Melinda West | West Gardens Basketry

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

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Late Winter Papermaking – Mixing Siberian Iris Leaves and Lichens

March 24, 2025 By Melinda

On the menu for papermaking - as late winter wind storms loosen lichens from the trees, dropping them all over the trails I walk along, I recognize this gift from the canopy above. On each walk I collect a pocketful of the beautiful lichens just so I can study their interesting structures more closely. But I also know from past experience that … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Artistic Uses of Plant Fibers, Artwork, Community, News, Plants and Places, Upcoming Tagged With: okra, papermaking, Siberian iris

Here’s What’s Cooking – Porch Paper Making

February 19, 2025 By Melinda

Hi Friends. I haven’t forgotten you are out there. In the midst of current affairs it is important to know there way more wonderful humans, like you, who are doing their best to be good citizens, good neighbors, good people, and to live creative and purposeful lives. Against the darkness of our political times, there are many examples of people … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Artistic Uses of Plant Fibers, Artwork, Community, My Teachers, News, Plants and Places, Resources, Upcoming Tagged With: abaca, additives, cellulose, cotton linter, embroidery hoops, fiber, Helen Hiebert, leaves, Paper making, papermaking, screen molds, Sword Fern, The Papermaker’s Companion, winter, winter work

Mathewson and West’s Woven Wearables Workshop at BARN

October 26, 2024 By Melinda

When we share our art making with others, magic happens! We are grateful for the wonderful students that turned out for the Woven Wearables workshop this October at the Bainbridge Artisans Resource Network (BARN). Some of you came from as far as Oregon and Alaska. Others traveled less physical distance, but you all had in common that you made … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Artistic Uses of Plant Fibers, Artwork, Community, My Teachers, News, Plants and Places, Resources, Students, Workshops Tagged With: Bainbridge Artisan Resource Network, BARN, BARN workshops, Bugs, Coast Salish, combine techniques, Contemporary Plant-Fiber Artists, Experiment, freeze materials, inspiration, native plants, Pegg Mathewsen, plant-fiber technologies, Rolling BARN, Semi-retired, weaving cultures, Wild Viney Twiney Basket

Mathewson and West’s October Workshop At Bainbridge Artisans Resource Network

June 28, 2024 By Melinda

Woven Wearables with Mathewson & West

Are you like me, one who sees the beauty in Nature’s ephemera? Are you a person who enjoys collecting found treasures thinking: “Someday, I’m going to make a nice gift for someone out of this Pussy Willow”? Or, “Wouldn’t this seed-pod look interesting if I incorporate it into an art piece?” Or, “What in the world am I going to do with all these … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Artistic Uses of Plant Fibers, Artwork, Community, My Teachers, News, Students, Upcoming, Weaving from the Wild, Weaving Nature, Weaving with Cedar, Workshops Tagged With: Bainbridge Artisan Resource Network, BARN, BARN workshops, coiling, Contemporary Plant-Fiber Artists, cordage-making, fiber technology, lashing, looping, Margaret Mathewson, plaiting, Plant-Fiber Artists, preparing plant materials, random weave

Fish Skin Preparation into a Material For Craft

October 22, 2023 By Melinda

In 2018, Karen Magnuson-Sherwood, being the kind and generous teacher she is, traveled to Bainbridge Artisans Resource Network (BARN) on Bainbridge Island, to teach a class demonstrating use of preserved fish skins woven into a lovely cedar basket.   In October 2023, what a delight that Audrey Armstrong agreed to come all the way … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Artistic Uses of Plant Fibers, Artwork, Community, My Teachers, News, Plants and Places, Resources, Students, Upcoming, Weaving from the Wild, Weaving Nature, Workshops Tagged With: Athabascan, Audrey Armstrong, Bainbridge Artisan Resource Network, BARN, BARN workshops, Cedar and Salmon Skin Basket, Karen Magnuson Sherwood, Karen Sherwood

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Recent Posts

  • Local History – Interview With Barbara Ann Lawrence – Suquamish Tribal Cultural Teacher and Storyteller
  • Porch Papermaking With Food Plants – Cardoon and Kale
  • Paper from the Ditch – Weathered Reed Canary Grass
  • Late Winter Papermaking – Mixing Siberian Iris Leaves and Lichens
  • More Spring Porch Papermaking – With Ivy Leaves

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About Melinda

Forty 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. It looked wildly made like a crazy bird’s nest. While being together with my two sons on a beautiful Pacific Northwest shoreline, this simple experience of crafting with the natural materials at hand kindled a passion for creating forms using plant fibers. I thank my family, my community, and all my teachers for cultivating this gift in me.
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Melinda West and basket, Indianola WA

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