Don't forget to poke the photos to enlarge!

Friday, April 28, 2017

Tessie, With a Whip and a Chair!

I did a little work on a couple of baskets yesterday.  Tessie stood over me the whole time.

When I say she stood over me, maybe I should rephrase that.  She sat on my shoulder and pulled my hair if I wasn't doing something right... My hair is sore!

 I got out the coiled basket box and I found ten unfinished baskets! They are still unfinished, but a little further along.

She yelled at me until I stopped messing around and put the basket case in order... Not me.  The plastic box that I keep the supplies in.

It is now in what she calls "Working order!"


The last time I bought wire, I ordered it on line
and the only color I could find was brown. so I have six spools.  That's the least I could order.

I doubt that I will run out of covered wire anytime soon.

I found eight gourd pieces in various stages of readiness. Some are sawed. some are sawed and drilled and some are just marked where they are to be sawn and drilled.

We won't mention the box of gourds that haven't even been touched.  By the way, they are called Tennessee  Spinners. I think that there are a couple of places on line that you can order them.  Just be sure to specify size.  Some of them are a lot bigger than mini size.

I will probably not run out of thread anytime soon.  Back when I was making baskets to sell, I kept stocking up and I do have just a little... OK.  It's a lot of thread.

The stuff at the top left of the photo is all linen thread.

The rest is all hand dyed cotton embroidery floss.  I only use two strands out of the six at one time, so that is going to last a while too.
I tried to find a number on the covered wire to tell you what to get if you want to try coiled basket making.  I couldn't find anything on the Darice label. I am pretty sure that it is 28.  The other spools didn't have labels anymore. You can get it in the green and white in the floral department of Michael's and JoAnne's.

Anyway, I am thinking that I will do another tutorial on coiled baskets tomorrow.

I have done it before, but this time I am going step by step and try to get some of you doing it.

Anyway, here's what you need to do a basic coiled basket.

A spool of covered wire.  Any color of six strand embroidery floss.  A number 26 or 28 tapestry needle.  Scissors and a wee bit of patience.

I am going back now and start drawing diagrams, working step by step and taking photos of each step.

Back to work.

See you tomorrow.

2 comments:

azteclady said...

Oh, thank you! I need to stock up on the wire; I think I have the rest at hand.


Including a bit of patience!

Caseymini said...

Good for you Azteclady. The patience is the most important part! I use that a lot!