Shopping Kete
June 8th, 2008 - Posted in crafts, sustainable living - by Brendhan|
As part of our search for more sustainable alternatives to fossil fuel based products, last weekend I attended a flax weaving workshop. I hoped to learn how to make kete (traditional Maori baskets) to use for general house hold and garden purposes as well as an alternative to supermarket shopping bags. On the first day I began by making two small kete.
My very first attempts at weaving kete.
The one on the left was my first and I accidentally made the strips of flax a bit too narrow which meant I ended up with a tiny kete that was extremly fiddly to make. However all of the women on the course (I was one of only two men) thought the result was “cute” – hmmmmm.
On the second day I moved onto a slightly more involved design and, determined to make something a bit more sizable, I decided to use the full width of the flax. To make the kete big enough to hold a reasonable amount of shopping it also needed longer strips of flax. so the stems were left on to allow the prepared flax to be twice as long (ie a strip coming out from each side of the stem).
The bottom of the kete taking shape.
The stems were arranged as in the photo with the shiny side of the leaf facing down to become the outside.
The finished base of the kete being held flat by some steel weights.
Once all 20 pieces of flax were arranged and woven together the stems were woven into the resulting mat to create a flat base as in the picture above. This was then folded up at the corners (between the white and blue pegs) and the weaving continued up the sides.
The complete collection of kete and flowers.
Finally the top of the kete was plaited together to form a flat top. I have still to make some flax rope to make handles that will wrap all the way under the basket so as to be strong enough to hold the full weight of shopping.
Always on the lookout to curry favour at home I even learned how to make a flax flower to present to Sarah after the course. The next day to try and re-enforce what I had learned and to spread the knowledge I showed Sarah how to make one of the kete and the flower.
