Category Archives: Basketry Then and Now

Welcome to the Basketry Then and Now blog. Throughout the course of the project, the project team of researchers and basketmakers will be blogging about their activities. Keep up to date with all the latest project news here.

Willow Connections: Exploring Castle Donington

February 5, 2018
The Trent Valley in the East Midlands was once one of the most important areas for willow growing and basketmaking in the country. The parish of Castle Donington, on the border of Leicestershire, Not...

Final thoughts about the MERL shell basket

October 28, 2017
by Mary Crabb Since my last posts (post 1, post 2 and post 3) about making a replica of the artillery shell basket (90/43) at the Museum of English Rural Life (MERL), a number of interesting threads ...

Filming baskets

September 4, 2017
by Adam Jones-Lloyd My filming adventure with the Basketry Then and Now project began in June 2016 with what started as a one-off trip to The Museum of English Rural Life in Reading. However, this wa...

Pigeons in War – and pigeon baskets in war

June 15, 2017
by Greta Bertram Last month I visited the Royal Pigeon Racing Association’s Pigeons at War exhibition at Bletchley Park and met with Colin Hill from the RPRA to find out more about First World War pi...

Cane for shell baskets: Industrial processing

June 6, 2017
by Mary Crabb As I had found out when making a replica shell basket from the Museum of English Rural Life (MERL 90/43), processing of cane by hand is a slow and long process (see my previous post). I...

Research skills development session for basketmakers

May 23, 2017
by Daniel Carpenter On 24th April, nine basketmakers from across Devon and Cornwall met at the Devon Heritage Centre in Exeter for an introduction to the research facilities available to individuals ...

Basketmakers’ Lists of Sizes and Prices

May 8, 2017
by Greta Bertram I do not know their origins, but since at least 1850 various basketmaking associations, such as the Journeymen Skip, Basket, and Hamper Making Society, the London Union of Journeymen...

Cane for shell baskets: Processing by hand

April 18, 2017
by Mary Crabb I ended my previous post about the recreation of a World War One artillery shell basket seen at the Museum of English Rural Life (MERL 90/43) with a question about how to process the ca...

An Introduction to the Shell Basket

March 10, 2017
by Mary Crabb   My interest in shell baskets began with an Internet search of the Museum of English Rural Life’s (MERL) online collection. Having visited MERL some years before to view their ama...