We are a wife and husband basketmaking partnership since 1980. For the last 19 years we have lived together on a remote homestead in the Siskiyou Mountains at the extreme southwestern corner of Oregon. Here we built our home, produce our own hydroelectricity and grow much of our own food.
The wood of the ash tree has long been one of the world's most highly prized basket materials because of its beauty, strength and flexibility. In the Northeastern United States, Indians as well as early settlers knew how to make baskets from the eastern black(also known as brown) ash, Fraxinus nigra.
Here in the Pacific Northwest our native Oregon ash, Fraxinus latifolia, is similar to the eastern black ash. But becasue of differences in soil and climate, good basket trees are much rarer than in the east. In fact, this scarcity of material is probably the reason that Northwest Indians have no splintwork traditions of their own (as far as we know). Good trees are so scarce that it usually takes several days of searching to find a single small basket tree. Fortunately, one good tree will yield a lot of splint; enough for from twenty to forty baskets.
Producing splint by hand is extremely laborious. However, it is the only way to make a lifetime product. When a tree is found it is cut and the bark is removed and discarded. Then the real work begins. Every square inch of the log must be beaten vigorously with overlapping blows from a small sledgehammer. This pounding will cause one years gowth ring to separate from the log, allowing it to be peeled from the log in long narrow strips.
Each time more rings are removed another pounding cycle must occur. The strips are then split by tearing the two halves apart with the hands. Each half is then left with one smooth and one rough side. These "splints" are then cut to the desired widths.
Our basketry has evolved from a "modern traditional" approach. We use only native woods we gather ourselves and only hand tools. We have combined local materials with early American, Indian and Shaker traditions to create baskets with our own distinctly Northwest flavor. Our baskets are woven without the use of molds. This allows us the widest possible variety of shapes and sizes. We rely on experience rather than molds to achieve symetrical shapes.
Handles are carved from a variety of woods, but yew, ash and manzanita are our favorites. Yew, the bow wood of Robin Hood, William Tell and countless native American archers, is extremely flexible. It also has a distinctive coloration. The outer, or sap, wood is ivory white while the inner, or heart, wood is a deep salmon-orange. These contrasting colors afford numerous possibilities for decorative handles. Floral and animal designs on our handles are carved from a single piece of yew wood, not glued on afterwards.
Manzanita, another favorite wood, is a deep purplish-red color. Unfortunately, manzanita for handles needs to be straight grained, knot free, and at least four inches in diameter. Anyone familiar with the manzanita bush (it's hardly a tree) knows that such pieces are extremely scarce. We believe its beauty is worth the extra effort required to find it.
After carving and steam bending, handles are hand sanded down to 2,000 grit. Finally they are rubbed with 100% pure tung oil for a final finish.
Our baskets require no special care. A light misting of the basket body with a plant sprayer once or twice a year will further the life of the splint. Handles can be buffed or polished with the same rags and polish used on any fine furniture.
Since our materials are so scarce we have tried to emphasize quality over quantity. A large volume of baskets and mass production techniques would quickly exhaust our splint resources and put us out of business. Instead, we make about 120 baskets each year and make no compromises on quality. We fully expect that with minimal care our baskets will long outlast their makers.
Our basketry stems from a need for strong, durable containers and we plan on continuing in this direction. We prefer that our baskets, no matter how decorative, be utilitarian as well.
Our hope is that we can enlarge the already rich tradition of Northwest basketry to include a splintwork tradition of its own.
Baskets listed are a sampling of types we make. We also make a variety of special baskets as materials and inspiration are available. Design possibilities are numerous and if you have a design not shown or described here, send us a sketch or description and we will reply with an estimate.