White Oak Baskets

hey everyone, hope all had a wonderful day today! mine was great! i was out in the garage today trying to organize my weaving supplies and that's when it hit me. i haven't shown you my one and only white oak basket that i made back in october. my sister-in-law and i drove up to Jamestown, Tn. and took a white oak basket class from this wonderful gentleman. we actually met this man at the Cannon County White Oak Craft Fair in Tennessee. after speaking to him for a while, we decided to take his class and it was the most wonderful experience. he was a true southern gentleman and he and his wife showed us what good southern hospitality is all about. the class lasted three days. we learned to identify a "good" white oak, chop it down, split it, shave it, and weave it into a basket. not an easy process i might add. i now understand why these wonderful and beautiful baskets are so expensive!!

i loved this handle! we had a couple of handles to choose from that we could make, but this was the most popular one. i have to say that throughout the three day long class, i must have sliced my fingers 3 or 4 times from the weavers and managed to get some blister's as well. sharp objects, wood and me are not a good mixture.
while this is not your typical white oak basket, it's very pretty and functional, however, this one is used only for decoration. i hope to weave the more popular "egg basket" this summer, but i have to say it is my least favorite to weave. it is very difficult and i think it will take years, probably, before i can weave an egg basket of decent quality
well, i hope you've enjoyed looking at my one and only white oak basket. i'll post some pics of the class soon.