Melinda West | West Gardens Basketry

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

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Weaving from the Wild

This section documents workshops that introduce students to a wide variety of plants growing in local landscapes that can be used as fiber resources, including invasive weeds!  Examples of woven, twined, and many types of ribbed baskets are shown here using vines, tree barks, roots, runners, grasses, leaves, stems, and branches.

Woven Wearables with Mathewson & West

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

Spend three inspired days exploring local plant-fiber use and universal fiber techniques with two contemporary plant-fiber artists, Margaret Mathewson and Melinda West, at the Bainbridge Artisans Resource Network.

Fish Skin Preparation into a Material For Craft

Koyukon and Athabascan Artist, Audrey Armstrong, recently taught a Fish Skin Workshop at Bainbridge Artisans Resource Network. I’ll be sharing bits of what we learned. She was a wonderful teacher.

Basketry Program at BARN-Bainbridge Artisans Resource Network

After a long pause in the basketry program at the Bainbridge Artisans Resource Network (BARN) due to the covid pandemic, it was wonderful to contribute to this program by teaching a Weaving Nature Workshop at BARN this Fall.

Hazelnut In Spring

Hazelnut limbs are a strong hardwood that work wonderfully as hoops, handles, or for the ribbed frame pieces that give some baskets their shape and strength. Harvest in winter to keep the bark on. Harvest in spring if you’d like to peal it.

Weaving From The Wild a workshop at IslandWood with Melinda West

Carrying On Traditional Knowledge Through Weaving With Plants

Grateful for this wonderful group of students at IslandWood.

Cattail, Cedar & Iris Pouch by Melinda West

Weaving From the Wild at IslandWood – Feb 3, 2019

Spend a day learning techniques for using plant fibers to create beautiful and useful objects.

Ribbed baskets made with various PNW materials

Feb 4, 2018 Workshop at IslandWood

Join Melinda for a day at IslandWood and weave a basket with plant materials from the NW landscape.

UW Society of Ethnobiology

It was a beautiful day for the outdoor workshop ‘Weaving With Invasives’ held in the lovely Medicinal Herb Garden on Seattle’s UW campus.  I’m grateful to the UW Society of Ethnobiolgy which hosted this event, and especially to Alex Harwell and Ashley Blazina. Along with organizing this event they made sure we had plenty of […]

Weaving With Invasives

Friday, May 29, 2015 Weaving With Invasives Workshop, UW Campus, Seattle.

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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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