Ash Bark Basket

This scored and folded one-piece bark basket is a worldwide Indigenous container, still in use today. It is the original trailside harvesting bucket, Native to the Northeast woodlands of the U.S. You will clean and prepare and possibly split spruce roots to stitch with, bend and split a red willow branch to fashion an inner and outer rim, and braid a hemp cord strap to finish this strong and attractive Eighteenth century day pack. All materials wild harvested by your teacher and her family in the Northern Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts, except for the hemp cord. This basket is approximately 12”x12”.

Bark is to the Northeast woodland Tribes as Bison is to the Tribes of the Great Plains; the Lakota, Cheyanne, Osage, etc. There is a season for harvesting bark that varies by species, weather, and growing situation. The sustainable harvesting of Bark, Roots, and Red Willow will be discussed.

Skills and Techniques:

• Different stitching patterns will be shared
• Harvesting times and techniques
• Understanding scoring of the bottom of the bark which allows it to bend yet remain strong

Materials Fee: $100 paid directly to the instructor

Special Tools or Equipment: All tools will be provided, but if you’d like to bring your own, you’ll need scissors, utility knife, needle nose plyers, four-sided awl, bowl for water. An apron is recommended.

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