ST201905

PROUDLY

HOMEMADE

Y

ou may not have realised

but basket-making is

one of the world’s most

common crafts, practised

by every civilisation in

the world at some point.

Tabara N’Diaye became entranced

when spending her school summer

holidays in her parents’ hometown of

Thiès in Senegal, eagerly buying up the

baskets made from local grasses and

coloured strings to use for anything and

everything. When she launched her

homeware brand, La Basketry, with her

sister, she learnt to weave baskets for

herself. This beginner’s project echoes

the Senegalese baskets Tabara fell in

love with, made by wrapping plastic

strings with a needle around the core

material – a bundle of grasses. It uses

the basic technique of coiling. Practise

a few times and, once mastered, you can

move on to shaped bowls and baskets.

There are many natural grasses found

in and around the garden that can be

harvested and prepared for basket-

weaving. Depending on where you live

and the time of the year, Tabara

suggests hard rush, pendulous sedge,

reed, sweetgrass, pine needle, hay,

wheat bunch or skep-making straw as

good options. You could also buy online

from somewhere like wildf lowers.co.uk

or try your local garden centre.

Whatever material you choose, make

sure it’s thoroughly dried out before use.

An alternative to grass is raffia,

available from most craft shops. Tabara

also suggests using plastic strings to

begin (search ‘scoubidou’ or ‘plastic

lacing string’ to buy online) or, if you

want to go plastic free, try fabric. As you

may have gathered, this is a technique

that’s adaptable to all sorts of different

materials, colours and designs, so enjoy

experimenting and seeing what you can

create as your skills build over time.

As Tabara says, “If you focus on loving

the process rather than just the results,

you’ll be building a hobby that will

provide joy throughout your life.”

Drinkscoasters

A GREATWAYTOTRY

YOURHANDATTHE

COILINGTECHNIQUE

YOUWILLNEED

1.2mlengthsof corematerial

(driedgrassof yourchoiceor raffia),

makinga bundle1.3cmin diameter

(approx 10 pieces)

4 x 1mlengthsof whiteplasticstring

Large-eyedneedle

Ruleror measuringtape

Scissors

1 Gather10 piecesof corematerialintoa

bundleabout1.3cmin diameter,cutends

level.Holdthebundlea thumb’swidth

fromtheendandsecuretightlywith

plasticstringin anoverhandknot(aka,a

halfhitch):wrapyourstringaroundand

alongthebundleandholdbothendson

onesideof thebundle– youwanttheleft

endto beabout5cmlong.Thencrossthe

leftendovertherightend,creatinga loop,

thenpassit under(throughtheloop)and

pulltightly.Seepicture1.

1 2

3

“Focus on loving the

process rather than just

the results and you’ll

be building a hobby

that will provide joy

throughout your life”

WEEKEND PROJECT

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