How to Make Split Wood Baskets
Making a split wood basket is an art that requires weaving with wood strips. You can purchase wood strips of split wood at craft stores for the project, and make a basket of any size you desire. Crafting a split wood basket is a great family project that you can do with your kids to start a family tradition of weaving baskets. You can give the baskets as gifts or use them to add decorative touches to your home.
Instructions
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Basket Bottom
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1
Lay out 10 wood strips of split wood, side by side in a row. The strips should be 24 inches long, or longer if you wish to make a large basket.
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2
Insert one strip from the side underneath the first of the ten wood strips, starting at the mid-point of the first of the ten strips. Pull it up and over the second of the ten wood strips, under the third and continue to weave in this manner until you have woven the side strip throughout all ten strips.
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3
Take a second strip and overlap the first of the ten strips, inserting it under the second of the ten strips, over the third and so on, until you have woven the second side strip all the way through the ten strips. Begin weaving this strip immediately below the first side strip.
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4
Push the second side strip up, as close to the first side strip as possible, to make a tight weave.
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5
Weave four more side strips below the first two strips. Be sure to stagger the weave, with one strip starting under the first of the ten strips and the next side strip starting over the first of the ten side strips. You will be weaving six strips in total, all 24 inches long. That completes the bottom of your basket.
Basket Sides
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6
Pull the ends of the strips on the bottom of the basket up, forming your basket sides.
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7
Start at the top of the basket and weave a single strip of split wood throughout the side pieces of the basket. You are now gathering the loose wood strips that extend from the bottom of the basket to shape your basket and hold it up for the remainder of the weaving.
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8
Weave additional pieces of split wood below the top strip, continuing to stagger your pieces, with one piece starting under a wood strip and the next piece starting over it. Be sure to start weaving your side pieces at the same place on the basket each time you add a new piece.
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9
Trim off any excess on the strips with scissors when the sides are complete and glue down the ends on the basket with craft glue.
Basket Rim
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10
Wrap one wood strip around the top of your basket to form the rim.
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11
Secure the rim piece to the basket by inserting another wood strip under the rim piece, then over the rim piece and then under it again. Continue wrapping the second wood strip around the first in a figure eight pattern, while at the same time weaving the wood strip in and out of the basket.
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12
Glue the ends of the rim down onto the basket with craft glue.
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