Help identifying this signature.
Hello, as the title says, I’m trying to identify this signature. Any help or guesses would very much be appreciated.
u/Capital-Nebula-777 — 2 days ago
r/basketry
▲ 6 r/basketry
Reed prep is apparently 80% of this hobby and nobody told me upfront
Started my first round reed basket about three weeks ago and kept getting frustrated with cracking and splitting every time I tried to weave a tighter curve. Watched a bunch of videos, blamed my technique, almost gave up on the whole project entirely.
Turns out the actual issue was soak time. I was giving my reed maybe five minutes in water before jumping into weaving, which is nowhere near enough for anything thicker than the smallest gauge. Once I started soaking properly, closer to fifteen or twenty minutes depending on the diameter, and keeping a damp towel over my working pile so it didn't dry out mid-project, everything changed. The reed actually wanted to bend instead of fighting me the whole way.
Also learned the hard way that oversoaking is its own problem. Left a bundle in the tub while I got distracted with dinner and came back to reed that was mushy and lost a lot of its structural snap once it dried again. There's apparently a real window here, not just "more water is always better."
My base is still a little wonky and I can see where my spacing drifted about halfway through, but the sides are finally holding a shape that looks intentional instead of accidental. Working with natural materials that respond to something as simple as water temperature and timing has been a bigger learning curve than I expected going in.
Anyone have a rule of thumb for soak times by reed size, or is it mostly a feel thing you pick up over time? Right now I'm just eyeballing it and hoping for the best.
u/mellow-pine11 — 2 days ago
Buff Willow ‘Cracking’
Help! I got a weaving kit from my own two hands and it’s buff Willow. It seemed very very dry. Thin tips snapping at even the slightest movement. It said to soak for half an hour per foot online but my own two hands said start with an hour or two so I started with an hour and if I went very slow and easy I could get a 90° bend but anything over that it would literally crack and make a cracking sound. I have since try that two test at 2 hours, 3 hours and 4 1/2 hours. After the soaks I did a 12-20 hour mellow (I did 2 different batches and checked at a few points) and I’m still getting this Cracking seem in the photos and it makes a very noticeable crack sound when it breaks. I don’t know what to do because at an hour it was definitely not pliable enough and I can definitely feel a difference between the 3 hour and the 4 1/2 hour is definitely more pliable but it’s still breaking but the kit says do not soak over 6 hours and says it is only longer when cold. The first five photos are after the 4 1/2 hours soak and 16 hour mellow and the last photo is after the two or three hours soak in 10 to 12 hour mellow.
u/Medium-Special-1411 — 4 days ago
▲ 143 r/basketry
Unique basket sculpture help
I picked up this piece in Baltimore, Maryland. On the bottom of one of the feet it reads CTM 84. I don't know if anybody could tell me anything more about it, maybe a maker or even the style.
u/FlagstoneVintage — 13 days ago
ISO online only classes
Hi all—I live in Baja California, and there are no classes available here. We do, however, have excellent internet!
A lovely woman who was moving back to the States left me all of her basket making materials—flat reeds of all types (and a lot of stuff I haven’t tried to identify yet).
The idea was for me to learn and then share the learning with my young Mexican friends. :)
Can you recommend some online classes (I’m happy to pay) that will take me from A to Z?
Thank you so much!!
u/ArtisticEggplant — 12 days ago