Melinda West | West Gardens Basketry

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

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The Cedar Experience

May 22, 2012 By Leslie

Woven Cedar Mat Necklace

Participants learn to make either a:  Woven Cedar Mat Necklace, (as you see pictured below at IslandWood), a Woven Cedar Wall Hanging, or a Small Cedar Bark Basket.     The Cedar Experience is a class designed to give learners of any age the opportunity to experience the gifts of Western Red Cedar through the hands, heart, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Weaving with Cedar, Workshops Tagged With: Cedar life cycle, Cedar Satchel, culturally sagnificent tree, NW sweetgrass, preparation of inner cedar bark, replanting cedar trees, Schoenoplectus pungent palla, Small Cedar Bark Basket, Small Cedar Projects, Weaving With Western Red Cedar, Woven Cedar Wall Basket. "Long Life Maker"

Small Cedar Baskets

May 21, 2012 By Leslie

Woven Cedar Bark and Sweetgrass Baskets

Students learn to make small bark baskets using the inner bark of the Western Red Cedar, a tree highly valued by First Peoples cultures of the Pacific Northwest.     Learn why the Western Red Cedar has been referred to as "Long-Life-Maker' by the First Peoples of the Pacific Northwest as you experience the process of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Weaving with Cedar, Workshops Tagged With: age level, base, class, design, freeform, inner cedar bark, Long Life Maker, NW sweetgrass, planting cedar trees, rim, Schoenoplectus pungens palla, sides, small basket, Small Cedar Projects, students, traditional, Twining, weaving, Weaving With Western Red Cedar, Western red cedar, workshop

May Passes in a Flurry – A Blurry Month of Growth and Activity

June 8, 2011 By Melinda

  Come to the page and rest, says Julia Cameron in her book “The Artist’s Way”. I have desired this as I do every May. In spring, as the anticipation of its promised glories slowly creep into winter-weathered bones, the business of the season, all that is required, overtakes us like a Tsunami. Planting seeds; preparation of soil; regaining paths … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Students, Weaving Nature, Workshops Tagged With: 4th-6th grade, artist in residence, Cedar Mat Necklace Pouch, graduate students, inner cedar bark, IslandWood, Small Cedar Projects, spring, students, weaving, Weaving With Western Red Cedar, Western red cedar, workshop

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Recent Posts

  • 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
  • Here’s What’s Cooking – Porch Paper Making

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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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