Just over a week ago I spent a day with my Basketry mates, the Basketry Collective, learning the Burkina Plait from Nadine Anderson.

We started with paper string to practice the twists involved that hold it all together and then very quickly moved on to rush. The rush was such a beautiful green harvested this year by Nadine, it was a real treat to be using such lovely material.

Although I’ve done a lot of plaiting I was completely new to this and thoroughly enjoyed getting to grips with the technique. That is one of the lovely things about Basketry, there is always something new to learn.

I finished the bag off with a few rush flowers and a leather strap. There is definitely room for improvement and I hope to keep practising over the coming weeks.