Basketry Tips and Techniques on things like weave patterns, basket materials harvesting and preparation, making coiled baskets, chip carving a gourd, cordage instructions, adding handles, making stitched birch bark containers and much more.

How To Make Basket Dye From Walnut Hulls
A simple How to on making black walnut hull basket dye.

Anatomy Of A Basket Handle
Explanation of the various parts of a basket handle and instructions on how to lay out the handle blank for carving.

Basketry Techniques: Coiling, Twining, Weaving, Plaiting
Learn the differences in four major basketry construction techniques.

Basketry Techniques: Learn How To Twine
Instructions on incorporating twining into your basketry.

Basketry Tips From Readers
Do you have a basketweaving tip to share with other readers? If you do, send it in an email with "Basketry Reader's Tip" in the subject.

Gourd Tutorials
Gourds For Basketmaking. The instruction, tips, techniques and guidance you need to grow, cure and use gourds in your basketry projects.

Harvest Red Osier Dogwood For Basketmaking
A simple Arts and Crafts How to on harvesting red osier dogwood branches for basket weaving or other hobby.

Harvest Spruce Roots
Spend a lazy afternoon gathering spruce roots to use in your baskets. This feature article offers instruction on harvesting spruce roots.

How To Pound A Black Ash Log Into Woodsplints
A simple How to on pounding a black ash log into woodsplints. Follow these instructions to learn how to identify, harvest and pound a black ash log into woodsplint for basketmaking.

How To Hand Split a White Oak Log and Make an Oak Basket
Owen Rein is a traditional White oak basketmaker from Mountain View, Arkansas. His site includes a reprint of an article he wrote for Woodwork Magazine that describes in depth the process of selecting a log, reducing it into traditional hand-split oak basketmaking materials and making an oak basket.

Knotless Netting Stitches
Knotless netting a textile stitching technique that forms a mesh without any knots. Learn several stitch variations with these instructions.

Lay Out An Eight Spoke Spider Woven Basket Base
Use these instructions for laying out the base of an eight spoke spider woven round basket in a sequence that will lock in each spoke as you do your first round of weaving.

Make A Round Work Base Or Table Mat
The Basket Base Table Mat is an old pattern that first appeared in George Wharton James' classic book from the turn of the century, Practical Basket Making. It can be used by itself or the technique can be used to make a round basket base for many other round work basketry styles.

Make Cordage To Use In Your Basketry
Instruction and resources to make cordage from plant fibers for your baskets.

How To Weave A Lauhala Mat
Step by step illustrated instructions for weaving a mat from lauhala, the long flexible leaves (lau) of the hala tree.

Matchstick Border
Free pattern for a flat reed cone shaped basket that incorporates instruction for a matchstick border. Authored by Ester Grigsby on the Noresta Cane & Reed site. Another free pattern with a matchstick border from The Country Seat.

Plant A Willow Bed
A simple How to on planting willow for basketry.

Processing Shark Skin Into Leather
Step by step, illustrated instructions teach you how to make shark or other fish skin into rawhide written by Dino Labiste.

Birch Bark Seamless Containers
In her NativeTech site Tara Prindle offers diagrams and instruction on creating sap buckets and trail kettles of Birch bark.

Birch Bark Sewn Containers
In her NativeTech site Tara Prindle offers diagrams and instruction on making sewn containers of Birch bark such as tray, cylindrical and cone shaped forms.

Chip Carving on a Gourd
Tutorial by A. B. Amis teaches how to use chip carving to decorate your gourd.

Coiled Basketry Construction
Illustrated description of types of foundation and stitching for coiled basketry. Methods of starting coiled baskets and a detail showing the method of producing a braided rim. In her NativeTech site Tara Prindle offers illustrated instructions for basic coiled pine needle basketry.

Coiling Instructional CD
Learn how to make coiled baskets with the instruction contained in this Introduction To Coiling CD from xbaskets.com

Cordage Instructions
In her NativeTech site Tara Prindle offers instructions for making cordage from a variety of plant fibers.

Cutting Nut Slices For Pine Needle Basketry
Step by step instructions on how to cut black walnut, butternut, heartnut or hickory nut slices to use in coiled pine needle basketry.

Dyeing Porcupine Quills
Using natural dyes to color porcupine quills is described by Nancy Fonicello on the NativeTech site.

Figure Eight Coiled Basket Start
Instructions for a figure eight start for coiled baskets with photo illustrations. Peggy Arnoldussen, of Peg's Basketry demonstrates this coiled pine needle basket start technique in an online tutorial.

Filling-In For Ribbed Baskets
Tony Stubblefield offers illustrated instructions on how to "fill-in" or compensate for the bulbous shape of a ribbed basket.

Five Strand Braid
From the Primitive Pursuits site, Anita Cheek Moon offers instructions for a five strand braid.

Growing and Curing Gourds
An Ohio State University Extension Service Fact sheet on growing and curing gourds in the home garden.

How To Weave A Simple Braided Border
Linda Hebert of V.I. Reed & Cane offers an illustrated tutorial that will teach you how to create a simple braided round reed border.

Netting Tutorial
Expansive site on tools and techniques for several kinds of netting. Square netting, circular netting and diamond netting are included along with vocabulary, tools and supplies by Rita Bartholomew.

Plaited Coil Start
Instructions for a plaited start for coiled baskets with photo illustrations. Using iris leaves that have been wetted and mellowed, Pamela Zimmerman demonstrates a Tohono O'odham style beginning for a coiled basket.

Pyroengraving On Gourds
Tips and techniques for woodburning designs onto gourds from Laurie Parker.

Rope Making
Read how Ann Norman makes her own rope materials for ply-split baskets and other fiber arts.

Shapes and Uses of California Indian Basketry
Basket weaving methods such as coiling, simple open-work twining and tightly woven twining are described.

Shaping Tips for Basketry
From Linda Braun's Baskets, Etc. site an article entitled "The Dynamics and Practice of Freehand Shaping" that offers an explanation of freehand basketry shaping techniques Judith Olney wrote to share. This article will help answer those questions about how to shape a basket as you weave it without using a basket mold.

Sharpen Your Tools
Step by step instructions for three methods of keeping your tools sharp.

Tapestry Crochet
Instructions for tapestry crochet technique by Carol Ventura. This technique allows the use of two or more colors worked at the same time to create figural patterns. Carol's books Tapestry Crochet and More Tapestry Crochet will help you learn this technique.

Weaving A Rush Chair Seat
Learn how to weave a fiber rush chair seat using this free tutorial from Popular Mechanics.

Weaving a Gourd Rim with Pandanus
Tutorial by James Bamba details how to weave a pandanus rim on a gourd.

Woodburning Techniques
Tips on the use of a hot tool to produce wood burned designs into gourds or wood.