This lady is starting on a basket using small branches of wisteria vine. Several plants can be used, including grape, honeysuckle and kudzu. She is positioning five strands to be used to form the "spokes" to weave the vines around. When asked about why an uneven number of "spokes" was used, she explained the reason. Obvious only if you think about it or try actual basket weaving. Each time you circle the basket with a vine, you weave in-and-out between each spoke. You need to reverse the in-an-out for each trip around the basket. This only works with an odd number of spokes. The ornate basket on the chair was made with a special reed from South America. |