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I started making baskets in high school with reed I bought at the dime store. It took me 20 years to realize I could weave with stuff that grows in my own yard. What changed my life was taking a class in willow basketry at Sievers School of Fiber Arts. The instructor, Jo Campbell-Amsler took us into the willow patch to cut our own materials. That's not something you get to do in many classes, and for me it was a revelation. Soon I started to explore looping and coiling using homegrown materials. Much of my coiling now incorporates a fusion of ideas expressed with recycled fabrics, but I still have a fondness for homegrown
The willow I use for coiling is the stuff I used to compost after sorting my harvest because it was too fine for other basketry styles. I also coil with Siberian iris leaves. The process of making a vessel with these materials begins when the snow melts and my crops start their season's growth. It continues as I harvest and dry the material, then "mellow" it to make it flexible. To everything there is a season, or two or three.
I mostly coil using a technique called the Basketmaker's Buttonhole Stitch. It's an open-core stitch, which means stitches are spaced so the core material is visible between them. In many other open-core techniques, beautiful patterned stitches are the first thing you notice about the basket. With this technique, the stitches generally recede into the fabric of the basket. But each stitch is so secure that you can use it as an anchor point for almost any type of work you want to do on the surface, and it holds while you manipulate the core -- perfect for sculptural work..
Coiling is not a fast technique. As I stitch a coiled piece, I reflect on how we're all linked to what went before us and how we support what will come after. My work spirals around, mostly moving forward but sometimes drawing in, reaching out, or going back to start over. I like side trips that seem to go nowhere yet add richness to the journey. Every stitch is an opportunity to fill in a gap, take a second chance, and find beauty in the way all things are connected.
Learn About Fuegian Coiling
Learn About Fusion Vessels
Coiling & Fuegian Coiling Workshop Topics
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