THE CRAFTS 
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INDIAN BASKETRY 
Mertice MacCrea Buck 
AS this paper aims to give a brief, but definite, descrip- 
tion of a few ways of applying Indian basket-makers' 
methods to our own materials, it may not be amiss to call 
to mind the two great classes under which all baskets — 
diverse as they seem — may be grouped : 
(1) Those which are twined or woven. 
(2) Those which are sewed or coiled. 
Under the first head are included all such as are made 
by twining a flexible material around spokes, usually cross- 
ing at the centre in a wheel-like arrangement, but some- 
times forming an ellipse or an oblong. 
The methods of weaving are infinite. Three typical 
Indian styles are shown in Figures 2, 3 and 4 in Illustra- 
tion No. 1. Ordinary reed and willow baskets are also 
classed under this head. 
There are many varieties of coiled baskets. Some of 
the familiar stitches used in them are the "lazy squaw," 
"the pine-apple," the "Mariposa" or "knot stitch," and the 
"Navajo" or "figure eight" stitch. The "Navajo" is an 
excellent stitch, as it produces a basket practically water- 
tight and as firm as a rock. It is not confined to the tribe 
of Navajos, but is used with slight variations by the 
Apaches, Washoes of Nevada, Tulares, and others. 
The basket marked 1 in Illustration No. 1 is an ex- 
cellent example of this stitch. One of the most famous 
basket makers in the world is an old Indian woman of the 
Washoe tribe named Dat-So-La-Le. Her work commands 
fabulous prices. The basket in 111. No. 2 contains 50,000 
stitches, about thirty to the inch, although it is only seven 
and one-half inches high and ten across. It sold for $1,500. 
Her baskets are wonderfully beautiful in form, they also 
excel in strength, and smoothness of execution. She uses 
very simple designs, and very few- colors, depending on per- 
fection of craftsmanship rather than on elaborate orna- 
mentation. All Indian workers use such materials as are 
native to the regions where they live, simple grasses and 
barks and sometimes twigs. Usually these are of the colors 
of the desert from which they were gathered, dull browns and 
blues, and the creamy yellow of the willow twigs from the 
springs, the reddish brown of red-bud bark, and glossy 
black of maiden-hair fern. Such as must be dyed are pre- 
pared with vegetable dyes, which only deepen with age, 
but these, too, are of the same scheme of brown, worked 
into a ground work of cream color. 
In the East there are a few native materials in the 
shape of meadow grasses, corn-husks and rushes, but unless 
prepared at just the right time, they are not satisfactory. 
Raffia is perhaps the best material for the outer cover- 
ing in coiled baskets, but it should be confined more or 
less to the color scheme of the Indians, the natural color 
for a basis, with touches of tan, brownish red, golden brown 
and a little black. Olive in a dull tone can also be used. 
Natural raffia can be obtained from a florist at about 
twenty cents a pound. It should be washed with soap, 
well rinsed, and hung in the sunshine to dry. Excellent 
colored raffia may be procured from Old Deerfield, Mass., 
prepared with vegetable dyes. A cheaper grade, and fairly 
reliable, can be bought from Milton Bradley Co., Kinder- 
garten supply dealers, who also handle reeds, or as it is some- 
times called, rattan. 
No. 2 reed is a good average size. A basket made in 
this number in Navaho stitch should be practically water- 
tight. A very simple design is given of a Tulare bowl- 
basket in illustration 5. The reed used must be soaked for 
ten minutes in warm water, then sharpened to a point as 
in Fig. 1, Illus. No. 3. 
Thread a needle with the large end of a strand of raffia 
to prevent fraying. Fig. 2, Illus. No. 3, shows just how the 
raffia is wound round the end of the reed for about an inch. 
This end of the reed is coiled with the fingers into a small 
spiral as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. 
The centre is sewed over and over, the end of the reed 
always extending to the left. The real figure eight stitch 
begins at the third row. This stitch is so named because it 
crosses between two reeds, forming a loop over each, in a 
perfect figure eight. 
The part of the basket sewn is called the coil. It is not 
always made of reed. Some workers prefer a flexible coil 
of raffia, corn-husks, or even cord. However, when a'new 
thread is started the ends should be secured by sewing them 
into the coil. The last row of the coil is called the lower 
reed and the reed which is being sewed in, the upper reed. 
In the figure eight stitch, the thread comes out toward 
No. 2 — This basket is 01 
contains 50,000 stitches, 29 c 
; of the be; 
■ 30 to the 
made by Dat-So-La-Le. It is 71" high, i 
