MEOWWWW, Baby! A Cat's Head Base Tutorial

Quite a while ago, a reader asked me to do a tutorial on making a Cat's Head base...and, well, I forgot.  But never fear, she politely reminded me, at which point I got my butt in gear and got this post ready!

A cat's head base isn't really very hard to accomplish, but as is typical, it seems, a lot of patterns out there go lazy on you and don't do a very good job of explaining things, so what should be fairly easy to do turns into a mess of reed frustration!  I hope to help clear up some of the confusion and get you on your way to doing this thing like a pro!

The example I'm using here makes a pretty large basket.  I cut 18 stakes from 1/2" flat reed @ 32" long.

You can use whatever pattern you may have....it doesn't matter, because they all start with a square base.  So go ahead and lay that out as you normally would, like this:

Some patterns will tell you to twine around the base once.  I don't think this is necessary at all.  Since the stakes are placed so close together, they are not likely to shift.  I clothespin my corners as shown to prevent this anyway.  It works for me!

Next step, flip the whole thing over.  You're going to be weaving with the base flat on the table (at least for now), with the outside (smooth side) facing you.

My sides are woven with 3/16" flat reed in start/stop rows.  Again, you can use my instructions or follow your own pattern.

Start the weaving on a stake to the left of the center, on any side.  Weave across the row to the corner.  Remove the clothespin.  Weave around the corner stakes and stop.  

What you want to do at each corner is "pinch" the corner stakes together.  You want the wrong sides of these two corner stakes to be facing each other,  then clothespin these two stakes together as close to the row of weaving as you can (see below).

Notice how very little space I am allowing between those corner stakes.  Pull the weaver snugly around the corner.  The weaver will almost "crease" here, although you don't actually want to purposely make a crease.  Make sense?  If it does crease a bit, no worries!

Now continue weaving across the next side and repeat the technique I just showed you at the next corner, and the remaining corners, ending your row as usual when you get back to your starting stake.

Remember to keep the base flat on your work surface for the time being.

Starting with the second row, you will be forcing the stakes to "fan out" to the right and left of center as you weave each side.

In the photo above, I am starting row two.  When I get to the last stake before the corner, I stop. Now I force the stakes to fan out by pulling in the direction indicated by the arrows.  In other words, I pull the stakes that are on the right of the center stake, towards the right, and I pull the stakes that are on the left of the center, towards the left.  (But leave the corner stakes alone)

 

They won't move a lot on the second row, but that's ok.  You'll be doing the same thing on EVERY SIDE, on EVERY ROW, for 4 more rows.  With each successive row, the stakes will fan out a bit more each time.

  

Remember to keep the corner stakes pinched together as you did in the first row!

Doing this forces the corners up off the table and is what creates the "ears".

Ok, now that you've done a total of 5 rows, the cat's "ears" are pretty well formed.

 

   At this point you can ditch the clothespins and pick the basket up to weave the remaining rows!

From this point on, you do NOT want to pinch the corners together.  Allow your weaver to go smoothly around them instead. 

 For the next few rows , allow the space between the corners to increase a bit (see above).  You can pull the corner stakes to the right or left a bit as you go to accomplish this. 

 Weave 26   more rows, allowing the sides of the basket to belly out and increase in circumference.

Now weave 16 more rows, this time pushing in on the stakes  to gradually decrease the circumference of the basket.

Weave a rim row with 3/8" flat reed.  Apply a rim using 1/2" flat/oval reed inside and out, with seagrass between.  I used 3/16" flat/oval reed for my lasher.

Purrrrrrrr..... 

Meow!  You did it!  

I hope I have helped some of you with this tutorial.  If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask!

Enjoy! 

Getting Out of a Weaving Rut

Last week I showed you two baskets I made recently, one from a pattern by Sharon Klussman and another by Carol Tunnicliffe. 

 At the moment, these two pattern authors are my top two favorites! 

 I purchased several patterns from each of them quite some time ago, and am finally getting around to actually weaving them!  

I think for a while I was stuck in a weaving rut, which led to boredom and lack of enthusiasm for basketry in general....but after weaving a few of my new baskets, I think I'm cured! 

These baskets are fun and challenging and stunning, all at the same time, so it's hard not to fall in love with weaving all over again once you try these patterns and look at what you've just made!

Here is another basket I made from a Carol Tunnicliffe pattern called "Optical Illusion"

The pattern is written for all weaving levels, and uses a 5" round slotted wooden base.  The tan you see is actually a 1/2" ash overlay that is done after the basket is completely woven.  This was the most challenging part of the basket, but if you're careful to keep the ash damp as you go and remember to pull on it slowly and gently, it will be nice to you!

The next pattern, also by Carol Tunnicliffe, is called "Triple Reversals".

This is a pretty large basket, and is woven on a 6" slotted square base using #4 round reed spokes.  This pattern is rated for intermediate weavers with round reed experience.

While I wouldn't call it "complicated", it was definitely challenging because it involved weaving in reverse, or rather, right to left, (as a left-handed weaver would) every few rows.

Talk about awkward!  Needless to say, this felt cumbersome and slowed me down quite a bit!

 On top of that, it involves doing a three-rod-wale with three PAIRS of round reed weavers, so you have to constantly try to keep them from twisting around each other while trying to shape the basket.....that's a lot to think about at the same time! (Ok, at least for me, it is!)

Her pattern called for a swing handle, but I opted not to add one.  It's probably a good thing, too, since the diameter of the top of my basket came out too wide to accommodate the handle size called for in the pattern!

The rim treatment is beautiful, and not hard to do at all!  The basket incorporates a ti-twined rim followed by a basic rolled border.  I love it!

Ah, and it was SO worth the effort!

What I've been weaving...

It's been quite a while since I've posted anything "weaverly" , but rest assured, I've been weaving!  Not as much as I'd like, but I have been able to get a few baskets made in between all the goings-on at my house!

Here is a basket I made from a pattern by Carol Tunnicliffe called "Chasing Twill Oval Bowl".  

Take a look:

As you can see, it has a solid twill-woven base.  This type of base isn't hard to do, and Carol explains the process very well in her pattern.

The spokes are dyed, the weavers are natural, and the sides are woven in a special continuous twill pattern, accomplishing the swirling effect you see...just beautiful!

Weaving the sides of this basket was a challenge, and a bit time-consuming, but oh so worth it!  

This pattern is appropriate for intermediate level weavers....give it a try!

The next basket is from a pattern written by Sharon Klusmann of Cornerstone Baskets.  Sharon is one of my favorite basket designers, so when I saw this one I just had to order it.

(She has a very distinctive style and regularly comes up with breath-taking basket patterns!)

It's called the "Pink Ribbon Napkin" basket.

This pretty basket is done with pink dyed spokes with a filled base, and the sides are woven in a simple twill pattern with 11/64" flat oval natural weavers.

Simply stunning.

I'm not sure what level of weaving she categorized this as, but I think it's very well-suited for beginners.  Her pattern is  well written and complete.

If you order from her website, you can also purchase a "faith" or "hope" charm  embellishment with a hanging pink crystal to add to your finished basket, and she also has it  available as a kit.

October is, as you may know, Breast Cancer Awareness month, so go grab your patterns and start weaving!

I encourage all of you, especially beginners, to try stretching yourself beyond what you think you can do.

When you think you can't, remember this:

DON'T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU THINK!

Happy weaving!