shaker basket

I made this basket for my mother in law several Christmasses back. (I think this might actually be the last of the projects from my “pre-woodworking days.”)

This was inspired by an much larger basket on display at the gift shop at Hancock Shaker Village, back in 2002. The baskets opening was at least 3’ in diameter – Couldn’t find an image on their website.

This is built/woven entirely from 2’ strips of aspen (or was it basswood?) from the BORG, the handle is attached with tee-nuts. Diameter of the basket is roughly 16” give or take.

I softened the wood in the tub, clamped the pieces together (and wished I had several more arms) as I managed to work the pieces together on the other side (after predrilling of course). It was awkward until the tension evened out, but it has held up to any internal stresses over the years.

BTW, this also served as the inspiration piece for my 2x4 project in the Winter Contest – these strips bent just fine after a soak in hot water – the pine didn’t even like to move at all after 15 minutes of being steamed! Just goes to show there is something to be said for the benefit of early failures over early successes.

-- I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso -- http://blanchardcreative.etsy.com -- http://snbcreative.wordpress.com/