When Beth Hester decided to try her hand at making a white oak basket, a process that she'd seen on television, she didn't exactly do it the easy way. She and her husband first found a white oak tree that they could cut. They trimmed off the limbs, removed the bark, cut the tree into sections and began to split the wood. "Processing materials for white oak baskets is a splitting process," she explains. "You just keep splitting the wood in half and then in half again until you have small strips of white oak suitable for basket making." Beth and her husband used wedges, a mall and a splitting tool called a "froe". They also used knives and a mallet to carve and scrape the wood. While she's still making baskets, Beth no longer feels the need to start from scratch. Her tree-cutting days are over. She now orders her materials over the Internet. But Beth still creates her baskets using the same techniques that have been used for thousands of years. "There's so much satisfaction in doing a job well and creating something that you can give to a friend or use for your own needs," she says. Her advice for those interested in trying basketry is not to follow in her footsteps. "You don't need to start by cutting down a tree," she laughs. "You can find a starter kit in a hobby shop or on the Internet. You can take a class at a folk art school or join a guild." Like most hobbies, one can spend a lot of money on a variety of basket making tools, but Beth recommends first using what you have around your house before investing money for expensive tools. "One can use a variety of materials to construct a basket," says Beth. "Oak, willow, pine needles or sweet grass all work well. Like anything, the more you practice the more accomplished you will become." Beth suggests that, for the novice, rattan might be the best material with which to start. "Rattan is easy material to use," she explains. "There are some Rattan basket designs that can actually be made in about 2 or 3 hours." Beth also recommends a trip to the library to obtain one or two of the many books that have been written on the subject of basket making. "As far as I know, all baskets are hand made," Beth says. "I don't think that they've invented a machine that can make a basket. Perhaps that's one of the appeals of basket making. It's something that must be created by hand." Another big appeal for Beth is the functionality of baskets. "I like something that can be used," she says. "Last Christmas I made a basket for my father. It was a twill pattern called 'The Chief's Daughter'. I made it out of Rattan and I wanted it to be something he could really use. I think he carries it everyday, and that gives me a good feeling." As for the future of basketry, Beth sees no end in sight. "I read a book years ago about how the world is becoming more and more technical," she says. "And the author of the book theorized that as technology increases in our lives we will need to balance that high tech lifestyle with what he called high touch. I think he's right. And basketry is one way that we can fulfill that need."
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