UC-NRLF
The
Pine-Needle Basket
Book
. MRS. M. j. MCAFEE,
ORIGINATOR OF PINE-NEEDLE BASKETS.
(Taken at the Age of Sixty-eight.)
The
Pine-Needle Basket Book
BY
MRS. M. J. MCAFEE
Originator of Pine-Needle Basketry
Illustrated
By
MRS. EDWIN LANG
With an Introduction
By
DR. LOY MCAFEE INGHRAM
THE PINE-NEEDLE PUBLISHING COMPANY
NEW YORK
1911
fc : COPYRIGHT, IQI I,
BY DR. LOY MCAFEE INGHRAM.
INTRODUCTION
BY
DR. LOY McAFEE INGHRAM
286196
THE "PiNY WOODS."
A PERSONAL NOTE
"All outward wisdom yields to that within,
Whereof nor creed nor cannon holds the key ;
We only feel that we have been,
And evermore shall be.
"And thus I know, by memories unfurled,
In rarer moods, and many a nameless sign,
That once in Time, and somewhere in the world,
I was a towering Pine."
Bayard Taylor.
If, as the Vedantists believe, the soul sleeps in plants, dreams in
animals, and awakes to its fullest being in man, a whole forest of pine
trees must have become sentient when I was born.
Pine trees, baby pines, pine needles, pine burs, "pine knots"-
anything and all things associated with the pine have always held for
me some mystic spell.
My earliest recollections centre around the "piny woods" of
Georgia, and the Georgia pine is to me the queen of the forest, the
"mother of legends."
How many a happy hour have I spent "riding horse" on a pliant
pine sapling in the thicket behind the garden of my childhood home!
How many a thrilling toboggan slide have I had on the sleek pine
needles that covered the hill behind the old school house!
How many a time have I risked limb and life to gather the luscious
muscadines from the vine entangled in the boughs of some tall and wind-
swept pine!
How many a time, tired from roaming the woods, have I stretched
myself full-length upon the fragrant pine-needle carpet, beneath the trees,
to dream the hours away under the mystic spell of the music of the pines!
And how many a time, in later years, have I looked up from the
"canons of brick and mortar to the ribbon of sky overhead," and longed
to do all these things once more, "far from the madding crowd's ignoble
strife," deep in the fastness of the "piny woods,"
"Where all the winds were tranquil,
And all the odors sweet."
Through the years of activity in another sphere I have looked for-
ward to the time when I might pay some modest tribute to my forest
queen; when I might bring from her still sleeping soul some message to
the soul of the waking world.
In response to this desire the Pine-Needle Publishing Company has
come into existence. From time to time, as opportunity and inspiration
meet, this inherent and abiding love for the pine tree will be expressed in
whatever manner the inclination of the moment may suggest.
It has seemed fitting, for several reasons, that the first effort in this
direction should be "The Pine-Needle Basket Book," which my mother,
the originator of pine-needle basketry, has formulated, and my sister,
Mrs. Edwin Lang, has illustrated.
Being myself an earnest advocate of the gospel of work, and believ-
ing sincerely that there is no age-limit to usefulness, it occurred to me that
if my mother, who was seventy years old last December, and who is still
an active member of the work-a-day world, would publish something of
her work as a seventy-year mile-post, it might serve to encourage others
along the journey of life.
Furthermore, the book will answer the oft-repeated request from
her many pupils in basketry for the published technic of pine-needle basket
making. Having taught the basket work class of the Summer School of
the University of Tennessee, at Knoxville, for the past five years, the
present session being the sixth, her pupils now number several hundred,
many of whom will doubtless be pleased to see a contribution to craftsman
literature by "the Grandmother of the Summer School."
When we were children down in Dixie our grandfather, my mother's
father, was wont to relate, to all who did not know the story, tfie history
of the wonderful hat which "Mary Jane" made for him during the War
out of the needles of the long-leaf pine. No panama was ever lighter or
more comfortable to wear. The only head covering for which he would
voluntarily relinquish it was the cap of gray, which, though beyond the
conscript age-limit, he wore in active service during the last three years
of the War.
This pine-needle hat was the tangible expression of that necessity
which has ever been the mother of invention, and was the progenitor of
the pine-needle basket, as portrayed in the pages which follow.
When the supply of hats gave out in the family, or families, during
the War, there were no others obtainable with which to supply the de
ficiency, for the nearest town was thirty miles away, and there were no
trains or trolleys by which to reach it.
My mother, in an effort to supply the need for hats, made one of
bulrushes, but it proved too heavy to be worn with comfort. While still
searching for some native product from which to make a hat light enough
to be worn with ease, she happened to see a limb of long-leaf pine in a
wagon load of "pine straw" with which the negroes were covering the
potato beds a custom still followed in the rural districts of Georgia.
She conceived the idea that these long, slender needles might be so
treated as to render them sufficiently tough to be woven into a hat, while
still retaining their pliability. She succeeded, after some experimentation,
in accomplishing this in the manner detailed in the description of her work.
The pine-needle hat of which our grandfather loved to tell was the first
product of her new-found craft.
The last spool of Coats thread was used in making this hat, and
for all the others "homespun" cotton thread was employed.
When the War ended, the so-called reconstruction days were verit-
able ones for her, with a growing family to minister to under a totally new
regime. And so the pine-needle hat became a part of wartime family
lore, kept more or less fresh in mind by my grandfather's pride in the fact
that "Mary Jane" could meet such an emergency as a dearth of hats in
such an admirable manner.
The family of five children had developed into men and women,
and the impromptu hatmaker had become a grandmother, when the craft
was revived, again in an accidental manner, and for a different purpose.
When the writer was a "freshman medic" she acquired the spruce
pillow fad for were we not told by our professor of materia medica
that tired brains may be soothed into forgetfulness of quizzes, "exams"
and other horrors of medical college life by the fragrance of oleum pini
sylvestris? No college "den" was complete without one or more spruce
pillows. While my love for the pine tree was and is sufficiently general
to include every branch of the very large pinus family, which embraces
the spruce pillow variety, my preference naturally inclined me to want a
pillow of the Georgia pine. No northern member of the pine family, I
imagined, could possibly be more fragrant and soothing than its southern
relative. Imbued with this idea, I wrote my mother to send me from
Georgia to New York a bagful of needles of Georgia pine.
She was in the heart of the "piny woods" at the time, where forests
of long-leaf pine stretch for miles over the sand fields. She gathered the
neighborhood children into a small and vociferous army of invasion, and
marched them to the woods to gather the pine needles, promising to tell
them stories as a reward for their assistance.
When their baskets, filled with the fresh green needles, were brought
to her a particularly beautiful sprig of long-leaf pine caught her eye. The
9
chasm of intervening years was spanned in an instant, and the craft of the
bygone day, born of the necessity of the time, came back to mind with
a thousand associated memories. It was all woven into a wartime story,
to which the children listened with intense interest.
The end of the story was greeted with a chorus of approval, the
refrain of which was, "Oh, Grandmamma, do make us a hat!" And
so, without waiting for the needles to be properly cured, "Grandmamma"
proceeded to make a doll hat or a basket for each of the children.
By the time this feat was accomplished the facility for weaving the
needles into shapeful objects had returned. Her own interest was again
aroused, and the abandoned craft was revived with a new application.
From this modest beginning has been evolved pine-needle basketry, the
technic of which my mother gives in the pages which follow.
One of the little hats is shown in Fig. 9-C, reproduced from
"Indian and Other Basket Making," by George Wharton James, of
Los Angeles, Cal., who published a group of my mother's earliest
baskets.
10
THE LONG-LEAF PINE
A few words about the long-leaf pine, the leaves of which are used
in making the pine-needle baskets, may not be amiss in this connection.
The tree, the botanical name of which is pinus palustris, is variously
known as the long-leaf pine, the Georgia pine, the southern pine, the yel-
low pine, the pitch pine, etc.
Its stately grandeur is limned upon the landscape from the southern
frontier of Virginia to the savannas bordering the Gulf of Mexico, and
from the Atlantic Ocean to the Rio Grande River.
Forests of this valuable timber tree extend over an area of from
90,000 to 100,000 square miles, in Virginia, North Carolina, South
Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida and Texas.
The yield in timber and other products of the long-leaf pine is of
great commercial and industrial importance. Industries which involve the
outlay of enormous capital and the employment of immense numbers of
people are dependent upon the forests of this tree.
From the baby pine, shown in Fig. 1 , the long-leaf pine grows tall,
straight and gradually tapering, with the limbs clustered in a crown which
embraces one-half or one-third of the trunk, as shown in Fig. 2, repro-
duced from Bulletin No. 13 (Revised Edition), U. S. Department of
Agriculture, Division of Forestry. It sometimes attains a height of 1 1
feet, though the average height is 100 feet. The diameter of the trunk
four or five feet from the ground is from 20 to 36 inches.
As a timber tree the long-leaf pine is surpassed in economic im-
portance by no other forest tree. About 1,500,000,000 feet, board
measure, or practically one-third of all the lumber manufactured in the
South, is annually exported from Southern ports to domestic and foreign
ports. In addition to this a large proportion of the material employed
in this country in the construction of buildings of all kinds is obtained from
the long-leaf pine forest. The timber is used in naval architecture for
masts and spars, and in civil engineering for the construction of bridges,
viaducts and trestlework. It is also used in the manufacture of furniture,
for ornamental interior woodwork, and in various arts and industries.
As fuel, in the form of firewood and charcoal, the long-leaf pine is
a source of revenue. The "lightwood," by the light of which many an
education was obtained in the olden days, is a product well known
throughout the pine belts of the South. This resin-charged, highly inflam-
mable wood is used extensively for kindling and for torches, from which
uses it received its name. The "p me knots" are the richest of all in resin
and, being hard, burn longest and brightest. The roots, which are also
rich in resin, are used in the same manner as are the knots.
11
PlNUS PALUSTRIS: SEEDLINGS AND YOUNG PLANT.
FIG. i. Seedlings and Baby Pines.
FIG. 2. Long-leaf Pine T
The resinous product of the long-leaf pine gives rise to a number of
important and lucrative industries. The naval stores of the world are very
largely derived from the resinous output of the long-leaf pine forests of the
South. These include resin, or crude turpentine; spirits of turpentine, or
oil of turpentine ; rosin, or colophony ; pine tar, and common pitch.
According to the U. S. Bureau of Agriculture, Division of Forestry,
the foreign export of spirits of turpentine alone amounted in a single year,
1892, to over 260,000 casks, the total production exceeding 350,000
casks. Such an amount of turpentine necessitated the utilization of 2,500,-
000 acres of pine forest. The exports of spirits of turpentine and rosin
for the year 1890 amounted to $8,135,339.
So far as the writer is aware, the cone, or seed bearing part, of the
long-leaf pine is of no commercial value. A fully developed cone, with
detached seeds, is shown in Fig. 4. The smaller cones, some of which
are shown in Fig. 3, are used for decorative purposes in making pine-
needle baskets. The scales of the fully grown cones have been used to a
greater or less extent in the making of picture frames, screens for open fire-
places, and for other ornamental purposes. I remember having seen a very
beautiful screen made from these scales, which were sewn, by hand, upon
cardboard or heavy paper, the whole being framed with wood to har-
monize in color with the rich brown of the pine cone.
The leaves, or needles, of the long-leaf pine are used for various
purposes other than the making of baskets. In reply to a request for in-
formation concerning the various methods of utilizing this particular part
of the pine tree, the U. S. Department of Agriculture, through one of
its "experts," sent the following interesting communication: "So far as I
am informed the principal use for pine needles anywhere in the South is
for fertilizer. They are, as a rule, used for bedding, either in the stalls or
over the surface of the barnyard, and after being fermented for some time
in this position are then hauled out onto the field. This manure is, as a
rule, distributed in the furrows and the crop is planted over it." Atten-
tion has already been called to another similarly unpoetic use to which
the needles are put, namely, the covering of potato beds and strawberry
beds. Nor are these the only useful ways of utilizing the leaves of the
pine tree.
From the green leaves is derived, by destructive distillation, the
essential oil of pine, which is used so largely in pharmacy in the manu-
facture of antiseptic solutions, cough syrups, expectorants, perfumes, etc.,
and which, exuding from its leaves, gives to the pine forest its delightful
odor.
The cellular tissue of the pine needles is used in making "pine wool,"
utilized by upholsterers. An attempt was made to employ this in the
14
PLATE V.
PlNUS PALUSTRIS: MALE AND FEMALE FLOWERS.
FIG. 3. Showing How the Burs Grow.
Bulletin No. 13, Division ol F
PlNUS PALUSTftlS: CONE AND SEED..
FIG. 4. Fully Developed Pine Cone, with Detached Seeds and Scales,
u;
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making of an antiseptic dressing for wounds, but, so far as I have been
able to ascertain, this was abandoned after a brief attempt to popularize
the product.
According to the Government bulletin previously quoted, which was
issued in 1897, various kinds of textile fabrics have been made from the
needles of the long-leaf pine. One of these was a carpet, somewhat re-
sembling cocoa matting, but very closely woven and quite durable. I am
informed that this industry, like that of the manufacture of a surgical
dressing from the needles, was soon abandoned. Latterly attempts have
been made to produce finer textile fabrics from the needles, with what
degree of success I have been unable to ascertain.
The dead needles, when undisturbed, form a thick carpet under the
trees upon which they have grown. Subjected to friction, as where they
are trampled upon in walking, they become very sleek. This fact was
utilized when we were children for toboggan purposes. I shall never
forget the thrilling rides we used to have down the hill behind the old
school house. The hill was quite steep, and at its foot passed a turbulent
stream. The narrow footpath leading down the hill was literally as sleek
as glass, and when the sled, which our older brothers had improvised
for the purpose, was started on its reckless career toward the creek
below, there was no stopping it until it reached level ground. The only
thing that saved us from a watery grave in the creek, or from being dashed
upon the rocks on its banks, was that "special Providence which takes
care of fools, children and dogs."
Another school-day use of the needles is brought to mind by
Hayne's little poem, "Pine Needles":
"If Mother Nature patches leaves of trees and vines,
I'm sure she does her darning with the needles of the pines,
They are so long and slender; and somewhere in full view,
She has her threads of cobweb and a thimble made of dew."
We used to make elaborate hats, aprons and even dresses of large
oak, hickory or grape leaves, using pine needles as pins to hold the
parts together.
If this modest little brochure serves the purpose of arousing interest
in the pine tree, of helping any craftsman to weave its needles into the
enduring expressions of beauty which the pine-needle baskets represent, and
if any way-worn traveler is encouraged to take heart again the message
from the forest world to the human world is not in vain.
17
.Bullttin No. U, Division of For.try.
PlNUS PALUSTRIS: BUD AND LEAF.
FIG. 5. Showing How Pine-Needles Grow, with Cross and Longitudinal
Sections of a Single Needle.
18
PINE 'NEEDLE BASKETRY
BY
MRS. M. J. McAFEE
DESCRIPTION AND PREPARATION
OF MATERIALS
HE long-leaf pine needles may be gathered green at any
season. Experience has taught, however, that the best
time to gather them is in the autumn. Those which fall
from the trees, dry or dead, make the most attractive
baskets. They are generally of a rich brown, and have
a hard surface, which renders baskets made from them both beautiful and
durable.
From the green of the fresh needles to the mahogany brown of those
which are gathered dry there is a wide range of coloring obtainable by
careful manipulation. Once a shade is fixed by the curing process, it is
never lost. Baskets retain their original coloring as long as they exist. No
artificial coloring whatsoever is employed in the treatment of the needles.
Despite the treatment to which the needles are subjected in the
curing, they retain the delightful pine odor, due to a certain proportion
of the essential oil of pine which remains in them.
The green needles are pulled from the limbs and spread out in a
cool, dark place to dry. In two or three weeks they are ready for use.
If dried in absolute darkness they will be a beautiful soft green, the tone
varying according to the amount of light to which the needles are exposed
while drying.
The needles may be cured in a shorter time by pouring boiling water
over them before they are spread out to dry. Treated in this way, how-
ever, the color is not so good as when they are allowed to dry more slowly.
To cure the needles brown they must be exposed to the sun for a
few weeks. For convenience of handling they may be left on the limbs.
In summer they will brown in a week or two, but in winter it takes longer.
They should be left out day and night, in all we'ather, and turned occa-
sionally to allow them to brown on all sides.
The well-matured needles generally turn a darker, richer brown than
the younger ones. On a limb gathered from the tree in spring or summer
there will be in the bud a number of short needles not fully matured;
these often dry a soft yellow-brown, and now and then a straw color.
The combination of these lighter tones with the dark, rich browns is
very effective.
21
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22
The best time to gather the brown needles as they fall from the trees,
having dried naturally as other leaves dry and fall, is in the autumn, when
the ground under the trees is covered with beautiful needles ready for use.
If desired, there may be used for the ornamentation of the pine-needle
baskets various grasses, manila, raffia, corn husks, yucca, and the long
leaves or "fodder" of the sorghum cane or millet. Illustrations of such
ornamentation are shown in Figs. 12, 13, 15, 17.
The basket maker who desires to use native materials may find an
abundance of beautiful grasses growing in the fields, by the roadside, in
the woods, everywhere. These may be gathered green at any time, ex-
cept when too young and tender to be available, and spread out in the
shade to dry. There may be found also dried grasses of good texture
and color.
Manila and raffia are too well known to the basket maker to need
description. They must be dyed in order to secure good color harmony,
though the darker tones of the natural raffia may be used with the brown
pine needles with very good effect.
Corn husks may be utilized as taken from the corn after harvest, or
they may be gathered green and dried in the shade.
The bud or new spring growth of the sword-shaped leaves of the
yucca plant, when shredded and dried in the shade, are of suitable texture
for combining with the pine needles. The color ranges from almost white,
through yellow, to green, according to the stage of growth in which they
are gathered.
Of all the above ornamental materials the sorghum or millet "fodder"
is the most beautiful in texture and in color. It also has the advantage of
being easily obtained, inasmuch as it grows everywhere in the South, where
it is extensively cultivated for forage and for making sorghum molasses.
When the millet is grown especially for basketry it is best planted
on poor soil, as the growth is then smaller, the leaves better in texture
and the color richer.
In July the millet begins to change color. From this time until it is
killed by the frost it may be gathered and spread out in the shade to dry.
By watching the colors as they appear, and by gathering the leaves at
different times, one may secure a great variety of yellows, reds, browns
and sometimes rich violet-reds.
With this range of millet coloring, with the different browns and
greens of the pine needles, and with the color of the sewing material, many
harmonious combinations may be evolved. Nature-loving craftsmen find
these natural colors far more pleasing than the artificial shades obtained by
means of dyes.
The long-leaf pine needles grow in clusters of three in a sheath, as
23
shown in Fig. 5. When about to be used the end is cut off and the
needles slipped from the sheath.
As they must be worked damp enough to be pliable, hot or cold
water is poured over the needles, which are immediately wiped dry with
a cloth. This serves the double purpose of dampening and cleansing the
needles. The lustre and color may be very much improved by this
cleansing process.
The brown needles are dampened with hot water, the green ones
with cold. This should always be borne in mind, as hot water changes
the color of the green needles.
They should never be left in either hot or cold water longer than
a few minutes, as they quickly absorb so much moisture that the baskets
will not be firm and durable when finished.
The needles are now rolled in a damp cloth or paper, and so kept
while they are being used.
For sewing purposes strong cotton or linen thread, raffia or manila
may be employed.
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TECHNIC OF PINE-NEEDLE
BASKET MAKING
HE beginner will find it less difficult, in making the first few
baskets, to use strong cotton or linen thread in sewing the
coil. After one or two baskets have been made, and
sufficient skill has been acquired in handling the pine
needles, raffia or manila may be employed. The latter
sewing materials are better suited to the texture of the pine needles than
is the cotton or linen thread.
In sewing the baskets the simple coil stitch is used, as shown in Fig.
8. A small roll of pine needles, wrapped with the sewing material and
coiled upon itself, forms the "button" which is the very centre of the
basket.
To begin the button, take about twelve pine needles, or enough to
make a coil three-eighths of an inch in diameter. Having threaded an
ordinary sewing needle with thread, tie the thread around the pine needles
an inch from the coarser, or sheath end; then, holding the needles in the
left hand, wind the thread around twelve or fifteen times, as shown in
Fig. 8. This wrapped part of the needles must be very carefully coiled
upon itself by bringing the short end underneath and letting the free end
of the coil pass toward the left.
Now pass the thread over the top of the coil, and insert the sewing
needle diagonally under the first round of the winding thread, letting the
point of the needle come through to the left of this thread.
This forms the first stitch, and the sewing is continued in this way
until each round of the winding thread has been taken up. The sewing
is then continued, round after round, care being taken to insert the needle
well into the coil, letting the point come through very close to the left of
each stitch.
Each stitch must be tightly drawn and held in position with the
finger while the next is being taken. This is very necessary in order to
insure the firmness of the finished product.
Care must be taken from the first to space the stitches evenly, as it
is difficult later on to correct any irregularity in this regard. The lines of
sewing radiating from the centre form an important decorative feature of
the baskets.
After the third or fourth round, when it becomes necessary to insert
27
FIG. 9. Group of Mrs. McAfee's Earliest Baskets. C, "Cute Little Hat.'
FIG. 10. Basket with Handle of
Plaited Pine-Needles.
28
pine needles in order to enlarge and keep the coils of uniform size, open
the free end of the coil close to the last stitch and insert the coarser end of
two or three pine needles, pushing them back well into the coil, and being
careful that the ends do not show on the surface.
The pine needles are inserted so that the smooth or polished side is
toward the outside of the basket. It is impossible to make a good pine-
needle basket unless this point is observed.
. The coil must never be twisted, as beginners are liable to do; it must
be held so that the needles seem to lay flat around the basket. This is the
test of good workmanship. The beginner finds it difficult to make the
polished surface of the needles come to the outside or decorative part of
the basket, and also to make them lay flat and straight around the basket
as the work proceeds.
FIG. ii. Basket, Actual Size, Made by Gertrude Lang at the Age of
Six Years.
After the sewing has continued until the basket is large enough, let
the coil run out by cutting out a third of the needles from the inside of the
coil, take a stitch, cut out a few more needles, take another stitch, cut ofl
the remaining needles, sew the end of the coil firmly down inside the
basket, finishing the edge smoothly, making the outline perfect.
It is well to let the first basket be a small one of simple form. The
modeling of the basket is done entirely with the fingers as the sewing
proceeds.
It is important to have in mind from the beginning a definite shape,
or, better still, to make a full size drawing, in outline, of the basket.
29
30
Beginners sometimes find it difficult to keep to the drawing, but re-
peated effort results in the ability to make any desired size and leads to a
better appreciation of form.
After practice has enabled the beginner to handle materials easily,
raffia or manila should be used in sewing. For this chenille needles,
number eighteen, nineteen or twenty, according to the size of the material
to be carried, are employed.
The sewing material, if raffia or manila, must be kept the same size,
as any unevenness mars the beauty of the radiating lines of sewing, and
gives to the basket a more or less crude appearance.
In making large baskets it becomes necessary to add extra stitches.
This should always be done in the bottom of the basket, or just on the
round where the basket begins to turn up. When a band of contrasting
color is to be worked in the extra stitches may be started on the first round
of the band.
This extra stitch is added by taking two stitches in the same
place in the following manner: Take a stitch in the usual way,
only instead of drawing it to the left, as the sewing material is drawn
around the coil, pull the stitch as far as possible to the right, toward the
preceding stitch. The next stitch may be called the extra one, and it
comes in in the same place as that just taken, except that the point of the
needle comes through the coil close to the right instead of the left of the
stitch. This extra stitch is drawn toward the left as far as the last one was
to the right. This is continued around the basket.
The space between these two stitches gradually widens as the sewing
progresses. This may be taken advantage of as a decorative feature
by wrapping the coil in this space with raffia of a contrasting tone. The
wrapping begins when the first of the two stitches is taken. One strand
of raffia is taken and wrapped smoothly around the coil two or three
times, being passed over the top of the coil and to the inside of the basket,
when the next, or extra, stitch is taken.
The next space is left uncovered, the raffia being held on the back
of the coil until the first of the next two stitches is taken. The work con-
tinues around the basket, and as the next round begins the design formed
by the spaces of different tones will be seen. In Figs. 12, 13, may be
seen baskets of this character. The design may be varied by wrapping
every other space, making different proportions of light and dark, or there
may be used two tones of raffia, thus varying the color harmony. Again,
it is very easy to make the spaces vary in width. A little experience will
lead to interesting results, as this decorative feature may be modified in
many ways, according to the size and form of the basket, and the color
of the materials employed.
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In all ornamentation of pine-needle baskets simplicity is the keynote.
In the simple basket, with no decoration, the radiating lines of stitches
form the only design, the color harmony of needles and sewing material,
together with beauty of form and excellence of workmanship, being the
chief attraction.
It must be kept in mind that designs should be adapted to the ma-
terial, the method of construction and the form of basket or tray to be
decorated.
In basketry, as in every other form of handcraft, a knowledge of
the fundamental principles of design leads to greater freedom of
expression.
FIG. 14. Pine-Cone Handle,
It does not come within the scope of this work to do more than
suggest to the student that in the simplest form of pine-needle decoration
the straight band of color there are infinite possibilities in applying a
knowledge of space relations.
After mastering the difficulties of handling materials, the attention
will naturally be turned to developing skill in securing good form, with
which will come a desire for variety of design and color.
The finished pine-needle basket should bring to the beholder a sense
of satisfaction and completeness, with no desire to change form or orna-
mentation, or to vary any of the tone relations.
34
Mi/
The texture of millet "fodder" does not allow the design to follow
anything but straight lines. These may be broken into areas of different
size and shape, but the millet must follow the straight-around direction of
the coil.
Millet must be worked slightly damp. The quantity to be used is
sprinkled with water and rolled in a paper a few minutes before using. If
kept damp too long it loses its beautiful rich coloring.
To begin, a piece of millet is laid along the outside of the coil, the
larger end being passed over the top of the coil, close to the last stitch
taken, and then to the inside of the basket. One stitch is taken to hold
the end firmly in place, the edges of the millet are next folded around the
the coil, and the sewing is proceeded with, round after round, until the
band of millet is of the desired width. The millet is then passed under
the coil to the inside of the basket, and cut off, the pine needles being
brought again to the surface.
When a design, other than the straight band, is to be put in the millet
is started in the same way, carried as far as necessary, then passed to the
top of the coil and back to the inside of the basket, where it may be cut off
or continued on the back of the coil until it is to appear again on the
surface. On the next round the millet is started and ended in this way,
as the design requires, the design being built in, round after round, in this
manner.
The pine cone may be effectively used in the centre of the basket
lid or cover as a handle (Fig. 14).
The cones may be gathered green and spread out in the sun or
shade to dry, or they may be gathered dry in the autumn before they are
too widely open.
To begin the cover, wrap one strand of raffia very tightly around
the larger end of the cone as many times as necessary to form the begin-
ning of the coil, as shown in Fig. 16. Then taking a coil of pine
needles the size of that used in the basket, begin to sew this to the raffia
coil, passing the sewing needle under the wrapping of raffia, and taking
the stitches close together. The sewing is continued until the coil of pine
needles has been carried around the cone, then the stitches are taken in the
usual way.
In making small baskets it is well to count the rows of stitches around
the top of the basket and start the cover with the same number; then the
radiating lines of sewing form the same number of double curves from the
centre of the bottom to the centre of the cover.
A drawing of the basket, with cover on, should be made. The size
of the cone must be taken into consideration in forming a perfectly har-
monious outline of the whole.
36
s
<s
*5b
37
Another kind of handle is made by plaiting or braiding pine needles
and sewing the braid to the cover, as shown in Figs. 10, 12, 18.
The simplest form of cover is one that rests flat on the top of the
basket. In making this the cover is made of the proper size, when the
coil is allowed to run out as in finishing the basket. This cover may be
fastened to the basket by means of the sewing material.
i
m
FIG. I/. Millet-Fodder Decorative Bands; Open Pine-Cone Handle.
Another cover is made to fit over the top of the basket. In this case
the form must be taken into consideration. The cover is made one round
larger than the top of the basket, and then is turned down. After making
three rounds the coil is allowed to run out and the edge finished smoothly.
This cover must fit easily over the basket.
38
<
A third kind of cover is made to fit into the basket, and may be made
for any form of basket. In making this cover the work is continued until
the cover is about one round smaller than the opening of the basket. The
coil is then turned down at a right angle and three rounds made, after
which it is ended in the manner described. This part of the cover must
fit loosely into the basket. Next, one round of coil is stitched to the cover
at the top of these three rounds, the sewing being commenced where the
first round turns down. This forms a ledge to keep the cover from slip-
ping into the basket. In sewing on this round the stitches are so placed
that the radiating lines of sewing -are continued, allowing the cover to
present a regular surface from centre to edge. The coil is made to run
out and the. edge is finished in the usual manner.
FIG. 19. Thimble
Basket, Actual
Size.
40
41
42
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I
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O
c/5
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43
AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS
WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN
THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY
WILL INCREASE TO 5O CENTS ON THE FOURTH
DAY AND TO $1.OO ON THE SEVENTH DAY
OVERDUE.
JUL
3 1936
RE& era, DEC 475
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FEB 1
2003
MAR 2 9 1971
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