Skylily and one of her beautiful baskets

Hi everyone out there,

I would like to tell you about the wonderful world of baskets and the magic that keeps me engaged. Up until now I made baskets out of hazelnut and spruce root. I quickly learned that the quality of the material has a major impact on how well the basket turns out. It can be very frustrating when we have a new idea for a basket, but the weavers break constantly. I learned that beautiful, long, straight hazelnut switches work best for weaving. But for carrying baskets – I prefer spruce root.

I got the idea for my first basket when I saw two different baskets over by the Moon Lodge. I took a look and thought, yes, that’s simple, I can do that. When I made the bottom, I noticed quickly that it was not as simple as I thought. It was quite frustrating, to  be honest, and I would have loved to just burn it. Yet somehow, I was quite compelled and thought that maybe, just like with painting, that there may be a phase where it looks stupid, and that is true. When I continued and moved out of my frustration, a beautiful basket turned out.

Now there are three baskets and the fourth is in the making. I’m having a lot of fun experimenting with that, making as many mistakes as possible, because from those I learn the most. And one wonderful thing that I’ve learned is that everything is a basket*.

~ Skylily

* Lodges are big baskets. Woven clothing, blankets, bowls, anything that holds something or is woven is a basket. 🙂