Faggots, Pimps and Throstles. The Cleft-Stave Basket MklI

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This is the MkIl Stave Basket, and here I've used 'riven' or 'cleft' splints (split and shaved) rather than sawn timber.  Is this a more authentic technology? I'm not certain, but I would have thought that reliance on saw-milled timber for the staves would be a late nineteenth century development. 

And nothing wrong with that!  An original Jack Rowsell basket which I have in my collection uses sawn timber staves and it's a beautiful example of the species.

Also this week, I gave an evening talk to the local village society.  It was cryptically titled Faggots, Pimps and Throstles (don't ask!), which seemed to draw quite a crowd. So with the aid of forty-plus images, I meandered through the material ecology of a coppice ecosystem before eventually arriving at this little cleft--stave basket.  It was a pleasant little tour, and judging by the questions at the end, I think I took most of the villagers along with me.
  
I had the little basket at my side, which I'm sure helped. I find it's always handy to use a prop or two when I lose my bearings!  

Not that the Mkll is perfect: the staves are perhaps a fraction too short and the base could be a little narrower.  I can definitely feel a Mklll coming on!










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