My blog has been quite dedicated to my reading of late, I've been lucky and had quite a run of good books and time to revel in them too. One of the books I am dipping into at the moment is Practical Basketry Techniques by Stella Harding and Shane Waltener (pub A&C Black) and this weekend I had a bit of a go at making a couple of coiled baskets. The first I made was from jasmine twigs out of my garden stitched with silk left over from a piece of shibori I am working on. And the second was similarly stitched with the left over silk threads but was made from willow twigs that I found this morning on a walk at Bowthorpe marshes with my dear friend Sally. 
The willow was golden green and curled round easily to make a round basket, the jasmine seemed to be slightly less flexible, tho' it was my first try at coiling so that might also have made a difference, and came out more distorted. They are both pretty crude attempts at basketry but it felt like art-play and playful creativity is always a joy whatever the outcome. And for first attempts I was not displeased with the outcome and hopefully as I continue to experiment with techniques and materials I will get better. The jasmine basket was made with my beautiful daughter in mind, she has been a source of inspiration to me since the day she was born just over 27 years ago.