So, back to basket weaving… Pat MacGillis of Del Mar (See Feb 23 post) hooked on me weaving rims / embellishing ceramic bases with pine needles and raffia. My effort (below left) is rather plain but I’ve kept it all these years. Everyone I knew received them as gifts. I was not very brave or innovative, but we all have to start somewhere.
A little more imagination and work went into weaving with pine needles and raffia around the rim of a cut and drilled coconut shell (below right), and still more in the coiled pine needle basket with pine cone lid. Coconut shells are really HARD, but I love the look of the fibrous, external texture of the shell. I'm hanging on to this piece because it is likely the only one I'll ever do, and I'm not particularly fond of coconut as a food.
By contrast, the pine needle basket still has the wonderful fragrance of the forest floor where I collected the pine needles. I gave one to my aunt when she was in a nursing home. It reminded us of her cabin in the San Jacinto Mountain town of Idyllwild, CA where she lived for several years and where as I child, my siblings and I spent many happy, school vacations.
No comments:
Post a Comment