How to Weave a Basket With Honeysuckle

Honeysuckle vines are flexible for weaving baskets.

Honeysuckle is a vine native to Japan that grows rampantly to the point of being an invasive species in some areas of the Southeast. If you cut the vine, new growth emerges quickly -- good for producing vines for basket weaving. Be careful when collecting the honeysuckle as poison ivy vines also grow in the same areas. You can collect the vines throughout the year, although the green spring vines are the most supple. Keep them rolled together so you can soak them when you are ready to weave.

Things You'll Need

• Work gloves
• Pruning sheers
• 5 gallon bucket
• Honeysuckle vines
• White oak strips
• Wood glue
• Screwdriver
• Wood sealant
• Polyurethane finish

Instructions

1. Collect long, thin sections of honeysuckle vines growing along the ground. Use gloves to pull them up from each rooting area. The width of the vines should range in thickness from 1/8 inch to 1/4 inch. If the vines are any thicker, they will be hard to weave.

2. Clean up the vines, trimming off all the side growth with a pair of pruning shears so you are left with a long, straight section. Soak the cleaned vines in water while you prepare other sections.

3. Boil the vines for 30 minutes to soften the wood and loosen the bark. Cool the vines in a bucket of water and peel off the bark. You may choose to leave the bark on for a more natural look.

4. Choose two sections of thin white oak strips about 1- to 2-inches wide and 1/8-inch thick to act as the foundation for your basket. The honeysuckle is too flexible to hold a shape. Cross the sections over each other, perpendicularly. Dab a drip of wood glue at their intersection to hold them together more easily.

5. Take a section of honeysuckle vine and fold it in half loosely. Feed one of the white oak sections through the loop. Push it to the center and weave first one side of the vine and then the other, alternating each one as you work. Keep pushing the vines in toward the center, and hold them in place with your thumb.

6. Start a new vine when the first section ends in the same way, looping it over a slat. Poke the ends of the first vine into the center of the weaving, using a flat-head screwdriver to pry the weave apart and repeat with each new vine.

7. Finish off the basket when the size looks good for your purposes. Trim off the oak wood slats at the top of the basket and trim off any extra ends from the honeysuckle vines. Seal the vines with a wood sealer to keep them from staining easily and a finish coat, such as polyurethane, if you want a shiny look.

References

• North Carolina State University: Japanese Honeysuckle
• Western Carolina University: Nancy Conseen
• Know It All Organization: Making a Kudzu Basket