A wood cut out featuring the "Three Sisters" mountains of our beautiful Cascade range adorns the centerpiece of this baskets' lid. Dave has used burn etching, also known as pyrography, to accent the mountains and name. This basket measures 4 1/2 inches in diameter and 2 1/2 inches in height.
We create our ponderosa pine needle baskets from start to finish.
As soon as the snow melts in the upper elevations, Dave and Jo start their pine needle gathering expeditions in the Ochoco National Forest in central Oregon. Great care is taken in the collection of just the perfect needles, which are then taken home and dried.
After the right amount of drying time has elasped, the needles are then soaked and allowed to dry until they have just the right amount of moisture to allow for handling. Sometimes, at this point in the process, we dye the pine needles a variety of colors.
Artificial sinew is our material of choice for stitching our baskets. It is just about as strong a material as you can find and closely resembles the real sinew used in many old Native American baskets.
We choose to not seal our baskets with wax or shellac. The great Native American basket weavers of long ago would use pitch to seal their baskets intended to hold water. We think you will enjoy, like we do, being able to pick up your basket and smell the forest.
Have any questions?
Contact the shop owner.
