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What to do with your Basket Weaving Scraps???

This month's project idea is something you can do with friends, as a fun way of sharing your basketweaving scraps and seeing what clever combinations you can come up with.

1/ Gather up your scraps. Flat and round reeds, cane, seagrass, anything that you use for weaving or spokes. Definitely have a variety of colors and textures.

2/ Invite some friends over for an afternoon of scrap weaving! What's "scrap weaving"? Simply weaving with what you have, experimenting with left-overs, experimenting with shapes. Let me give you some ideas.

Basket Shelters for Birds

The garden and birding catalogs this season are featuring a lot of neat little basket shelters for birds. These are small nest-like baskets to tuck into hedges or under eaves. Birds in the area during the winter can use them as a shelter during severe weather. In the spring, small birds can even use them for nesting.

To weave one, lay out a round reed base with a few spokes- 9 or 10" long of #3 or 4 round reed-
nothing too large in diameter.

Then twine or weave in plain-weave (over under) until the base weave is about 2" across. Bend the spokes up and take it from there. Weave with whatever you want. I used baby seagrass, although any size would work. Bend the spokes up into a nest shape. At about a couple inches tall, change direction and weave your rows back and forth, so that you make an entry hole in the side. Don't let the hole get too big. Continue weaving in around the whole basket again. When the basket gets to be a few inches tall, pull the weaving in more and more, until you have closed the top. Tie the top to secure the weaver. Clip out the extra spoke where you made the hole.

Mini-baskets
Choose your favorite base styles and weave a bunch of party-favor-sized baskets with your scraps. The bases can be square (checkerboard over under), rectangular, round (radiating spoke), even mini-melons.

(Not sure about what bases to use? Refer to our August column on basketry bases for more ideas.)

Lay out a basic base and weave the sides with scraps. Here are some photos of scrap baskets. I got caught up in the weaving and often forgot to take pictures of the bases or the basket in progress!

This row shows baskets made of flat reed and 
flat oval reed.

This basket is woven in chase weave with medium cane.

Above, see how to wind two loops of reed to make "hoops" for a mini-melon basket.
Here's some #2 round reed with a bit of colored reed for a handle and....		 ...twisted with raffia 
for a handle.
Both of these baskets have "cut and tuck" inside AND outside the basket. No rim is needed on such a tiny basket.

These little baskets handy to have around the house as friendly gifts for kids with a tuck-in. Use for "Get well" or "Have a great day!" or "Heard about your good news". Even an "After school snack surprise" on the kitchen table with nuts in them.  Sort of a mini-May basket concept.