Melinda West | West Gardens Basketry

Growing, gathering, and weaving with plant fibers from the Pacific Northwest

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Adirondack-Style Pack Basket with Karen Sherwood

July 16, 2018 By Melinda

Nice Back Pack
Nice Back Pack

Wow. That is a nice backpack. Well, let’s back up a little bit. Would you believe this is one of the finished products of a first time basket weaver? In just two days our instructor, Karen Sherwood, of Earthwalk Northwest, guided students through the fundamentals of splint-woven basketry construction, as we learned how hard it really is to control shape, and what goes in to the finishing touches of making a pack-basket with beauty and utility in mind.

Karen Sherwood introduces project
Karen Sherwood introduces project
Karen Sherwood Pack Basket Class
Karen Sherwood Pack Basket Class

Karen Sherwood has a wonderful way of demonstrating every step of the process, with explanations, so students had lots of opportunites to ask questions before getting into the knitty-gritty of the project.

Karen Sherwood demos setting up the bottom of the basket
Karen Sherwood demos setting up the bottom or base of the basket
Progress on basket
Making progress on the sides of the basket
Weaving away on a hot day
Weaving away on a hot day

For us in the Pacific Northwest, temperatures of upper 80’s to lower 90’s, can make some of us melt. Yes, I know that makes me a heat-wimp, but luckily the Fiber Arts studio at the Bainbridge Artisans Resource Network , or BARN, as we like to call it, was designed to catch the cross-breeze, with late afternoon shade just outside our doors by the dye garden.

Hard at work
Hard at work
Upstaking the sides
Upstaking the sides
Weaving and shaping the sides
Weaving and shaping the sides

By the end of day one, everyone had worked incredibly hard. Some students, at least me, had discovered new muscles, and judging by their soreness I guess I hadn’t used them for a while.

We happened to be at BARN on the day of a member appreciation dinner.  The Suquamish Tribe had donated the freshest of Salmon for it, and members of the Board of Directors of BARN cooked it to perfection. As I enjoyed this dinner with Karen, I was reminded of how grateful I am for this community of volunteers that have worked tireless for at least a decade to bring this beautiful facility into the world. Here is a place where creative people who have a life-time of practical knowledge to share, and those who wish to learn how to do more for themselves and others, can come together as a community and nurture each other.

Adirondack Style Pack Basket Day 2
Adirondack Style Pack Basket Day 2
Shaping the sides
Shaping the sides
Adding Big Leaf Maple Bark
Adding Big Leaf Maple Bark for contrast
Each basket has it’s own shape and character
Each basket has it’s own shape and character
Finishing with a strong rim
Karen demonstrates finishing with a strong rim
Now for the straps
Now for the straps
Ready for the Farmers Market
Ready for the Farmers Market
Lovely Pack Basket
Lovely Pack Basket

Karen Sherwood patiently guided everyone through two days of intensive “learning by doing”. All students left with a beautiful finished Back-pack basket. I wish to thank all the Fiber Arts volunteers for inviting this wonderful teacher, and all the students who made this workshop possible.  Especially we thank Karen Sherwood for generously sharing her vast ethnobotanical knowledge with us.

Happy Weaving!

Next workshop is with Polly Adams Sutton, who is one of the most amazing Cedar Bark Weavers I know.  She teaches across the US and Canada a contemporary way of using the inner bark of the Western Red Cedar and artistic bead wire to create unique and quite artful basketry forms. Here are the links to her one day, and two day workshops at BARN, August 10, 11, & 12, 2018.

Polly Adams Sutton one day class at BARN

Polly Adams Sutton two day class at BARN

 

Filed Under: Community, News, Students, Workshops Tagged With: Adirondack Style Pack Basket, Bainbridge Artisan Resource Network, BARN, BARN workshops, Earthwalk Northwest, Karen Sherwood

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About Melinda

Thirty years ago, while sitting on the beach playing with my young children, I made my first basket out of a pile of willow trimmings someone had tossed there. The experience of weaving with the materials at hand while being together with my sons on a beautiful Pacific Northwest shoreline, kindled a passion for creating art from natural plant materials. I thank my family, my community, and all my teachers for cultivating this gift in me.
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