Vines a plenty to weave baskets

WILMA CHARLES

During the covid19 lockdown last March, I had a lot of free time on my hands, so like many other people I turned to the internet for entertainment. On YouTube, I saw a number of basket-weaving videos but the one that caught my attention was that of a man presumably from North America, demonstrating how to make baskets from vines growing in his backyard.

As we all know, basket-weaving has been practised in many cultures from centuries ago. I have always loved basketry and had an introduction to this craft during my training at Teacher’s College, those many, many years ago.

My thought after viewing the video was that if he can do it so can I, as I have an enormous amount of vines in my garden. My first choice for the basket was what is commonly called the water vine which is considered to be a weed and can be seen in everybody’s backyard and on roadside fences. With its long, pliable stems it seemed to be the ideal material for weaving.

My gardener was in doubt of its suitability as he stated in disbelief, “Mrs Charles, I want to see how you will make a basket from this.” He was right. That water vine proved difficult to weave as it kept breaking and was not as pliable as I had expected it to be. I abandoned it after several attempts and turned my attention to the garlic vine (Mansoa alliacea) growing near to my kitchen.

According to Wikipedia, among the indigenous people of the Amazon rain forest it is known as “ajo sacha,” a Spanish-Quechua name that means “forest garlic” or “wild garlic.” This vine bears beautiful bracts of pale lilac blooms and is easily propagated from cuttings. The vine itself is not as thick as the water vine and not as fibrous, leading me to believe that it would better suit my purpose. To some extent it did, as I used four pieces approximately16 inches in length from the thicker sections, to form the base of my basket.

I placed two pieces to form an X and placed another two pieces on top of the first two pieces to form another X and secured the intersection with very fine floral wire. I now had eight spokes but cut off one piece leaving seven spokes. In basket-weaving you need an odd number of spokes to thread your material through. That completed I then had a spider-looking shape as my loom. To my dismay, the garlic vine would not allow itself to be woven and I was again confronted with broken stems for my efforts.

Not to be daunted, I turned my eyes to another vine growing abundantly on my old yellow poui tree. This vine called the cat’s claw creeper (Dolichandra unguis-cati) is rapidly growing woody vine often seen on poui trees. It blooms little yellow flowers after the last of the poui tree’s blooming, presenting a curtain of yellow glory. A lovely sight to behold. UWI students from times past called it the "examination vine" because if you were not prepared by the time it bloomed, you were in deep trouble.

I duly gathered some of these vines, stripped off the leaves and began weaving my basket through the spokes in an over, under sequence after ensuring that I had a short length protruding to mark where I had started. After the first four rows, the weaving became easier. I inserted the end piece of each vine into the nearest weave and continued with a new length of vine from that same area. The knots left on the vine after trimming the leaves, added to the delightful, rustic appearance of the basket. Having satisfied myself with the height of the basket, I clipped the spokes short enough to be tucked into the weave, being careful to tuck in after every other spoke. Next, I clipped off any projecting ends and admired my creation. My greatest satisfaction however, was that this basket was totally local. To prove that my creation can truly function as a basket, I filled it with fruit and… it held up!

Go ye forth and do likewise.

For further information contact the Eastern Horticultural Club at 357-5033, or 720-2698 or easternhorticultural@hotmail.com The club usually meets on the first Saturday of every month at Morton Hall, Aramalaya Presbyterian Church, Tunapuna. However, due to the covid19 pandemic meetings have been suspended until further notice.