The Sampler Basket

This twined basket was a spontaneous creation woven during the Richmond Maritime Festival as a demonstration piece. 

I started with English Ivy that I had harvested on my way to the festival that morning.  The Ivy was left unsplit with the bark on, only the rootlets and leaves where removed. 

Yellow Flag Iris leaves (previously dried and soaked), Blackberry bark, a strip of tree bark found washed up on the beach and Cottonwood Tree Bark (also found washed up on the beach) were all incorporated into the basket in order to demonstrate the variety of materials that I had on hand that day.  The banding pattern was separated by sections of English Ivy that had been previously dried and then resoaked prior to use.