Willow Basket: A visual how-to

This Summer I made several Willow Baskets. Willow is one of my favorite materials to work with for basketry. I took pictures of each step in the process. The willow I used for this basket is from a basketry friend who gathered the willow in California and Utah. One of the most challenging aspects of making willow baskets in dry Colorado is having a large enough body of water to soak the willing in before and during weaving. Since I don't have a pond, I found that a large stock tank works pretty well. Last Winter I found an amazing place to gather willow in Colorado and I look forward to working with Colorado Willow for my next basket.

Enjoy the photos. 

~Gelsey

Starting the base

The first weavers

Constantly soaking!

Adding the spokes into the base

Bringing up the sides

In this basket, I added an "open twined" section

Completed basket

Animal Processing Article

Wendy Petty, our wonderful Foraging Class instructor, attended the Animal Processing class in June. Here is an article she wrote about her experience:

http://zesterdaily.com/cooking/animal-processing-taps-deep-human-emotion/

Enjoy!

Foraging class on the Radio

Our Hands-on Foraging class and wonderful foraging teacher Wendy were featured on KGNU, our local community radio station. It is a short segment that starts around 24 minutes into the show.

http://www.kgnu.org/morningmag/7/31/2013

Weaving a cattail mat

Prepping milkweed pods for stuffing

Milkweed pods

Stuffed milkweed pods

Trout steamed in cattail mat

Summer Camp

Summer camps have started. Enough said. Enjoy the pictures.

Throwing a dart with an atlatl

Tomahawk throwing

Evening fire, Youth Overnight

Rainbow over camp

Counselors get ready, Scout Day Camp

Training Pekiti Tirsia Kali at Scout Camp

Gathering for a game

Magpie has the flag!

SPLASH

Wolf hiding from Fleabane

Hiding in the grass

Earth Camo, Scout Camp

Everybody's after Cricket

Heading out on a tracking expedition, Skills I

Checking out some spider sign, Skills I

A red-tail visiting camp

Bolas, Skills I

Cooling off

Preparing for Atlatl, Skills I

Retrieving darts, Skills I

Fire and Iron

This year, Sam, our blacksmithing instructor, ran our first youth blacksmithing camp. Five boys attended, and it was a great week of ingenuity, focus and strength. The Blacksmith was the King of Crafts, and this traditional skills dovetails beautifully with our mission at Laughing Coyote. The campers went home, covered in coal dust, but with a new sense of confidence, inner fortitude, and a whole bunch of finished projects. Look for more blacksmithing programs in the future.

~Neal

Fire pokers

Sam demonstrating a step

Stock in the fire

Where the magic happens

Finished projects