This field basket, modeled after one by Vonnie Miller, was created at a recent gathering of white oak basket makers at Mary Ann and Bill Smith’s home in McCalla, AL. About 10 enthusiasts came together to sit under the shade trees of the Smith’s for two days in late April. We made baskets, shared stories and techniques, tools and tips.

As Mary Ann said, “It was a delight to talk baskets for hours at a time, and not have to worry about boring anyone.”

Amen!

Gizzard Basket

12″ x 12″ x 10 1/2″

Hand-split white oak and reed; milk paint, varnish

It’s good to break out of strict traditions sometimes, and this basket is about as Billy Ray-goes-wild as it gets. The handle, hoop, wrap and initial woven splits are white oak. The ribs and bulk of weaving are reed. A gift for a friend who needed a basket in her collection that sits way up high on a shelf and says, “Come on up and see me sometime.”

White Oak Market Basket

6 1/2″ x 10″ x 7 1/2″

I’ve enjoyed the privilege of working before with Leona Waddell, a wonderful master basketmaker in Cecilia, KY, but this one was something special. It’s a small market basket, similar to larger versions Leona made some 50 years ago. Most of the white oak for it came from my property, but Leona pulled a few heartwood splits from her stash to add contrast to the weaving, and the result is what she judged to be “a cute little basket.”

I split out the uprights and whittled the handle before we started. Then we worked for the better part of two days to weave the basket.

As always, I learned more of the finer points of basketry from Leona. Mostly, we just enjoyed being together to catch up on what life has woven of us since we last visited.

Best of all, Leona sent me home with a tin full of homemade fudge. On the long drive back to Alabama, I savored the treats and thought about how deeply I appreciate the opportunity to collaborate with such a great artisan.

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10″ x 10″ x 48″

Recently completed white oak fish trap that was a boatload of fun to make. It’s modeled on a trap made by old-time South Carolina basket weaver Elbert Brown that is part of the McKissick Museum collection.

Thanks to the great staff at the McKissick in Columbia, SC for letting me closely study their assortment of fishtraps, and to Mary Ann and Bill Smith, and Beth Hester and Scott Gilbert for lending a few splits and good company in what I hope will be an annual gathering of white oak basket makers.

(Click on any photo to enlarge image.)

If you don’t see a style of white oak basket (the focus of his current work) that you covet, Billy will be happy to create a one-of-a-kind basket to your specifications.

Email for more info.

21″ x 21″ x 9″

Rib-work construction; hand-split white oak

There are few basket makers who work with white oak.  It’s labor intensive—this basket required hand splitting the good part of two small oak trees—and most of those with the know-how are getting on in years.

Although I’ve been blessed to learn from several master basket makers, the teacher for this basket died long ago.  It’s an interpretation of a Pennsylvania field basket likely made in the late 19th century.  As I learned by trial and error how to carve, whittle and bend the big ribs of the basket you see here, I marveled at evidence of how the original was created by sure and confident hands.  And I felt perhaps some old boy was looking down on me from above, and smiling as I carried forward lessons from his work.

White Oak Creel

8″x12″x6″

Split-work construction; white oak weaving and quarter-sawn oak lid; saddle leather strap

$250

This is the perfect complement to a fine bamboo fly rod. Or, as my cycling friends were keen to suggest, it makes a primo handlebar basket (without the lid). Be truly unique: Dress up your ti/carbon fiber two-wheeled love affair with an equally strong and light white oak basket.

11″ x 14″ x 10″

Carved, whittled, woven, rib work construction; hand-split white oak

$750 (Sold)

I had some exceptional help on this one. Leona Waddell is considered among the finest white oak basket makers in the country. (Read more about Leona by clicking on the Baskets with Heart page, top right column.) At age 82, she may yet to have reached her prime as a basket maker.

Scott Gilbert and Beth Hester, my basketry mentors, introduced me to Leona a few years ago. And I waited a long time and completed more than a few ambitious baskets, before asking if she would work with me on this project.

It’s based on an Appalachian style known as a Gizzard basket that allows you to carry eggs and other fragile goods safely over the back of a horse to market, or riding snugly against your hip when walking. The round-ribbed and lobed shape were unfamiliar to Leona, but she gladly shared her secrets for a tight fine weave, which begins at the wrap where the handle and rim join. Then I was off on a process that involved many hours of scraping, cutting, and weaving splits.

Coiled and sewn construction; sweetgrass, bulrush, palmetto

$200

Some 14 years ago, I lived on an old wooden sailboat on the Stono River just south of Charleston, SC. Newly divorced and in need of healing, I sought out ways to connect with interesting people in this quietly beautiful and soulful place. And so I took up surfing, for which I never gained any proficiency, and sweetgrass basket making.

When I first arrived at the community center where basket maker Harriet Brown taught classes, mostly to suburban women, she seemed to hardly notice. Surely she thought I was in the wrong class or wouldn’t have the aptitude, since weaving with sweetgrass takes patience, a good eye, and nimble fingers. My first lopsided basket appeared to prove her right!

But I kept coming back, and coming back, and eventually Harriett took me seriously. She shared not only the rules of good basketry (“You’s got to feed the baby (row) to keep it growing steady”), but also stories of her own amazing life and that of her family, some of whom had woven baskets as slaves at the nearby Boone Hall Plantation in the 19th century. (The basket shown above is a decorative version of those originally used to winnow rice.)

Over the ensuing years, Harriet and I became very close, even after I moved away and began life in a new place. Sewing numerous baskets by her side, with her gentle encouragement and close scrutiny, I believe I mended my frayed heart and dreams, row upon row.