Basketry and Fishtrap making session (Photos)

On Sunday OxPalTechSoc had a great session gathering materials and coming back to the knapping tent to create some baskets, which with some modification, could be used as fish traps (and now we need to plan a session where we can try catching some crayfish with them!)

Here are some photos of our exploits:

We had much better weather on this excursion that our last one in January!

 

Klint went over which materials were best

And we collected a few extra materials - such as this Victorian Jam jar we found on the ground!

It seems the willow trees were growing near a bank which was eroding out a whole bunch of Victorian ceramic materials, possibly an old dumping ground?  There were intact glass bottles, large pieces of old plates, tubes and even bottles with what looked like their original material left in the bottom...

Some of us found really expedient ways of getting the willow branches necessary for our baskets!

 

So we lugged all the willow back to the knapping tent

The method we used was to stick 5 larger willow branches into the ground, splayed out, and then weave smaller bendier willow branches in and out between them.

Cory experimented with the willow bark, which created an excellent cordage

But the others made some excellent baskets!

Manse's was made with the additional part on the top (made with the same principles) so that the basket could be used as a fish trap.  Fish swim into the hole in the centre, and don't manage to swim back out again, staying to the edges of the basket.

We had a great time... helped as well by the fantastic weather, some cider and ice cream!