My house is situated on a 3-acre parcel that includes lawn, gardens, woods, and edge habitat. We have been fighting back against invasive species to give the native plants a chance, as well as installing some conservation plantings of shrubs and herbaceous plants to help occupy the space left behind. In the course of this work, I ended up with a lot of plant material on hand and began experimenting with it. This page collects my experiments, projects, and references/resources on basketry and the use of locally available plant materials with historical basketry techniques.
Projects:
Coiled Basketry
Plaited Basketry
Wattle (gallery from my hands-on class at Known World Ag & Forestry Symposium in NC, 2019)
Classes:
See separate page for classes and associated handouts
Gardens and Agriculture:
Resources page that lists the resources I have found most helpful, including primary and secondary sources, and provides links to the ones that are available online.
Garden Posts – A quick link to the blog category for Gardens, which filters out all of my Service and General posts so you can easily see what I’ve been working on in the garden area.
Plant ID and Edible Foraging Books:
DO NOT EAT ANYTHING FORAGED UNLESS YOU ARE 100% CERTAIN YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS. DO NOT RELY ON APPS FOR THIS.
North American Trees, 5th Edition (2003) – A field guide focused on woody plants (trees and shrubs) that introduces the anatomy and descriptive terminology used to tell many plants apart. Includes dichotomous keys for identifying plant families and species, with individual species descriptions, drawings, and information grouped by plant family.
The Forager’s Harvest: A Guide to Identifying, Harvesting, and Preparing Edible Wild Plants (2006) – Includes color photographs and descriptions of tools and proper preparation of foraged plant parts for eating. Provides a foraging calendar giving the ranges of when various plant parts are good to harvest at a certain latitude & altitude (can be copied and adjusted to your own location for personal use).
Ancestral Plants volume 1 (2010) – A “primitive” survival skills book on edible, medicinal, and useful plants. The plant profiles include multiple photos of identification features, descriptions of the uses (including non-edible uses like cordage), some history of the plant’s use, and a little information on preparation. The introductory section has more details on the mentioned preparation methods.
Northeast Foraging (2014) – This book focuses less on teaching you to identify, but it covers 120 plants found in the Northeast US region (from Maryland to southern Canada) with plant lists organized by season and area and individual profiles of each plant and its usage.
Basketry References & Resources:
Books available digitally for free:
The World According to Basketry (1999) – An out of print, open access academic book available fully in PDF form with a supplemental MP4 video. Covers the archaeology and production of basketry in ancient Egypt, including finds through the 6th Century AD. Includes instructional details and diagrams based on contemporary basket makers still using these techniques.
More Baskets and How to Make Them (1903) – A good primer on techniques for several different kinds of basketry, including palm leaf basketry in chapter IX. PDF available here.
An Introduction to the Art of Basket-Making (1912) – A thorough introductory text focused primarily on willow basketry, including tools, materials and preparation, and foundational techniques. PDF available here.
Mat and Basket Weaving of the Ancient Hawaiians Described and Compared with the Basketry of the Other Pacific Islanders (1906) – Focuses on the materials and techniques used to make mats, baskets, garments, nets, accessories, and even armor in the Pacific Isles. PDF available here.
Physical Books:
(I own these and can bring to Events on request)
Jensen, Elizabeth J. Baskets from Nature’s Bounty. Loveland, CO: Interweave Press, 1991. – Comprehensive reference of basketry techniques, potential materials, and charts that include harvest and preparation methods for natural materials. If you could only get one book on foraging materials and using them for baskets, this would be the one. I reference it often.
LaPlantz, Shereen. Plaited Basketry: The Woven Form. Bayside, Calif.: Press de LaPlantz, 1982. – A phenomenal reference on plaited basketry materials, techniques, and designs. Includes a foraged materials chart with harvest and preparation information in addition to a huge selection of diagramed weave elements (bases, corners, sides, lids, loops, borders, embellishments, etc.). Available for purchase here when last accessed in 6/2025.
LaPlantz, Shereen. Twill Basketry: A Handbook of Designs, Techniques, and Styles. 1st pbk. ed. New York: Lark Books, 2001. – Pretty much anything by LaPlantz is going to be an excellent technical reference, but this one is not really for beginners. It specifically focuses on twill weaves and structural elements and provides advanced diagrams in addition to conceptual explanations. It also covers how to build a design block that will become a repeating pattern.
LaPlantz, Shereen. The Mad Weave Book. Dover Publications, 2016. – An advanced-level reference on the difficult technique of triaxial weaving (elements intersect in 3 different directions rather than the usual 2) with diagrams. This book is a relatively small supplemental reference compared to those previously listed.
Gabriel, Sue, and Sally Goymer. The Complete Book of Basketry Techniques. David & Charles Craft Bk. Newton Abbot, New York, NY: David & Charles ; Distributed in the United States by Sterling Pub. Co., 1991. – Primarily covers use of round materials like willow. Excellent technical reference with good diagrams and many design options, including hinges and interior partitions.
Tod, Osma Gallinger, and Josephine Couch Del Deo. Earth Basketry: Weaving Containers with Nature’s Materials. 2nd edition. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 2017. – Covers techniques for using round, flat, and flexible basketry materials and discusses a wide variety of materials and techniques, including drawings and photographs.
Cooke, Viva Jane, and Julia May Sampley. Palmetto Braiding and Weaving. Peoria: The Manual arts Press, 1947. – Excellent coverage of preparation of material, braiding technique, assembly, and twined work with palm fronds.
Journal Articles:
Veldmeijer, A. J., & Bourriau, J. D. (2017). The Carrier Nets from a Burial at Qurna*. The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, 95(1), 209-222. https://doi.org/10.1177/030751330909500112 (Original work published 2009) – Article on archaeological finds of netting used to carry pottery, etc.
Hassaan, Galal Ali. “Mechanical Engineering in Ancient Egypt, Part 56: Basketry Industry.” International Journal of Advanced Research in Management, Architecture, Technology and Engineering, Mechanical Engineering in Ancient Egypt, 3, no. 11 (November 2017): 7–14. – A survey of baskets from ancient Egypt, including pictures, materials, and usage.
Pawlikowska-Gwiazda, Aleksandra. “Basketry, Matting, Cordage, and Other Organic Objects from Deir El-Bahari.” Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 30, no. 1 (December 30, 2021): 255–74. https://doi.org/10.31338/uw.2083-537X.pam30.1.11. – Details the composition of baskets, mats, cordage, brushes and small items of daily use collected, classified and documented during the Polish excavations in the Temple of Hatshepsut in Egypt.
Veldmeijer, André J. “Cordage Production.” UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology 1, no. 1 (March 24, 2009). https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1w90v76c. – A brief article on cordage making and usage in ancient Egypt.
Web Articles and Respositories:
Digital Archive of Documents Related to Basketry, University of Arizona – a collection of scanned references available as PDFs for free, ranging from photographs to full books.
The Basket Makers of al-Hagz & the Local Roots of Archaeological Fieldwork at Abydos (April 30, 2019) – Covers technique and materials of sewn plait palm leaf baskets.
Smash the Shell 