SMASH THE SHELL

Baskets and mats made from sewn plaited strips are a style of historical basket that is still produced in Egypt today. They are typically made from palm leaflets, but I am experimenting with other materials since palm does not grow where I live. I had some extra soaked daylily leaves to use up, so I decided to to try weaving them into a plaited strip. Seven strands gave me a decent width, and after some trial-and-error I was able to successfully join new leaves in when old ones were coming to an end.

I used my foot to hold the end of the plait for tension, attaching a “chip clip” to my foot with a loop of string and using the clip to hold the plait in a way that was easy to move forward as I made progress. Eventually I had to do something with the completed portion, as it got long enough that the cats became very interested. No lily for cats! I coiled it up and secured it with a loose string tie while I continued working at the other end.

These leaves had a bit of a stickiness to them when working, but that feeling is gone after the strip dried. The dry leaves on their own are somewhat brittle, but the dried strip is much more resilient. It is an interesting change in the behavior of the material. It will be interesting to see how well they hold up when I sew strips together for a finished product.