Melinda West | West Gardens Basketry

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

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Fireweed and Nettle Fiber Papers

September 15, 2021 By Melinda

It’s been fun and interesting experimenting with how to extract the cellulose fibers from various native, naturalized, and invasive plants that live in our gardens and all around our neighborhood. Because, like Stinging Nettle, Fireweed bast fiber was also traditionally utilized by the First Peoples of this region for cordage making, and it … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Community, News, Plants and Places, Upcoming Tagged With: cordage, fireweed, fish nets, nettle, Paper making, papermaking, traditional First People, tumlines

Plants Have Fibers – And Other Good Lessons

September 9, 2021 By Melinda

Thank you for looking at this blog. I haven’t been writing much this past year, for various reasons, but I hope to share more with you in the coming months. Last year was dedicated to working on some projects I’d started, but never seemed to have the time to finish, like the Suquamish-Indianola Storytelling Project. I learned that sometimes … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Artistic Uses of Plant Fibers, Artwork, Community, News, Plants and Places, Upcoming Tagged With: Heronswood Garden, inclusions, Kara Horton-Wright, Michelle Berg, Paper making, paper making workshop, papermaking, Port Gamble S’Klallam, Sue Smith, The Basketry School, wood Hyacinth

2012 Images from NCI Retreat

September 26, 2012 By Melinda

Inspriation Out Our Door

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ncascades/sets/72157631506760027/   Here is a link with the photos that Katie and Jessica took at NCI.   … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Artistic Uses of Plant Fibers, Students, Workshops Tagged With: 2012 Artists Retreat, armature, cedar bark paper, creative, Fall, inspiring, Lake Diablo, mixed grass paper, North Cascades Institute, papermaking, sculptural basketry, students

August 16, 2010 Harvesting Grasses and Leaves

August 16, 2010 By Melinda

<><><> </></></>grass fan   28"x20"x2"<><> </></> Summer has peaked in the Puget Sound area with temperatures in the 90's, clear skies, and gentle breezes from the North. This is the time my thoughts flow to the harvesting of foliage from the many long-leaved plants and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Plants and Places Tagged With: bulrush, cattail, common rush, corn husks, crocosmia, crocus, curing, daffodil, foliage, garlic leaves, grass-like materials, grasses, harvesting, leaves, mellowing, mixed grass paper, NW sweetgrass, onion leaves, papermaking, Siberian iris, spring, storage, summer, wall pieces, Yellow Flag Iris

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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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