Nantucket Basket Purse with Oak Staves and Base

I finally finished the basket in February 2015 in Merritt Island, FL.

This is 8" Nantucket Basket Purse made with Oak Staves, Bases, and Handle. It is as solid as a rock! I had never attempted a basket purse with hardwood only with cane. I spent months fiddling around with this, and the basket isn't perfect, in so many ways, but it is strong and resilient. I have been joking with people that it will be around much longer than you and I. I am not sure I would do another Oak Purse or not, because there is so little "give", but if I do, I have come up against all the pitfalls of working with this medium in this piece so I am sure my next one would be better. Most challenging basket I have ever made and this includes all my Pine Needle Baskets. I haven't yet decided where I will put a bone scallop shell on the top or do a small scrimshaw. Honestly, the bag has so many errors that I may keep it as an example of " what not to do" for the future and remember how far I have come in my Nantucket Basket Journey!

This winter I am making a 8" Nantucket Basket Purse with Oak Base and Staves. I plan on some really great Scrimshaw for the project too!

This is the very start of the Basket:

getting going!

Almost to the end of weaving the basket base:

More to come as the process develops!!..... Meanwhile I am posting a few pics of some of my Nantucket Basket Molds:

The molds are used to make the shape of the basket. Piece of wood or rattan called Staves are the ribs of the basket. I have placed them into a base ( made of oak) which is slotted. 

The Nantucket Baskets were originally woven on molds made out of old masts and booms off wrecked ships. Oak is the material these particular staves are made from but people use all kinds of woods for bases and staves. 

Many people use Rattan for staves too. I am weaving with Rattan or Cane. 

Traditionally on Nantucket (where I learned this style of basket making from a teacher named Peter Finch) baskets may have been made from other materials other than rattan. Since it is thought that some basket making skills may have been inherited from the Local Wampanoag Indians, they may have even used Pine Needles. There is a bit of a historical connection with the shakers and some early families on the Island and you can see that influence. I have many Molds. I also do a little scrimshaw and use ivory and bone findings (antique of course).

The whalers brought the rattan and cane home to Nantucket in the 1800's from Asia and that's when they started weaving with it. Later many men who were stationed on Light Ships which were ships anchored in shoal water off the island like floating lighthouses they made baskets to sell on the island in the late 1800's. Later the Nantucket purse was popularized in the 1940's by a talented basket maker on the island named Jose Reyes.

There is a wonderful video of Jose Reyes on YouTube:

http://youtu.be/slMhy2obnK0

A Photo f me weaving this basket - Feb 2015

Some of the stages

Gluing the lid

This was a real leap of crazy faith to do this basket without much instruction or a mentor to help me with hardwood baskets. I have some supplies to make a cherry basket purse next with cherry staves and I am hoping I do a better job with that!

Happy Weaving!!

Melissa Smith Abbott

Mystic Journey Pine Needle Basket

"Mystic Journey Pine Needle Basket"
The Mystic Journey is the journey of the soul.
As the Poet Wordsworth once wrote:
Our birth is but a sleeping and a forgetting
The soul that rises with us, our life's star,
Hath had elsewhere it's setting
Our souls have sight of that immortal sea
Which brought us hither,
can in a moment travel thither

The very beginnings of the Mystic Journey.
 Paua Shell cabochon glued to a piece of leather.
 

1st row going on second row.
I make my stitches tight and close.

Putting on the 1st row of 6 mm lapis beads

Lapis bead row almost complete

1st row of solid teal wrapping

A Row of Czech glass teal colored
 beads between rows.

Added a row of larger 10mm Lapis Beads
 and then another solid teal row is begun

Solid Teal row is completed and starting a row of cobalt
 colored czech glass beads between rows.

The cobalt beads I used were silver lined.
Here is a close up of we stringing
them in between rows.

Another close up.
You can really see the beauty of the Lapis Beads.

Teal colored glass Czech beads
used between rows.

The light looks beautiful
through the Teal Beads

This is where I am adding a row of 8mm Lapis beads
and starting to come up the sides of the basket.

The sides of the Basket are being formed
and I added another solid teal row to end the whole thing.

close up of center

The Back of the Basket.

Side View of Finished Basket
Note my bee hives in the background!

Angled View

Alternate View of Finished Basket

Finished View of "Mystic Journey"
This basket is 10"x 10" by 3" high.
It was made between Oct 15 - Nov 13, 2014
in East Gloucester, MA by Melissa Smith Abbott

Joseph Campbell once said, 

" Where we had thought to travel

outward, we shall come to the center of our 

own existence 

 where 

we thought we were alone, 

we shall be with all the world." This 

is

 in fact, the crux of the Mystic Journey 

we all take on this path 

                                 called life.

The Making of Haley's Round Nantucket Six Inch Basket Purse with Scrimshaw

Haley with her Basket

I made this basket for Haley last fall. It is a 6 inch round Nantucket Basket with a lid which I fashioned into a small purse. I used cherry bases, cherry long handle, bone findings, an old ivory piano key for the nameplate, and an ivory scrimshaw piece I did myself. This scrimshaw was my very first attempt at doing some scrimshaw and while primitive and a student piece, I was happy with the outcome. In fact, the whole basket was an experiment. I had recently purchased a 6" Lid Mold from DELS Nantuckets and wanted to try it out.  

The very start of the weaving

The first few rows of weaving.
They are always the hardest part of the basket for me.

After I got going on the Base.
Starting to look good but still needs a lot of packing

The Basket comes off the Mold

View of Interior before any varnishing

Varnishing

Doesn't look too Bad

Varnishing after I got the lid made
and the hinges on

Haley with her son Austin and husband Brian at our home at Christmas. 2013
I gave her the basket as a Christmas Present 

Towards the End of Making Basket - I have glued on the scrimshaw but haven't gotten on the bone hasp yet

Finished Basket

View of Interior with Lining

Still on the Workbench

Interior Name Plate done on an old Piano Key

Close up of Lighthouse Island Scrimshaw
My very first Attempt at Scrimshaw

I think the Scrimshaw lights up the basket!

The very first of my new Nantucket 6 inch round basket purses and what a satisfying project it was and a wonderful gift for Haley! I hope to make many more!!This was made during the Fall of 2013 in Gloucester, MA. This basket should last her for years to come and be the perfect summer purse! I hope she enjoys and loves it!

Happy Basket Making,
Melissa Abbott