Friday through Sunday, April 25-27, 2025, Friday noon-6pm, Saturday 8am-5pm, Sunday 8am-noon.

Organized through Northeast Basketmakers Guild. Registration here. $200 Member, $230 Non-Member Registration (opens November 2nd), plus $70 materials for my class, non-members of the NBG welcome, and there are grants available!

This is an INTERMEDIATE/ADVANCED level class! Students need to be comfortable working with willow. Prerequisites: Students MUST have the experience level in WILLOW. Students should be able to weave a regular round willow basket on their own without instruction, so that they are familiar with three rod wale, randing techniques, and general shaping. It is helpful if students are familiar with using a knife to cut willow slypes and/or scalloms.

In this willow weaving intensive, experienced students can practice creating a well-formed and refined project through the making of a creel. We begin with a D-shaped base where the back stakes are scallomed on, additional stakes are then punched through the hoop and corner stakes added. We then weave up the sides of the basket using three rod wale, randing, and a packing weave, with careful attention to weaving around corners and creating a bellied form at the front. The basket is completed with a woven rod border (another place to practice weaving around corners), a lid woven in a similar fashion to the base (students can choose to incorporate or leave out the hole), and leather fasteners and strapping. The project is customizable to different sizes and designs, whether you'd like a functional fishing creel or a fashionable purse!