Weave with Me!
Learn my entire process for harvesting bark and leaves from invasive plants and weaving them into beautiful and useful baskets. In the first part of the course, I walk you through how I select trees, shrubs, and vines for harvesting, the steps to peel bark, and then process the bark down into thin, weavable material. I also give an overview of gathering and preparing leaves for weaving. In the second part of the course, we will weave three of my favorite baskets:
​
bark bottle cover
cattail hat
bark satchel
Invasive Plants this course will cover include: Mimosa Silk Tree, Japanese Knotweed, Kudzu, Wisteria, Paulownia Empress Tree, Elaeagnus, Chinese Privet, Asian Bittersweet, and Daylily. Non-invasive abundant plants covered include: Cattails, Tulip Poplar, Red Maple, Sourwood, Willow, Winged Sumac, and Fraser Magnolia. This course focuses on sharing principles for harvesting and weaving that can be applied to many species of plants with similar characteristics. If you live in an area where there are no cattails, you can subsitute for another large flexible leafed plant such as rushes, or weave your hat with bark. Likewise, the bottle cover and satchel can alternatively be woven with leaves. Bark and leaves can be gathered this time of year in nearly every climate around the globe, and I look forward to seeing all that you discover on your foraging journey.
​
Price
$100-200 sliding scale.
You may choose what you would like to pay within that range.
Students who register for both Invasive Basketry courses may take 50% off the sliding scale for the
additional program.
Schedule
Students have access to the course material forever, and may choose to work at their own pace with no time limit. Feel free to begin now, and weave whenever you are ready!
​​
​
Bark is slipping from late spring through early summer, while leaves, such as cattails, can be gathered throughout the summer and into early fall.
A few good questions:
​
Do I need to live in Southern Appalachia to weave these baskets?
No! If you live where anywhere that cattails, rushes, willow, knotweed, mimosa, kudzu, wisteria, or the other above mentioned plants grow, you will be able to weave the baskets! If there are other plants with bark that you can peel off or large flexible leaves, you will be able to participate. I can't think of a region in the world where there is not bark or leaves to weave with!
​
What if I try the course, and it just isn't for me?
I'm happy to give you a full refund if you decide it's not your thing, and let me know within a month of giving it a go!
​
Will you show the entire process in your videos?
Yes! There are no 30-second overviews here. Sit back, relax, and watch me sweat in the kudzu patch, and make a cup of tea while I peel bark. But then it will be your turn to explore and weave along with me (and I want to see photos of all you are doing too)!
​
Is your book coming out soon?
The book is nearly finished, but will take another year to make its way through the long publishing and printing process. When released, the book will be a great companion to the online course and your basketry exploration!
​
Student work
