I swear, one of these days I’ll graduate to weaving with actual wood, but for now I’ll stick to my preferred mediums of paper and fabric. At least this project bears a closer resemblance to the spirit of the art we’re working on.

I used the free instructions from The Basket Weavers Catalog for their Small “Egg” Basket, making my basket about half the size of the example, so mine’s a mini basket.

For the hoops I used hunter green paper twist, as it, straight out of the package, secured with a bit of Tacky Glue at the ends.

For the lashing or “God’s Eye” I used the same paper twist, but untwisted it and cut the crinkled paper into quarters, lengthwise. First I tried it with ribbon but it didn’t have enough oomph–I suppose I could have used a wider ribbon, but the sturdiness of the paper twist was really what was called for. Retwisting the paper twist strips I’d cut down made the perfect width for the ribs, also glued-in behind the God’s Eye.

And can I just take a moment to tell you how much nostalgia hit me making the God’s Eyes? Did anyone else have boatloads of these around their room after learning them at camp or some after-school program? Obviously I did, though I’m glad to know there was a semi-useful skill learned by it, not just keeping hands busy.

Finally, instead of round reed for the actually weaving, I used 2 shades of green skinny ribbon and a tapestry needle. I found the needle made the ribbon-weaving easier, especially when it was time to tuck the ends into the previous rows to finish each ribbon.

The one big lesson I took away from the little project is that you start at each end and work your way into meeting in the center. Without the directions, had I been hacking through it myself, I probably would have worked from one end to the other and wondered how in the hell to get the end looking nice and neat.

See, sometimes it pays to read the instructions.

And my little mini-basket is just the perfect size for these cute little food erasers I picked up at our local toy store and soda fountain, Lofty Pursuits.

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Elsewhere

Have I mentioned Gauche Alchemy enough for you? Well, next week I’ll be sharing the details on a cool stamp and paint project I did as part of our swap with Viva Las VegaStamps. If you’re at ALL into cool stamps or are looking to get some Gauche Goodies at a discount, check out both blogs for their respective discount codes.