Rare River Cane Gathering Workshop

RARE RIVER CANE GATHERING WORKSHOP --
Presented by Cherokee basketmaker Robin McBride Scott on June 24, 2007, 10:00am meeting at 14029 Gateway Drive, Edmond, OK 73013.

Email Peggy Brennan at pbweave@yahoo.comor for more information phone: 405 615 3702. Reserve your place as soon as possible by writing a check made out to Robin McBride Scott. Mail the check to Peggy Brennan, PO Box 5404, Edmond, OK 73083-5404.

This information is from Robin regarding the workshop:
Students will learn about identification, selecting and the processing of rivercane. I will bring fresh cane with me for the students to try their hand at processing the cane themselves. We are planning on visiting a canebrake so students can see first hand how to select the cane. I will cover the process of dyeing the cane, its many uses and the different styles of basketry and mat making. You will make a 8"x 9" twill straight mat using commercial materials that will be bound with rivercane and hickory bark.

The cost per student will be $35.00 for Oklahoma Native American Basketweavers Association (ONABA) members and $50 for others. ONABA members will receive priority. You may join ONABA by downloading a membership form at www.onab.org (donations will be accepted for Robin as she priced this workshop very low). You can also read the online newsletter, Renewing Traditions, for more information about Robin.

18th Annual White Oaks Craft Fair, Woodbury, TN

18th ANNUAL WHITE OAKS CRAFTS FAIR -- September 8 & 9, 2007
White Oaks Crafts Fair, Woodbury, Tennessee.

This juried event celebrates the traditions of split white oak basketmaking and chairmaking that have earned Woodbury the title of “Basketmaking Capital of Appalachia.” The fair takes place along the banks of the East Fork Stones River adjacent to the Arts Center of Cannon County and just west of the Town of Woodbury on Highway 70-S (John Bragg Highway). Arts Center of Cannon County 1424 John Bragg Hwy, Woodbury, TN, Ph: 1-800-235-9073.

http://www.ArtsCenterofCC.com

PBS Special Tonight! Craft in America

Remember to watch this three-part 10-years in the making show tonight on PBS!!!! Check your local listings for air time, but I believe it shows at 7pm, 8pm and 9pm, depending on your location.

Each one-hour installment focuses on an aspect of craft's role in American society: memory, landscape and community. Each installment highlights the work of four or five artisans.

Narrating their own segments, the artisans describe the often circuitous routes they took to mastering their crafts, the passion that propels them and the intangible rewards they receive from their work.

The media in which they work -- from glass to clay, wood, fiber and metal -- are as diverse as their locations. But taken as a whole each narrative builds on the central theme of the segment.

I'm especially interested in seeing the basketmakers: Dona Look, birchbark basketweaver from Wisconsin, Mary Jackson with her South Carolina coiled sweetgrass baskets and Pat Courtney Gold with her Native American basketweaving.

http://www.CraftinAmerica.org

Oklahoma City’s 21st Red Earth Festival

JUNE 1-3, 2007
If you are in Oklahoma City or plan to be in the area early next month, don't miss the 21st Annual Red Earth Native American Cultural celebration and parade!

The 21st Annual Red Earth Native American Cultural opens at the Cox Convention Center Friday June 1, 2007 in downtown Oklahoma City, OK, where more than 1200 American Indian artists and dancers from throughout North America will gather to celebrate the richness and diversity of their heritage with the world. For three exciting days Oklahoma City will be at the center of Native American art and culture in America. Read more about this fantastic celebration in the Native American Times online newspaper.

Hundreds of dancers, in full tribal regalia, will participate in the AT&T Red Earth Festival Parade scheduled Friday, June 1 at 10:30 am in downtown Oklahoma City. The streets of downtown Oklahoma City will vibrate in Native American tribal spirit as representatives of more than 100 tribes, in full tribal regalia, make the AT&T Red Earth Parade one of America’s most unique.

Several basketmakers from the ONAB and Oklahoma Basketmakers Guild will be demonstrating their traditional as well as contemporary basketweaving skills. Get more details by visiting the ONAB site and reading the newsletter, Renewing Traditions Spring/Summer 2007 issue. Oklahoma Native American Basketmakers (ONAB) website.

Hickory Bark Seatweaving Class!

A hickory bark seatweaving class will be held on June 2 & 3, 2007 at the Ozark Folk Center in Mountain View, Arkansas.

In this class, the entire process of peeling and weaving a hickory bark chair seat will be completed. Students should come to class with a chair or stool of their own that is in need of a new woven seat, and expect to go home with an heirloom.

http://www.ozarkfolkcenter.com/education-workshops/workshop-event.asp?id=280

National Basketry Organization Good For Seatweavers, Too!

How many of you are members of the National Basketry Organization? If you're not already a member, I would highly suggest you join, if for no other reason than to receive the quarterly newsletter. It's great and in full color, telling all about basketry events and features across the country. http://www.NationalBasketry.org

I just received my postcard reminder for the 2007 Convention: Traditions & Innovations IV a few days ago. It will be held at Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts in Gatlinburg, TN on October 3-7, 2007.

Besides the list of basket classes, seminars and keynote speakers, is a seminar and class by Jo Russin, John C. Campbell Folk School teacher, on "The Evolution of Chair Caning."

As I've often preached on the Seatweaving Forum, through my ezine, and in classes that I teach, joining basketry guilds can set a seatweaver up for many chances to spread the word about seatweaving through seminars, classes, and articles in guild periodicals!

If you are interested in joining the NBO, your local basketry guild, or a regional or state guild, check the list of organizations on the Basket Guilds page of my website.

I live way up in northern Minnesota, remote and removed from any guilds, (the nearest one is in Duluth, 90 miles away), but yet I belong to about 10-15 guilds a year, rotating them across the country. Each year, joining however many my pocket-book can handle.

As a guild member, you are privy to the membership roster, by-laws, notices of workshops, classes and conventions to propose classes to or classes to take, plus most of them have fantastic newsletters that you can learn a great deal from. Or, if you are a writer, you can submit articles, which may lead to TV spots, radio deals or even book offers!

New Basket Guild

A new basket guild has been added to the WickerWoman.com website!

Dallas/Fort Worth Basket Guild has recently been added to the Basket Guilds page of WickerWoman.com!

These gals meet each month at First United Methodist Church of Colleyville, Texas, September through May.
http://www.geocities.com/dfwbasketguild

Brrrrr! It's cold up here!

Well, here it is the middle of May and this morning up here in northern Minnesota our temperature was 39 degrees! And about 8:00 am it began to rain, turning into hail, of all things! Don't that beat all? Now, at 5:15 pm, it's warmed all the way up to 50 degrees! Cool, huh? At least it keeps the mosquitoes in their place.

Craft Your Own Coiled Bee Skep Class!

Calling all Basketmakers and Bee Keepers! This first-time North House Folk School basketweaving course blends two traditions that go hand in hand--basketweaving and bee keeping.

In the 1800s bee keepers housed their working bees in handcrafted coiled bee skeps (hives). Bring a bit of nostalgia to your home or garden by making your very own traditional rush or rye straw bee skep.

Whether you want to make your skep a conversation piece or use it as was traditionally intended for keeping your bees, this class opens the door into the traditions of basketry and bee keeping.

Along with learning the traditions of bee skep history and lore, students will learn a simple coiling technique and make their skep out of straw or cattail leaves.

http://www.northhousefolkschool.com/classes/Basketry.htm

Spring Boreal Birding Festival!

Great Gray Owl by Betsy Bowen, Grand Marais artist.

10TH ANNUAL SPRING BOREAL BIRDING & NORTHERN LANDSCAPES FESTIVAL
June 1 - 3, 2007 at North House Folk School in Grand Marais, MN.

Discovering the birds, wildflowers, geology and more of this dynamic and rich northern landscape is the focus of the festival. A series of inter-related, field-focused seminars (1-3 days in length) form the backbone of the event. Each seminar offers participants its own unique mixture of field trips, classroom discussions and afternoon workshops.

North House Folk School, home of the Boreal Birding and Northern Landscapes Festival, hosts the event to nurture hands-on exploration of the North. North House is located in Grand Marais, Minnesota, on the North Shore of Lake Superior, and in the midst of the Superior National Forest.

The Superior National Forest is composed of over three million acres and includes deciduous and conifer forest, bogs, streams, and lakes. Included within its borders is the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

The region was designated as a Globally Important Bird Area in 2001. A total of 155 birds breed within its boundaries - more species than in any other national forest.

Sign up for your "northern Minnesota birding" experience today! Click here for registration details: http://www.northhouse.org/birding/registration.html

Hand-twisted Bulrush Seatweaving Class in 2008!

This picture is of Cheryl Winter, weaving a hand-twisted bulrush seat at a class I taught at North House Folk School in Grand Marais, MN in February of this year.

Just got done talking with another folk school, the John C. Campbell Folk School and we've scheduled a two-day class for the hand-twisted bulrush or cattail leaf seatweaving class during the week of June 29-July 5, 2008!

I'm thinking of some other interesting seat weaving projects for the remainder of the week, so if there's anything you'd like to explore, be sure and let me know. There's plenty of time yet, but send me your suggestions ASAP so I can construct the class. Thanks!

North Carolina Basketmakers' Association Pictures!

The North Carolina Basketmakers' Association just completed their 21st annual convention and has posted some great pictures of the convention itself and award winners on the website!

Congratulations to everyone for putting in long hours making yet another successful meeting of basketmakers from across the country! Way to go award winners, teachers, students and organizers!

Check it out at NCBA http://ncbasketmakers.com/2007/index.html

Mother of the Year--Mule Deer Does!

Here's a great article on the Discovery Channel website about how protective the female Mule Deer is of her own fawns and those from the Whitetail Deer family, too. They go to great lengths against predators to protect the youngsters.

Susan Lingle, a researcher in the Department of Psychology at the University of Lethbridge in Canada, and her team observed this unique behavior on a large cattle ranch in southern Alberta.

Thanks to The Shed Antler blog for sharing this great information!

Chair Caning Feline Helper

Our son presented us with this male cat last year, who has a really bad quirk of jumping up on my shoulder any time he pleases!

I was posing for this picture showing the flexibility of the English caning needles, when all of a sudden, the cat was perched on my shoulder. Strangest thing, him jumping from a dead standstill right up on my shoulder. Never heard of such a thing before in all the 30-40 years I've owned cats, is this normal?

His name is Don Gato, (the cat), but I've renamed him "Squirrel Cat," because of this jumping thing and the fact that he seems to go bazerk every once in a while running around chasing windmills and whatnot! What a squirrel he is, but boy, do I enjoy having him around.

Victorian Antique Wicker Rocker Photos

Do you love antique wicker furniture? Want to see some before and after photos of fancy weave cane backs on Victorian wicker rockers? Take a look at the Wicker Before and After photo album on PictureTrail.com

Here you'll find before, during and after photos of Victorian wicker rockers with the fancy and difficult Spider Web caning and Star of David caning. Also, wicker baby buggy restorations and complete step-by-step restoration process on a child's wicker rocker. Enjoy!

Chair Caning Forum

Are you maybe new to the chair caning profession or taken it up as a hobby? Feeling isolated and alone, need someone to "talk" to?

Then join us on the Seatweaving and Wicker Repair Forum!

You can lurk for a while, getting a feel for the Forum, or you can jump right in with your questions or helpful comments or answers to the posts. We currently have about 100 "members" dropping by on any given day.

And if you want to receive daily digests of the posts in your email box, you can sign up for that automated service, too. Then just click on an interesting post URL and you'll be taken to that exact spot on the Forum, where you can read the original post and all the responses.

Join us on the Chair Caning Forum today! No need to feel isolated and alone anymore in this nearly lost art form called Chair Caning!

Have Chair Caning Questions?

Interested in chair caning, but have a few questions about how to care for your cane furniture, what instruction books to buy to complete the projects, where to get materials? Then check out the Seatweaving FAQ page on WickerWoman.com!

April Wicker Woman's Weavings Ezine Sent!

The April issue of Wicker Woman's Weavings Ezine was sent out to 828 subscribers on April 29th. If you are a subscriber and missed your copy in your email box, go to the website to view. New subscribers can also go to the site to JOIN THIS GROUP http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WickerWomansWeavings

Here's what you missed in the April issue if you are not already a subscriber:

Editor's Welcome and Notes from the Northwoods

FYI Wicker Tip -- Rare Pieces Sought By Collectors
FYI Seat Weaving Tip -- How Do You Untangle Hanks of Cane?
FYI Basket Weaving Tip -- What Does It Mean to "True" a Basket?

The FEATURED BUSINESS OF THE MONTH, taken from my website Weaving Supplies page, was JB-Designs/Basket Weaving Supplies in Massachusetts. Welcome new owner Jennifer Rhodes after her purchase of the business last year from Jennifer Baum. Be sure to visit the Jenn's Basket Weaving Supplies website, to see all the classes offered, basket weaving and chair seating supplies, books, patterns and more!

Announcements and Calendar Events

English Chair Caning Needle

We've been talking about the use of chair caning needles on the Seatweaving Forum lately, so here's my take on it:

Last year, I traveled to England on a McKnight/Arrowhead Regional Arts Council Fellowship Grant and spent ten delightful days with my host and President of the Basketmakers' Association, Olivia Elton Barratt.

She took me all over England to see how both bulrush and willow are grown, harvested, processed and used in weaving baskets and chair seats. Olivia was holding a regular weaving class on Tuesday at her home. One of the gals was working on a rush chair seat and the other was weaving a dyed round reed basket, and Olivia taught me how to weave a rush hat!

During the course of conversation, the topic of using a chair caning needle on hole-to-hole chair caning came up. I was lamenting about how difficult it was to use one on hole-to-hole because the needles were so stiff and not flexible enough to bend in the intricate and tight weave.

Olivia took out her caning needle for me to examine and I was surprised at how different the English and American caning needles are. Their caning needles look nothing like ours and as she explained, are very easy to work with.

The English caning needles are made with a very fine, narrow metal that has a pointed (picket fence style) end with a rectangular hole in it (where you insert the end of a strand of cane to pull though the weave) and a wooden handle at the other end.

This needle is so fine and flexible that it can be manipulated well throughout the first four set-up stages of the traditional hand caning, leaving only the two diagonals and binder cord to weave without the tool. Thank you Olivia for presenting me with such a valuable tool, thanks for enlightening me! Now, how are we going to get this tool over here in America?

I am working on a Lincoln rocker seat right now and have taken a few pictures using the caning needle and also one showing the flexibility of the English caning needle. I will be switching to this tool for use on all my hole-to-hole caning, because it certainly does speed up the weaving process, and keep my old American caning needle to use for all the wide binding/porch cane weaving jobs.

Native American Basket Exhibition, Greenwich, CT

Navajo, Southwest, early 19th century 3½ h x 11½ d x 36¾ c inches Wedding basket, bundle coiled with herringbone rim, Rhus trilobata with various dyes. Bruce Museum collection 67.03.33

If you happen to be in the Greenwich, CT area before June 10th, stop in The Bruce Museum at One Museum Drive to catch the exhibit: Weaving a Collection: Native American Baskets from the Bruce Museum.

It explores five geographic regions of basketry: the Northeast, Great Plains, Southwest, California, and Northwest. On view are approximately 45 examples from all the major basket makers of North America that illustrate the distinctive elements of technique and materials from these regions.

The show focuses on the differences in forms and materials among tribal affiliations and geographical regions and examines the evolution of basketry following the arrival of the collector. It concludes June 10th, so hurry in while this wonderful example of early basketweaving is still on view!

Fiber Arts Bloggers NetRing Added to Blog!

For those of you interested in seeing what other fiber arts blogs are on the Internet, take a look at the new addition to the list of blogs on the left-hand navigation bar here. I've just joined the Fiber Arts Blogger NetRing!

It's a group of bloggers whose sites feature textile projects, ideas, and adventures crafts such as spinning, weaving, basket making, chair caning, knitting, crochet, lace-making, braiding and kumihimo.

Help spread the word by visiting others on the Fiber Arts Blogger Netring!