Working with a variety of materials basketry is the art of making many items such as birdcages, bath chairs, fish traps, footwear, shopping baskets and pet carriers, even summer houses and wheelbarrows have been made. Miners have used baskets to go down and balloonists go up in them. It is even possible to be buried in a basket coffin.

The raw material is usually young Willow but can also include soft fibres such as grass, straw and even roots. The most widely used technique is ‘stake-and-strand’ and involves weaving pliable rods (the strands) round rigid uprights (the stakes) which are supported by the base. Rushes may well be used for plaiting, as they are more pliable. Coiling, is another technique used to make beehives, thin rope made from straw is coiled round on itself with each new layer sewn to the previous one by twine.

The willow normally found growing by fast flowing rivers or streams was once common throughout most of Britain but today the willow used in basket making comes mostly from the county of Somerset. It is cut in the winter when the sap is reduced and the rods are stacked until the spring when they will be boiled. The bark is left on if they want brown rods or stripped before boiling if white is required. Boiling with the bark on and then left to soak allows the tannin to stain the rods. These rods are then stored in a dry place for a few months. They are again soaked before use to make them pliable so they do not break when being weaved.

The tools used today are no different to those used by previous generations of basket makers. A Cowhorn is filled with either tallow or grease and is used to help the Bodkin run more easily through the willow. The Commander and Dog tools used for straightening the rods. A three-way Cleve for splitting the willow cane into three strands. An upright Shave for taking a curl off each side of a rod so the edges are parallel and a Beating Iron for packing the weave down.

I will leave for another time, the actual process of making baskets as this is a complicated process and differs depending on what is being produced.

The basket craftsman will take four or five yeas to learn his craft and as the willow is light but tough he will have to put up with aching fingers and numerous cuts until his hands and mussels have grown accustomed to the craft. In Britain Willow is mostly used but hazel, rush and sedge are also used in basket making.

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Take alook at the website of: - "Worshipful Company of Basketmakers"