Southwestern Ontario Basketry Guild

How did it all begin? My first basketmaking experience was in the mid 1980’s, a large egg basket woven on grapevine rings and ribs. The place was the patio at the London home of my new mother-in-law, the teacher was Betty Britschgi and I loved every minute. This was the London guild of weavers and spinners basketry study group and we were meeting each month to make a basket. I think there were 7 baskets under my belt before the group folded for lack of leadership (one of the baskets still isn’t finished!!!). We had been rotating teaching among the members and I remember meeting in someone’s kitchen one night (she is now a SOBG member) where Betty taught Amy’s Basket from Lyn Siler's book. There wasn’t much basketmaking through the ‘90s but Betty Britschgi gave me some cuttings from cultured basketry willow which came from Edna Baker, a former London guild member, and today it is my main crop, Green Edna. In 2000 Ankaret Dean sold me cuttings and that summer Jule Koch gave me ...

Yarn, thread, weeds, wood, all natural fibers have moved me, since I was child weaving pot holders under a tree on a hot day. Basket weaving for me started about 20 years ago on a hang gliding trip with Dolores von Rosen and our men. The men went off early one morning and Dolores drew me into her weaving web in a dim orange and brown motel room, where hanks of reed were hanging everywhere. Looking now at my first basket, the whole scene comes back and makes me laugh. After that day, she could count on me for years to attend her basket workshops. When Dolores after retirement moved back to South Carolina, I decided to teach workshops in my basement for a few years, while continuing to learn from Grace Kabel and other Michigan weavers. The von Rosen friendship stayed alive with our US/Canada trips back and forth - always including basket weaving. One can never be skilled enough or run out of design ideas - I was hooked. After retiring from 40 years of teaching special education,...

Woodland Weaver has been a loom weaver for 26 years. She lives in a quiet corner of Essex County, in a Carolinian woodland. During her weaving career, she has woven hundreds of rugs, scarves, towels, etc., always aiming for unique designs and colour combinations. She has always dabbled in baskets, and every time there was a basket workshop at a weaving conference, she would take the class, because she was fascinated by the 3-D and textural feel of basketry. After joining the Southwestern Ontario Basketry Guild a few years ago, she has been able to further develop a love for basketry, and actually feels she almost knows what she is doing some of the time. But like learning complicated weave structures for the loom, basketry is never simple, and is an endless learning experience. With the kind donation of willow cuttings from a fellow basketmaker, she has started her own willow bed at the edge of the pond, and had a reasonable harvest this past fall, despite the rabbits. Woodland ...