Interesting Swedish Basket

Last year I brought an interesting basket home from Sweden. I passed on it at first, but after a few weeks reflecting on my lost opportunity, I asked a friend to pick it up and send it to me. Luckily it was still at the antique shop.

I’ve heard them called “Beach Baskets”, but I’m still looking for definitive name, use or region—if you know send me an email. There are many types of plank bottom baskets in Scandanavia, so a plank bottom can’t be the main defining feature. I do have a copy of Jonas Hasselrot’s basket book called Korgar and in it there is a picture of something similar from Västergötland. I know it’s not a Hedered basket—those are made with split pine and a plank bottom which I learned about when we visited Curt Bengtsson—one of the last makers of that type, while we were in Sweden in the spring.

The basket I bought from Sweden

A similar basket from Hasselrot’s book

flared ends of the uprights

This form is clever with it’s plank bottom, brown willow uprights and split willow weavers. It has a beautiful flared shape and a simple border to finish. It’s always nice to see something made by a master and this one is. Its gracefulness and proportions come from experienced hands and eyes. An interesting thing with this basket is that it appears that the upper branches of the larger willow that was used to make the split weavers were used for the uprights. They all have the flare of the crotch left on them before they were inserted into the base holes. That flare (part of the crotch) would help keep the uprights from pulling through the base. It should be noted that flared ends are not necessary. The raked angle of the uprights combined with the rim/border—which ties the uprights together—causes them to act as one and resist pulling through as well.

After our recent trip to Sweden and Norway to learn about split willow basketry I finally had enough experience (splitting willow) to make a few attempts at recreating the original.  Maybe I’ll explain the splitting process sometime in the future.

So far I’ve made two. The first is missing the flare, but it was a great warm up. The second attempt is better. The bow handle broke while weaving so I’ll have to replace it. I’ll need to make a few more iterations before I feel confident about its key elements. Then on to making more.

My second attempt. I’ll replace the broken handle.