friend! http://recommend-it.com/l.z.e?s=210339 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% "Web Cards" - Create Full-Color Postcards For Your Web Page. http://www.printing.com/affiliate.asp?site=davidc For every free sample of "Web Cards" that you request from the above link, I will receive a $1 commission. It cost you NOTHING. Once you receive your free sample, you can purchase personalized "Web Cards" for your web page and/or business if you like. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% "Bare Walls" Basket Pictures/Prints If you are looking for basket pictures/prints, check out "Bare Walls" through Weaver's Words site. I will get a 15% commission from Bare Walls for every picture/print ordered. The address to check out the pictures is: http://www.iei.net/~davidc/prints.html %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Hi Everyone, Don't forget to wear your red ribbons at IBA convention. Everyone, who is attending IBA Convention, be sure to stop by the raffle room (ROOM #156) and tell my mom hi. Also buy your raffle tickets. There's over 60 great basketry related donations. To quote Dick Clark & Ed McMahon, "YOU MAY ALREADY BE A WINNER!!!". Also there's been a bunch of basket pictures added since last issue. Be sure to check them out. The address is: http://www.iei.net/~davidc/pictures.html Take Care, David %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Subject: allergies Date: Sun, 28 Feb 1999 00:18:11 -0700 From: "Rae Hunter" To: CC: "David Collins (Weavers words)" Glad you are hanging in with us. I took a course with a friend who is allergic to anything wild and natural and she does the most wonderful baskets using materials, yarns, linens etc. It is great she didn't give up after the willow and bark course. Keep at it you will win. Cheers Rae %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Subject: Government Grants for Craft Learning Center Date: Tue, 23 Mar 1999 22:21:53 -0500 From: "Judy Mullins" To: Hello all basket weavers, It's been a while since I have written, hope everyone has survived the winter well. We have been lucky here in Kentucky, only had a couple of measurable snows to speak of. One of which was last Sunday. However, Spring must be near, I've been seeing so many Robins. I am wondering if anyone can offer some help. I have a dream of expanding my existing place, Mullins Log Cabin Country Getaway. My plans are to build a covered bridge over the creek, and have another building constructed that would look like the old store fronts on Western movies. This building would be used basically for basketry & chair weaving classes, also herbal classes, soap making, wool spinning, & other pioneer crafts. I have heard there are grants available for such projects. Does anyone out there have any experience obtaining these grants? Thanks for any and all help. Judy Mullins in chilly Grant County, Kentucky %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Subject: Date: Tue, 23 Mar 1999 23:03:29 -0500 From: "Mary Hooper" To: Hi to all! New willow folks: Today I received a copy of Willow Basketry by Bernard and Regula Verdet-Fierz (interweave press 1993) ISBN 0-934026-88-2 marked down to $ 5.95 from Edward R. Hamilton Bookseller, Falls Church, CT 06031-5000 I have no interest in the business other than as a source of discounted books on all sorts of subjects, but I'd suggest that if you don't get their catalog you write and ask for one. The order number for this neat book is 651869. Add $3 for postage on any order. Send a check as they don't take charge cards. Simple, fast and easy and you never know what gems their catalog will hold. Also, you can return any you aren't happy with, no questions asked. This book is a translation from the German and is illustrated with woodcuts which are a marvel in themselves. I hope someone else will check this out and tell us what you think of the book. Naomi-Where are you in Florida? I have a son and family in Palm Harbor and another son and family in Beverly Hills. When I get down there I will be looking for basket sites to visit...... Will you be going to NCBA? Bonnie Gale will be there and she sells willow cuttings. Here is her newsletter address: www.msu.edu/user/shermanh/galeb/awgnnews.htm She won't take orders for cuttings after early may, so get on it ASAP after NCBA convention. Kristen: Thanks for the convention tips. Now, if there were just time to find Sally Hansen Hard as Nails before I leave for NCBA (my first biggie convention) in 34 hours and counting..... Water bottle is added to the stash and I always have pain relievers for the shoulders, between computers terminal three days a week and weaving the other days...well, you know how it is..... Must run, trying to finish a basket lid before bed and work tomorrow. Never enough time. I once said I'd like a 26-hour day and someone said, "But you'd fill that just as full as the other 24 hours, so what good would it do?" Bye 'til next week.... Mary Hooper %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Subject: Embarrassing Email Mistake Date: Tue, 23 Mar 1999 22:30:49 -0600 (CST) From: catslapbaskets@webtv.net (Russell / K.L. Mitchell) To: davidc@iei.net Dear David and World Wide Weavers, Sorry about sending personal email to the Weavers Words....I guess it was one of those post menopausal, preAlzhiemer moments. :-)) ! I am so glad I shared with close to 1000 weavers how I check my email in the middle of the night!!! Karen in Mpls where it is dark and cool but my face is red!!!! %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Subject: Re: "Weavers Words" V. 2 I. 100 Date: Wed, 24 Mar 1999 01:31:33 -0600 From: Roberta R Comstock To: davidc@iei.net "Weavers Words" Vol. 2 Iss. 100 Marilyn Thompson - Which of my baskets were you interested in seeing a photo of? I'll probably get several photos sent to David in a week or so. I need to send him the last two swap baskets I received and plan to include one of my willow potato tray also (and maybe a couple of others, if they turn out well). Sandy Atkinson - Well, I gave up all but the essential cooking and cleaning a long time ago & I still don't have enough hours in a day! I'm very fortunate that Bob is so tolerant. If something about the state of the house bothers him, he deals with it; also is an able and willing cook, although I don't urge him to cook on work day evenings. His philosophy is that if he were living alone, he'd have to do everything for himself, so whatever I do is a bonus. Is that cool, or what? (I just have to gloat once about my wonderful partner in a while. :=) ) Carol Miller - My favorite natural dyes for Easter eggs are edible things from the kitchen. Turmeric makes wonderful golden yellow, and onion skins make good orangeish yellow. Cinnamon will give a soft tera cotta color. Beet juice (I prefer the juice from pickled ones - the vinegar & salt seem to help) makes pink. This works best at barely warm temperatures with a long soaking period. Overheating natural red dyes will turn them brown. Same is true of grape juice. Grape juice can provide some variety if do some plain, add vinegar to one container and baking soda to another. (Other dark frozen berries will also work this way.) You could also wash your raw eggs and then put a few of them in a pan with carrots or chopped spinach. Try other things too. The Natural dyes list to which I also subscribe has been discussing dyes made from avocado pits and skins. (I haven't tried them yet. They seem to be getting reddish tones with alkaline dye baths, but be careful to use edible ingredients for eggs that will eventually be eaten.) Another approach is to take red or yellow onion skins or fresh edible leaves such as spinach, dandelion, leaf lettuce, fennel, etc and wrap them around a raw egg. Then over-wrap with cheesecloth or part of a clean old nylon stocking to hold the leaves in place. Put the wrapped eggs in water and cook until hard boiled. The surface of the egg will end up with a leafy-looking pattern on it. Sue B - May would be ok with me for the fourth WW basket swap. Rae Hunter - Your email system will probably give you a choice of whether to include the incoming message. If you do choose to include it, you just delete lines or paragraphs as you answer things and by the time your message is ready to send, all the incoming stuff is erased. Jan, Des Moines - If you got to amazon via David's WW basketry bookstore, he should get his commission just fine. Did you mention that you had been to KC for Marlys's willow class(es)? I was there only on Sunday. Sorry if I missed introducing myself to you. And thanks again for doing the recent swap. Karen Awong & Cathryn Peters & others - Thanks for the updates & welcome back! It's always good to hear from people who don't get to post regularly, for whatever reasons. Bert Comstock Independence, MO %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Subject: Task Master Date: Wed, 24 Mar 1999 07:35:30 +0000 From: Tony Stubblefield or Dean Meredith To: David Collins/Weavers Words Billie - about shaping staves for students - Oh, don't worry about my students getting experience in whittling, I'm a real task master in a class, just ask any of my students :-)) I normally would never do that much pre-work on a basket, but this was the 2nd in a series of classes so they had already done it the class before and this was the only way to do the basket in one day. Someone in the beginning level class, I taught the same weekend, actually thought I was going to have all of the staves in place and the first few rows of weaving done for them. I told them if I was going to that much work I would just finish the basket myself! :-P Evie - Up until recently I didn't even know that anyone else even knew what a devil's claw was. When I was little and we would visit my great aunt and uncle out in the plains of Kansas I would collect them and make birds out of them with glue and feathers. The ranchers out there hate devil's claws because they get stuck on the legs of the cattle. When I was getting my Masters of medical and biological illustration I did a botanical illustration of the devil's claw. I had to send a picture of one to the Smithsonian to try to find out the scientific name. I will have to dig that up and send David a copy so he can post it. Winnie - about drying reed in the clothes dryer - I have never tried it, but I don't think it sounds unreasonable. In fact in my Shaker classes with Martha Wetherbee we would use either the oven, set to warm and then turned off, or a cardboard box with a hair dryer stuck in it as a makeshift dryer. I use the box technique in my Nantucket classes to speed up the drying of the staves once they are rubber banded to the mold and it is a real time saver. Carolyn - about wimpy spokes - I usually just try to really baby the piece and not put too much tension on it, but if that doesn't work you might let the basket get fairly dry and slip another piece of reed in behind the wimpy up-right to reinforce it. You shouldn't notice the double thick up-right if the wimpy one is thin to begin with. Hope to run into some of you in Indiana this Saturday! Tony Stubblefield St. Louis http://www.tetranet.net/users/deanandtony/baskets.htm %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Subject: Re: "Weavers Words" V. 2 I. 101 Date: Wed, 24 Mar 1999 01:37:00 -0600 From: Roberta R Comstock To: davidc@iei.net "Weavers Words" Vol. 2 Iss. 101 Karen Awong - Since you asked about using tips from WW in your local newsletter, here's my position on that. Printing somebody a copy of the whole WW is no problem. That's available to anybody who wants it, at no cost, and all the credits are included in it. Republishing info from WW into another newsletter without at least crediting the author, and having their written permission to reprint is a violation of copyright law. If you are interested in examples of the permission forms that I use for newsletters in another organization, drop me a private email and I'll send you copies. We are required to get actual signatures from the authors and illustrators on dated forms (not just an email message). Ideally you should send them a blank form and a self-addressed stamped envelope, to save the author the expense of doing you a favor. A polite thing to do, even after you have the permission, would be to also send them a copy of the newsletter in which their information is used. (In my case, I would be satisfied with an email copy, although hard copy is nice if it has illustrations.) It is ok to quote people if you say who you are quoting and where you got the quote and just use a brief quote now and then. I suggest that when you quote from WW, you also give the address of the WW website and tell people how they can subscribe for themselves, if they want to. I am not an attorney, and there is probably someone on WW who is who could give you a more authoritative summary of the copyright situation with small newsletters. (Or you could search for previous discussions of copyright law on the WW web site.) Lesley - You expressed yourself just fine. It made sense to me. Evie - Do you have access to devil's claw in sufficient quantity to trade some of it off? I haven't seen any since I was a park ranger in central Kansas 25 years ago. And I had no use for it at all in those days. Jayna Glemby - Since my own children (ages 40 & 38) gave up calling me anything other than Bert when they were in their teens, I'm perfectly satisfied to just use my name (or my persona name - Hertha). Although I must admit that a couple of my SCA apprentices call me Mum and Mom. :=) Karen in Georgia - Well, I don't know how well your family gets along at sightseeing and such without your guidance, but if they decide to tag along to a convention, they must understand that they will probably only see you when you return to the room to sleep. Actually, I do tag along with Bob when he goes to Game Conventions. We enjoy the traveling together and I have no trouble at all wandering around new places by myself seeking out used book stores and quaint eateries and local points of interest and basket stuff. He usually games from about 9 am to midnight at those, so I'd say that would be comparable to my time at a basket convention. Gretchen Hautzinger - Good luck with your changing family status. I've got some friends who adopted two Korean babies about a year or two apart. The girls are entering their teens now, and are charming young ladies. Pattie Bagley - Even though I'm not a great Longaberger basket fan, it was sad to hear of Dave Longaberger's death. And I have to respect and admire his vision, his successes and the interest that his company and baskets have generated in basketmaking and collecting in this country. Sharle Osborne - Marlys Sowers treats her red osier dogwood much as she treats her fresh willows. She wraps them in a damp sheet or towel and stores them in a chilly place, like outside against the north side of the house. She also says they can be frozen in a deepfreeze. But preferably not a self defrosting one, because then they would dry out and get freezer burn. Mary Hooper - Thanks for the black plastic mulch suggestion. That's what we use around our peppers & tomato plants. However, I also have a border of landscape timber and large rocks around the flower/herb/willow bed area. Pamela Zimmerman - I have seen sweet gum balls made into wreaths and centerpieces and funny little doodad animals. Might have been wired in place or hot glued. Jean Cadmus May - Sorry it took someone else's unhappy experience to get you to write in. As you know, you have been well defended by others. I look forward to meeting you in June at the MO convention. (Two my WW swap partners have made baskets for me from your patterns.) And yes, I can just hear Betty Curry making that statement about basketmaker friends. (I'm sorry I never had the pleasure of meeting Roger.) Denise McCann Beck - Welcome to Weavers Words! Hope you like it here. Is it too soon for me to say "I told you so?" I still envy your great access to natural materials. :=) Sue Ann - I'm a newby when it comes to willow basketry, but rapidly getting further into it! Bert Comstock Independence, MO %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Subject: Re: Semi-annual update Date: Wed, 24 Mar 1999 04:10:49 -0500 From: Jim Darabond To: David Collins References: 1 Hello dear hearts...The last time I sent in a post was about six months ago when my son was married, and I managed to injure my "good" knee. Last year at this time I was deliberating on whether to go to the NCBA or Indiana Convention. No decision was needed...because here I am at 3 a.m. Wednesday just signing in to wish each weaver a truly wonderful weekend. I'll be having bilateral knee replacements done (I bet Tony could do some outstanding medical illustrations of that!)at Bethesda Naval Hospital. So maybe at next year's convention I can dance an Irish jig! Our newlywed son, Michael, is undergoing chemotherapy now, which will be followed by radiation later this summer. Please keep him in your prayers. My daughter, Kathleen, is now at boot camp at Great Lakes. (Boy, does this family know how to have fun!!) At any rate, I've thought of a new and wonderful "swap"...and I'd love to be the first to host it, as soon as I'm mobile. (Hold on to your hat, David...the last time I called you a basketmaker's hero, and a living saint. By the way, the picture of Tom Cruise that you put next to St. Julian doesn't do you justice. Beauty comes from within, so we know you must absolutely glow with goodness.) Ok, so the swap is...........DAVID! Yep, that's right...I am hereby officially beginning the David and Norma tour America Campaign. We live in northern Virginia, and would be delighted to provide hospitality and a tour of our nation's capital. (Hope you have a portable computer so that this never-ending vacation can become a reality.) As wonderful a surprise of finding a swap basket in the mail can be, it would be even more thrilling to be able to enjoy David and Norma's company and be able to do a small gesture of friendship for them. Warm and happy thoughts to all... Susan %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Subject: (no subject) Date: Wed, 24 Mar 1999 08:54:36 EST From: Arlo1225@aol.com To: davidc@iei.net Hi Everyone! Keep thinking Spring is finally here, but then we have yet another snowstorm - just enough to make a mess of everything! Gretchen - good luck with your adoptions! If you have the patience to get through all the "red tape" that is involved in an overseas adoption, raising two little ones will be "a piece of cake" in comparison! Loved your cats in the sunbeam comment - so true - our cats follow the sunbeams through our house! Your lab will love your children! Labs and children go together! Dennis and Nancy - Wow! Your baskets are super! Donna and Patti - thank you for the information about Twill Babies! Pat Moritz - thank you for the information on metals - just ordered the book Bert recommended. Amazon stated it was out of print, but I did find it in another book site. Sorry Dave :-( Joanne - Aloha! Think I'm going to share the rest of my goodies - should have saved some Rolaids for myself! :-) The coffee is great! Just made my first pot today and am sipping it as I write! Thanks so much! Looked up Greensboro, Vt., on the map - seems pretty far from our place in NY but if you wander down my way let me know and maybe we can meet! Cindy - thank you for the travel information - hope to see you next week! Judi in Del Mar - laughed so hard when reading your story about Tigger! Would love to see a picture of your swimming cat! My cats are appalled if they even step in a puddle of water the dogs dripped from the water bowl - can't imagine them in the pool! Karen in Ga. - 4 dogs! Thought we were the only ones crazy enough to have 4 dogs - actually we just "acquired" the 4th. Her name is Oreo and she's a 6 yr old, deaf, Dalmatian. Atypical - she's very calm! My husband was very ill last spring, lysteria - a form of bacterial meningitis, and he almost died. The disease has left him legally deaf and we are in the process of learning sign language. Our sign teacher needed to find a home for Oreo and as soon as Dave (my hubby) found out he said "I want her!" Of course that wasn't my first reaction....but Oreo now has a home with us. The other dogs accepted her right away, as did the stray cats we adopted, the other cats are totally annoyed with us! I am a firm believer that things happen for a reason. Oreo has helped our son accept the fact that dad is deaf and he must learn sign in order to communicate. Before Oreo came to live with us our son just refused to accept dad's deafness. One humorous, humbling fact, Oreo knows more sign than we do! To all going to conventions - drive safe, have fun, and please share your stories with the rest of us when you return! Thanks Dave for this wonderful site! Happy Weaving! Lesley %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Subject: wonderful responses Date: Wed, 24 Mar 1999 09:27:10 -0500 From: "Ingram" To: Hi all! Can't believe anyone ever thought this group was clique-ish---I have been overwhelmed at the response both in the WW and on separate e-mail from the readers. Thanks to everyone!! You suggestions for the peanut problems will be put to use today! And I hope you give sweetgum stain a try, it's a pretty shade and is so easy. North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching is a wonderful retreat for selected teachers in our state. It offers weeklong programs on a wide variety of programs, deeply thought provoking intellectual, physical, and artistic topics. I taught 16 years before I decided to apply. It was apparent that the weaving one was designed just for me as it was in the mountains (my favorite place in the world), over my 40th (!) birthday so I could hide from the paybacks coming from friends, and I'd spend a week weaving new stuff and treated like royalty. All expenses are paid, substitutes are provided, and the facilities are great! They bring in facilitators to lead each workshop, and ours was a naturalist and humorist who was amazing. He did beautiful work with barks and plants natural to western NC, and could tell a great story while doing it! One of the participants developed a web site with pictures of some of the kudzu baskets and cat tail hats we made. I have misplaced the address, but will try to get it and post it. NCCAT is a wonderful, rejuvenating experience designed to stimulate and motivate its' teachers, and it does just that. I hope other states offer such things. Off to conquer the peanut! Leigh %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Subject: re:wimpy spoke Date: Wed, 24 Mar 1999 10:43:17 -0500 From: "Angie Longenecker" To: "David" Hi all, Carolyn in DE - try sliding a stiff piece of reed the same size as the spoke down behind the wimpy weaver. Hide the ends behind rows of weaving. It will be only visible if someone looks for it. It will be more secure than cutting off the wimpy spoke and inserting a new one and I think less noticeable. Natural Dyes - For everyone wanting a good book on natural dyeing - try "Craft of the Dyer - Coulour from Plants and Lichens" by Casselman $8.95. It's pictured on our New & Specials page under New Books or on the on-line catalog. It's a great book with so much information. Almost every plant is commonly found in gardens and close to home. It tells you the different colors you get with different mordents for each plant, fungi or lichen discussed and what parts to use and so on. I was so excited when I found this book. I can't wait to try some of the plants this summer. First scrimmage of the soccer season! It's actually supposed to be 55 today - yeah! Angie in PA The Country Seat http://www.countryseat.com %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Subject: Re: "Weavers Words" V. 2 I. 103 Date: Wed, 24 Mar 1999 07:48:56 -0800 From: Naomi Paquette To: David Collins References: 1 Karen Awong- what you need is a good basket class, that will get you going. I find something I want to make and try to find a class and get there and it will perk you up right away. Tony S. Now that you've given us another valuable tip where can we get the Deft Semi Gloss Pat Moritz: when you spoke of the Mid West focus in 2000 did you mean andre Lamins or Andris Lapins who does Willow? Leigh - Peanut baskets - I try to place my first weaver on the outside of the handle and pull my staves out as I weave, line it up with the handle, when you get to the rim use a good strong material and lash is tight. This should work for you. I use clothespins on my corners for the first couple of rows. Good luck. Chris - thanks for all the info on the Willow books, I will see if I can get it here if not I'll write Sally for it. Thanks again Hope everyone is enjoying Spring just a few robins left down here they must be headed North. From Sunny Florida Naomi %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Subject: Re: "Weavers Words" V. 2 I. 103 Date: Wed, 24 Mar 1999 12:59:49 -0800 From: "Denise Beck" To: "David Collins" To Karen Awong: >>Question for all you who procrastinate. I am in a slump, how do you get yourself back in to the groove of weaving when you've been away from it for awhile. Didn't seem to have that problem before but every time I lay off I just seem to hesitate getting back to weaving. Is that just me or do any of you have this problem? >> Oh, yes. Same as anything I SHOULD do with my time, like starting the tomato seeds or putting the black plastic down over the willow beds or writing in my journal: the greatest obstacle is the initial one. Like the writers say, the biggest cure for writer's block is applying the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair. In other words, just drag out the weaving materials and the tools and anything, any pattern at all and start weaving and inertia will work FOR you instead of AGAINST you! Like once you breach the dam the water will flow. Have I mixed enough metaphors yet? I'm sure you get the idea. Kathey Ervin -- We did meet at Lake Crescent last summer, I was the pudgy excitable woman with long black hair (okay, there is some white mixed in...) who wanted to bring the entire Sequim group up to Salt Spring Island! I still want to! I finished the second English willow garden skep about 1 am last night and am feeling the hangover this morning. Still tired though satisfied. The pics are on David's site as we speak. I'm off this weekend to Hornby Island to another of Alastair Heseltine's workshops, this time a "strawberry basket" that has a lot of open space in the weave. Alastair says we will get a lot of practice in scalloming, it has about forty-odd scalloms in the willow butts around the base of the basket. I'll post pics next week. What Alastair doesn't know is that I'm actually on a spy mission to find out how he soaks, cooks, strips and grows his willow, which is always of such superb quality that all the baskets we make with him have exceptional sheen to the material, whether brown-barked or stripped. I'm going to take a lot of digital video of his place and show it around down here at our guild meetings. I could post some if that's all right with David, too. Would anyone like to see Alastair's willow groves and boiler made out of a welded-together fuel tank and hand-made tools and traditional English and Irish design baskets? Pam -- the garden skep is an original design by Alastair, I'll ask him if he wants to start selling patterns. Denise McCann Beck Coastal British Columbia USDA zone 7 Sunset Zone 4 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Subject: Azores and Mass Date: Wed, 24 Mar 1999 20:45:34 -0100 From: "Jones Family" To: "David Collins" Hey David, You are making me smile every time I get a WW in my inbox... actually it goes straight to my David Collins file. Tammy in SE MI: The Azores is a group of islands 800 miles west of Portugal and 200 miles east of New Jersey. My island is 18 x 121 miles in size and we live on a military base- Portuguese base with parts leased by Americans. I pay 10% of sales for my table fee. I'll probably never do the big commercial shows as I couldn't afford the cost either. JoAnn in western Mass- WAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! I could be taking my vacation in Mass instead of Florida!! I'm from Stoneham (where 128 & 93 cross) but my family is in Florida this time of year. I'd rather go to Mass and enjoy the spring and crash a guild meeting or two! I would love to see the lilacs come out. Darleena Where my angels ride donkeys and fight the high winds %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Subject: Re: "Weavers Words" Date: Wed, 24 Mar 1999 17:02:43 -0500 From: Joe Conroy To: David Collins Hi David, No basket talk today. Just humor. I see people keep mentioning their pets. I have to tell you about the neighbor's cat. I was visiting them and noticed that the cat took a swipe at the side of a beautiful Lazy Boy recliner; beautiful except for one side that was all shredded. I told my neighbor that if that S.O.B. was my cat I'd throw it outside for doing that. Dick replied, "That's the problem. The first time he did it I threw him out. Now, whenever he wants to go out, he scratches that chair." True Story!! Joe Conroy Stony Lane Basketry Exeter, RI %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Subject: stuff Date: Wed, 24 Mar 1999 15:45:51 -0500 From: "Charles & Karen Horner" To: Hi all! Just a quick word about Kudzu. Yes, it shrivels a lot when it dried. Some people call them the new antique baskets because a year later the baskets look ancient. I like them. You do have to weave as tightly as possible though. Just enjoyed reading the last WW. What a good group of people. I got a few questions: I've tried working with raffia, and I have all these uneven pieces of various lengths, maximum 36 inches long, and I can't seem to do anything with it. I wanted to try to lash a rim, but you can't tie it together to make long pieces because they just slip out of the knot. Do I have the wrong kind of raffia? Who is Stephen Zeh? And where can I see his baskets? Well, I could ask a million more questions. Wish everyone could come for a cup of coffee and we could just sit and talk about baskets. Yak, Yak, Yak. I'd even make some scones and tea for everyone. Funny, the older I get the more I enjoy tea. Bye, look forward to hearing from you all. Karen in Georgia http://www.kudzuweaver.com %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Subject: Weavers Words Date: Wed, 24 Mar 1999 17:50:27 -0500 From: "Russell & Leslie Johnson" To: Hi David and Fellow Weavers, It is hard to believe how fast and furious Weavers Words is coming into my mailbox, it is hard to keep up, but I love it! I wanted to comment on all the great photos at the WW web site. The workmanship is extraordinary. Nancy Hedbergs bridesmaid baskets, Mindy Lowers Nesting Nantucket's and Cathryn Peters baby bassinet are all wonderful, as are many of the other basket photos posted. I have never made a Nantucket basket but to make a nesting set from 3"-12" must have felt like quite an accomplishment to Nancy. One day I would like to try weaving one, so I am keeping all the wonderful tips that have been posted here of late. All of you who weave in naturals, make me want to go walking in my woods looking for suitable weaving materials, if I only knew what to look for! Could you recommend a suitable book for amateurs? I am really writing to tell you about a new tool that I added to my basket bag of tools. For Christmas I received a Dremel contour sander for sanding the rims on my baskets. Shaving and sanding rims is my least favorite part, so my husband made me a shave horse but I still had to sand by hand and hated it. So he bought me this wonderful tool and I would recommend it to any of you who feel as I do. Since I have been cleaning and painting, not weaving, today is the first time I have used it and I just wonder why I didn't have it long ago! The rims are as smooth as a baby's butt without any effort on my part! To all of you with troubles including John McGuire's unfortunate accident, my thoughts and prayers go out to you....To Gretchen: Congratulations and may your home be filled with laughter and love when your new little ones arrive. To all of you heading for the conventions, safe travels. To David: thanks so much for this forum, couple months ago you were complaining that no one was writing in, guess everyone is making up for it. Happy weaving from Leslie in SE Michigan where some flowers are blooming so spring must be right around the corner %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Subject: "Red Ribbons"!! Date: Wed, 24 Mar 1999 19:42:00 -0600 From: Kathie C Anderson To: davidc@iei.net References: 1 Hi All, I have been busy reading the never ending "Weavers Words" as fast as they come off the presses!! I also haven't written in over 6 months!! Shame on me. I too am in one of those so called "weavers slumps" just can't seem to get it together to weaver lately. I really do much better in the Summer when the days are long and it's still light when I get home from work, but that's just an excuse. I wanted to write and tell everyone that last October was MY first convention and I still can remember all the excitement that week before and all the people who shared their tips on what to bring and what to expect. It was the best thing I had gone to in years. I met a lot of really fun fellow weavers and had a ball. So, I envy EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU WHO ARE GOING TO THE INDY CONVENTION!! Have a blast. Can't wait to hear all the neat stories from everyone when you get back. David, you really ought to surprise them all and show up at the last minute, that is if they don't drag you there first!! You might think about getting a "Rent-A-Cop" to guard your house around the clock just in case Pat tries and to sneak into your house!! Ha Ha. My vote is never to make us just write about basket weaving, I get a lot out of reading about everyone's life's up's and down's. Take care and safe trip to all travelers!! Kathie, from cold but sunny Macomb, MI. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Subject: RE: "Weavers Words" V. 2 I. 103 Date: Wed, 24 Mar 1999 20:48:05 -0500 From: "Susi" To: "David Collins" For Patricia Moritz.. The book you were looking for is available from Myrna Bloom - The East-West Room Fraser - A GUIDE To WEFT TWINING and Related Structures with Interacting Wefts cl/j,194pp 1989 autographed by the author Book# 1289 US$ 80.00 http://earth.oconnell.net/rugnotes/mbtxtle.htm Susi Nuss Basketry at The Mining Co. http://basketry.miningco.com mailto:basketry.guide@miningco.com Free Black Ash Basket Pattern http://basketry.miningco.com/library/weekly/aa020899.htm %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Subject: Re: "Weavers Words" V. 2 I. 103 Date: Wed, 24 Mar 1999 22:27:19 -0800 From: Sharle Osborne To: David Collins To Denise Beck- I thought we had met. If you had joined in Weavers words earlier we would have been trying to talk you into taking the ferry to Port Angeles tomorrow and riding down to the spring retreat in Port Orchard. It is only an hour and a half from Sequim. Next year. You can dye cedar black in rusty water. My water is so high in iron it stains the shower stall cedar color. (There are less complimentary terms for this color) It also darkens cedar. I've been dying cedar in the iron rich mud in my pond. I let it sit for two days. I like that it is a traditional method, does not use chemicals and does not bleed when it gets wet again. However, the mud stinks. Split your cedar to the thickness you want it to be for your basket because the inside will not be stained evenly and has kind of a gray mottled color. gotta go. Sharle Osborne sharleo@orca.esd114.wednet.edu http://www.olympus.net/personal/skoehler/bskt.htm %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Subject: WW V.2I.102 &103 Date: Thu, 25 Mar 1999 13:24:55 -0800 From: "Larry T. Boitnott" Organization: Larry T. Boitnott To: davidc@iei.net Hi Everyone, I am so excited. While many of you are off to Indy and NC Conferences, I will be home planting my willow. Just checked the soil and rented a rototiller for the weekend. So, a craft show on Sat. and then the rest of the day and Sun. afternoon we can prepare the soil for planting next week. So all my willow cuttings should be in the ground by March 31. Gretchen, I am so glad you shared about the adoption with us. These are the things that help bind us together as a "family". Your news is simply a blessing!! Ingram, what do sweetgum nuts look like? I don't think that tree grows this far north (Michigan). If you ever want to do a swap, let me know. Naomi, I have just found a new book on willow: CANE, RUSH AND willow, by Hilary Burns. It is published by Firefly Books. The ISBN is 1-55209-260-7. I think it is great! Then there is BASKET MAKING by Olivia Elton Barratt ISBN 0-8050-2617-7. And THE COMPLETE BOOK OF BASKETS & BASKETRY, by Dorothy Wright. I have the 3rd edition. ISBN 0-7153-98560-3. And last, a book on the genus titled WILLOWS The Genus Salix by Christopher Newsholme. ISBN 0-7134-6881-5. After I have sorted the willow that I will need for a specific project (say I need 4' and 5' rods) I put the 5' rods, bundled together in a soaking tank. I use a 6' pig feeding trough. The rods are totally under water. Then the next day, I put the bundled 4' rods in the water. The rods need to soak at least 1 day for each foot they are long and sometimes a bit longer. Note that soaking to long could produce the bark peeling off the rod. By calculating when the rods are put to soak, the goal is to have all lengths ready at the same time. Then, the rods must mellow for a bit before weaving. I accomplish this by wrapping the rods in a damp towel and set aside until the next day. Then, they are ready for me weave a basket. Cuttings can be ordered from: Willow Dreams Farm run by Ron and Bobbie Harrison in Edmonton, KY. They are Weavers Words people. I have visited their farm twice now. Wonderful people and run a clean operation and a good variety of basketry willow. Sandy Whalen in Milford, Michigan is my mentor and she sells willow cutting and willow. Her e-mail is sandwilo@mich.com. And telephone (248) 685-2459. And there is Willowglen Nursery, 3512 Lost Mile Rd., Decorah, IA 52101. (319) 735-5570. No e-mail for Lee Zieke (a lady). I met Lee when weaving at Willow Weekend in the Amana, IA in 93 or 94. Any of the above growers can get you started in the right direction. I will gladly give advise too but my knowledge pales compared with the real thing. David, thanks for all you do. I not only appreciate your computer talents but also for you bringing together a wonderful group of ladies and a seemingly limitless wealth of knowledge. God bless and keep you! Well, this is only responses to issue 102. Will close for now hoping to get to 103 tomorrow. Gotta go in chilly Weidman, Michigan where I woke up to a dusting of the white stuff. Kathry Gomm, I too loved your tray. I made one similar to that in a class with Sandy Whalen a few years ago. And some time ago someone ask about books on dyes. I have Natural Dyes and Home Dyeing by Rita J. Adrosko. ISBN 0-486-22688-3. And Nature's Colors Dyes from Plants by Ida Grae. ISBN 1-56659-002-7 As you can see I don't have a clue when it comes to the computer. Sue Ann %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Subject: hops Date: Thu, 25 Mar 1999 22:52:17 +1100 From: Anna Lizotte To: "Collins, David" Karen--about the hops....for one thing, we didn't have to harvest. We have the day at an actual hop farm at harvesting time so they do the harvesting and after they have stripped the hop vines of their flowers, they drop a truck load off to us on the lawn and we dive in and start trimming. Hop vines grow up a string that is pegged at ground level and goes up to this massive network of wires and poles. When they harvest them they just cut the string and vines at the bottom and the string at the top. Then the vines go through a machine that strips the flowers off (did you know that the only part used in making beer is the pollen?) and then to a mulcher that chops the vines up. We get them before they get to the mulcher. Usually there are 3 or 4 vines twined around each string and we strip off the side shoots and leaves with the clippers and then pull the string out and separate the vines to use. we weave with them straight away...there is some shrinkage but not a whole lot. They start out a lovely pale green and dry to varying shades of dark brown. Every year they seem to dry a slightly different shade...not sure why...maybe a different variety or different summer weather, etc. The vines are tough on your hands as they are rough and hairy, a bit like a fine sandpaper but are wonderfully pliable. At the end of the day, we can get as many as we like to take home and trim up and store. Once they are dry, you just dampen, leave to mellow, and use. The roughness is not so evident when they have dried. One lady did a laundry basket and finished it. Another got about 3/4 of a square based basket done. 3 or 4 were doing a melon basket. Another person did a smaller version of mine for her cat. And another group were experimenting with dyeing cornhusks, string, raffia etc with a brew made from the flowers and leaves. They got a great yellow by adding bicarb soda to the brew. They had brought their little gas camping stoves and we likened them to witches huddled around their cauldrons! So, if any of you live near a hop farm, organize a day for your group at harvesting time. The people at the farm like it as it is a bit of advertising for them. They give tours of the farm/factory and arrange for tour busses to come thru on the day that we are there, too. Claudia--Don't worry, I will look up the Conroys...and you, too, okay? We are hoping to go home for a visit next year sometime...but not quite sure where the money will come from..will cost around $8000 just for airfares! Anyone--is there anywhere I can see photos of Steven Zeh's work? His name keeps popping up with superlatives attached and I am very curious! Also, is there a picture anywhere of the Chinese Knot Basket such as Andris is teaching? Deb Curtis--I don't find the hop vines to be "brittle" in that they snap off but they do tend to split a bit on the sharp turns around the rim. For this reason I usually make my rims a bit thick and ease the vine around, sometimes squeezing it a bit with the pliers just where it the turn is. They split because they are hollow in the middle and I just figure it adds to the character and "rustic-ness" of the basket. I have found them to be very strong when dry and also very light in weight. the first do g basket I made has stood up to lots of rough treatment over the last 5 or 6 years and has been kept outside on the veranda and is still as sturdy as when I made it. Also, I've used the heavier stalks of blackberry and use electricians wire strippers to strip off the thorns. Some people here also use a piece of tin can with a hole punched in it or with a "V" cut in and run the vine through that. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Subject: RE: "Weavers Words" V. 2 I. 101 Date: Thu, 25 Mar 1999 17:08:01 -0500 From: Dolores Gatz Organization: Eastern Suffolk BOCES To: "'David Collins'" * For the person asking about what a quatrefoil was - The best I can explain it is, it's a twill pattern that repeats itself every quarter of the basket or in the case of being frames it stays flat. Some people think of it as looking like a four leaf clover. Judith Olney has a nice pattern for it. She has both a single and a double quatrefoil patterns. The single is the pattern going around the base of the basket. While the double it goes around both the base and the rim. * Gluing is I think is a personal preference. I have seen gluing being done in Nantucket's before putting on the rim. As well as one time I saw Bob Coker teaching a class where he using glue before putting on a rim also. If I can do my basket without glue, I do without. While in cases ware I had no other choice I've used it. Woodworkers have used glue for many a year and haven't fell it was cheating. It only made the piece stronger. * Linda, Jean, and (Hi) Eileen, (I sat next to you in a few classes at Stowe. The most recent was the Japanese ladies summer purse class.) You're exactly right. It most definitely was not Jean Cadmus May. There has been another in Texas that was being written about. I had bought with me to Stowe that year some computer tapes and other stuff we were throwing out. I thought maybe someone would come up with a use for them. She had taken then. She said they would do for something she was working on. I was happy someone could use them. She just was a disappoint to forget about me after that. I too, don't want the wrong person blamed. I apologize to Jean or anyone that had thought I was talking about her. It was something that was bothering me and I just had to speak out. But I do not intend for the wrong person to be blamed. Like I said, she knows who she is. She may not ever admit to it. But in her heart she knows whom she it. I too agree that 'what goes around, comes around'. * The mention of blackberry baskets - will black raspberry vines work also. I will be inheriting a place that has about a third of and acre of black raspberry plants. With a couple of blackberry plants in the middle of the mess. I say mess because there are no rows. The were left to grow on their own and it's a mess to pick berries. Well I have to get back to work. I was hoping to get caught up on reading ww but failed again. I want to get this posted so everyone knows 'It was not Jean'. Dolores, Long Island, New York %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% If for any you would ever like to cancel your subscription, simply send me a message with "unsubscribe" as your subject.