Oak Hoop Egg Basket

I love this sweet basket, and absolutely appreciate its simple beauty.  Baskets add warmth and a cozy comfort to a home. This is a very pleasant project, and has several every day uses.  It is a beautiful 8" X 8" X 10" medium sized basket woven with 1/4" reeds.  It is finished off with half round reed.  It is perfect for dinner rolls, grapes, apples, and, well eggs !  I made a little fabric lining for mine, and use it as a catch all in the sewing room, but your imagination is the limit for this  sweet basket. You will love the fact that you made it yourself, you'll go from not ever having weaved a thing, to making a basket in 3 1/2 hours ! After completion, the basket will be dipped in a black walnut stain for preservation, beauty and durability. This basket is attractive, sturdy and has a myriad of uses. 

 Students usually find that basket weaving has shown a positive effect on their ability to maintain manual dexterity, and also as a means of warding off the stiffness of arthritis. Persons with even major sight impairment can weave baskets.  Mentally, basket weaving can also help to keep senses sharp in the same way that puzzle-making, crossword puzzles and balancing the checkbook without a calculator all require more active brain manipulation than the passive use of calculators. With basket weaving, measurements are taken as supplies are cut; decisions are made as the weaving progresses, and most of all, a deep sense of satisfaction comes with the finished basketry! I also think that the relatively short amount of time that's required to weave a basket is a good incentive for pursuing this craft. Good, clean, fun!

Karen Charbonneau Zukas has been making all kinds of stuff  for most of her life.  She began basket weaving about 10 years ago with master weaver Patty Batson, who is a master weaver of over 40 years out of Plymouth.  Karen Zukas is a graduate of Tufts university and The School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston with a master’s degree in education from Western New England University. She is a recognized portrait painter and potter and former columnist for the Bulletin in Boston. She has been teaching various subjects, primarily advanced ESL, fine art, writing, test prep, debate and humanities; at universities, preparatory, public, private and international schools and community ed in Boston and now locally for over 35 years. She and her family moved back to the south coast in 2013. She is currently working on a book which is a series of short animal stories from her personal experiences. She is the proprietor of Peasantware Pottery in New Bedford and the founder of The New Bedford Art and Cultural Emporium at Kilburn ! Email: kczukas@comcast.net 

Have your GPS take you to 101 West Rodney French Blvd. in New Bedford.  Once there, please park on the end of the building AWAY from the main entrance.  You'll see an ORANGE door that says Mattress Handup...enter there and go up the stairs.  At the top of the stairs...follow small yellow signs for NBACE.  We're right around the corner behind the mural  !!