Warning: Colonial Basketweaving 101 more Difficult than any Collegiate Class

After a week of studying about the French and Indian War, I thought the kids would enjoy immersing themselves into an 18^th century art project for an entire day.

We had all the Supplies

We had kits with all the parts, an entire Saturday to ourselves, and my son, the engineering-artist who problem solves everything! What could go wrong?

A few years ago while at Colonial Williamsburg, we met the basketmaker.

My son, about 8 at the time, was fascinated by the process, so he asked tons of questions. 

At the gift shop, I purchased a kit thinking we could all enjoy the project together, but we never got around to it. 

Then last Christmas, a family member gave dd a colonial basket kit from the same company that we got our first kit. 

Since we started our study of the 18^th century this week, our favorite era, I thought we could enjoy our Colonial Williamsburg souvenirs by weaving colonial baskets with these kits.  

My Son Easily Figures out these Intricate Projects

My son, the resident engineer-artist, started the process, for my daughter and I to learn from. Then I’d help my daughter.

First we laid out ds’s kit to figure out what all the various pieces were. 

The next step was to soak the strips because they must remain wet in order to be flexible enough to bend.

Uh Oh, Different Kit, Different Steps

While those were soaking, dd and I dd opened her kit set, but we were confused because some of the pieces were different. They weren’t as easy to identify as ds’ were. 

We called ds over to help. He was equally confused. 

At least we knew to soak the strips, so we did that while my son started weaving his basket, except he got stuck. 

Clueless, he needed my help. 

Uh oh! I was depending on him! 

Hmmm, I took a look at the two sheets and looked up the web site, but that didn’t help us much.

Ready to make a momentous decision, I wanted to throw everything away, but my kids were more hopefully determined.

Even though most directions for every other project I’ve ever done has said to read all the directions first, this was overwhelming me with this project.

We Switched Gears

Instead of thinking ahead to the upcoming steps, we merely focused on one step at a time.  

Using a ruler to measure an even grid, we made pencil marks at strategic places on the strips. 

Getting the foundational grid even on dd’s basket…

Meticulously working our way through the weaving, which meant pulling out dd’s strips quite often when it got confusing. 

Finally…Ta da!

For pictures of our other projects, check my Flickr set.