I’ve been working on paper baskets made from photographs. This one is called ‘shadow of my former self’. It’s an oldish photo of my shadow on a grassy path that runs between two fields. The path runs over a hill between my village and the next.

It’s a beautiful walk with views I never tire of. I printed the photo onto paper, then soften it up by scrunching it up multiple times. Then I bonded it to canvas before cutting and plaiting. The border is a simple sandwich and sew and the whole thing is cradled in an overlay of willow bark.

Another basket finished yesterday. I finally feel as though I have some pieces I’m happy to take to the Worshipful Company trade fair in less than two weeks.

A frame basket using a mixture of materials. The top hoop and handle hoop are made of oak. Bought in America several years ago they have been waiting for me to take an interest for a while. The gods eyes are white willow skeins, the ribs are cane and the weavers sea grass.

More Burkina Faso plaiting. This time with sea grass. These baskets have stones in them, so could be used as paper weights. The idea was that they would look very plant like when I finished unravelling all the ends!

I’ve been making lots of little samples using the Burkina Faso plaiting technique over the last few weeks. It’s been fun experimenting with the technique and different materials. The above phots shows pieces made with paper string, nutscene twine and wire.