Basket classes weave it to the imagination

POTSDAM — Shavings litter the floor Sunday as three women weave, bend and cut the uncooperative reeds into large Williamsburg baskets.

Two of the women are veteran basket-makers and have come for years to Willow Tree Florist and Landscaping, 7580 Route 11, to learn how to weave reeds and sea grass into different shapes and sizes. For the third, it could be the beginning of a new hobby.

"It's fun," said first-timer Lisa M. Smith, Canton. "I was just looking for something to do. I try. I'm not really the most (crafty)."

By the end of the morning class at the flower shop, Miss Smith and her classmates had molded scores of reed strips into a big open basket, to be given as a gift or destined to be put in a corner and filled with old magazines, towels or other household items.

"I give a lot of them away or sell a lot. Every corner of our house pretty much has a basket in it," said Jennifer L. Blanchard, who teaches the classes and owns the shop with her husband, Kevin J. "There are hundreds of kinds. You can keep varying them. Sometimes when we leave, everybody's looks the same. Sometimes people choose to put colored reed in or sea grass, and everyone's is different."

Basket-making classes are a regular occurrence at Willow Tree, though the type of basket changes with every class.

Today, Mrs. Blanchard will teach a group how to make a sculpted sea grass basket, a tall, thin basket with wire in the top so the shape of the opening can be molded.

Later, she may choose to teach people how to make a garden basket, which has a division down the middle to separate tools from clippings or plants, or a wine basket, which is the perfect size for two bottles of wine.

Sarah J. Farr was making a Williamsburg basket and finishing a fishing creel, an oval basket with a narrow opening and a wooden lid, that she began before Christmas. The basket was destined to be a Christmas gift, but she had trouble finishing the complicated rim at home amid the holiday hustle.

"I've probably made five or six baskets over the years," Mrs. Farr said. "I just saw the advertisements and thought I would try. They're usually fun to make."

Mrs. Blanchard makes most of the baskets in her shop, and said they sell almost faster than she can make them with three girls at home.

The classes are usually small. With 4-foot-long reeds lashing around the long tables, space fills up quickly, and things get tight with even a dozen students.

"I guess people are getting back to the basics," said Margaret L. Kinney, one of Mrs. Blanchard's regulars. "People in general are recycling again and using those reusable bags at the supermarket."

Many weaving students have gone on to make baskets by themselves. At each class, Mrs. Blanchard offers photocopied instructions so people can make more at home. She also sells reeds and handles at her shop.

Mrs. Kinney, who works at St. Lawrence University, Canton, said that when she retires, she plans to make baskets to sell at farmers markets in the area.

"I like teaching so people can do what they want with it," said Mrs. Blanchard, who has been making baskets since she was a teenager. "I love when people take off with it and keep doing it."

Basket classes are not the only ones on offer at Willow Tree. Around Christmas, the Blanchards offer wreath-making and kissing-ball classes.

They also do flower arranging, and Mr. Blanchard said he plans to offer a concrete-stamping class. He said he plans to make a patterned concrete patio on one side of the building this spring.

"We would really like to do something once a week or at least once a month, just as a way to bring in traffic," he said. "We do a lot of things around here for ourselves. If we can turn it into a learning experience for others, fantastic."