Illusions

A cat’s head style basket made to sit balanced on its distinct four feet. The weave is a Japanese twill. The rich black color comes from iron oxide dye where the material sits in the dye pot for a week then goes into a salt. vinegar, and water bath for another week to set the color.

After the basket is complete, it goes back into the dye pot for another few days to get a really rich black color. The black is as lightfast and colorfast as a dye can be. The rim is carved on a shave horse with a drawknife and is then steam bent to a perfectly round shape.

The dots are then painted along the spiral weave – three times- to make the dots pop. If you look closely at the dots, they also follow the stakes up and down. Shift your vision and they spiral.

A basket similar to this was on the front cover of the Craft Heritage Trails of Western North Carolina. Another traveled with the Exhibition “American Masters of Southern Art”.

Many of my baskets are in museum collections including the Smithsonian Museum of Art’s Renwick Gallery and the Museum of Art and Design

The basket comes signed, dated, and numbered..

I am now in my 34th year of basket making and have kept a log of everyone who has purchased my work. I would love to add your name to my log.

11″x14″x14″

 

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