Ana Wildhart

My first experience with basket making was in 5th grade art class. My art teacher, Mrs. Tausch, had us soaking reeds in a tiny sink so we could weave our own small wooden baskets. It was so fun & I was instantly hooked! The next project we made in our basketry lessons were rope coiled baskets. I loved it even more since it took less prep time & was less tedious than working with the wooden reeds! Plus it could be done anywhere! I remember making a small blue and pink bowl that I ended up gifting to my mom for mothers day. For some reason, I never tried making the coiled bowls again outside of school, though the idea never left the back of my mind! I always wanted to try and make a bigger one!

Then the 2020 pandemic hit, and like many people, I found myself at home with lots of spare time. I ordered some foam core rope from Walmart and used the grey & maroon acrylic yarn I had on hand. I didn’t have any tapestry needles yet, so I used the back of a thin spoon handle to push the yarn through & make each stitch. I liked that it could be made with things found around the house. My main goal while making this was to see how big the basket could get using all the rope I had! I spent months working on it. I’d constantly be wrapping while watching TV. It became meditative. My hands would just know what to do without me even looking! Then when I noticed the rope was close to it’s end, I decided to make some handles to finish it!

It’s surprisingly sturdy and very functional! I use it as a laundry basket for my kitchen towels. I line the inside of the basket with a reusable cloth bag to keep it from getting too dirty!

This was the basket that began my fiber arts journey as an adult!

This is still my biggest work yet! It’s messy and has lots of gaps (don’t look too closely! haha) but I’m proud of it because this was the one that started it all!

I want to practice making big round sculptural baskets with little lids eventually! Maybe experiment with new types of yarn to wrap with too!

Also- I finally took the time to properly photograph my work so I’m slowly editing them and will upload more show & tells like this in the coming weeks!:)

Until then- Take care 🙂

xo,

-A