Baskets of Vine

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Honeysuckle. After wisteria, honeysuckle is next on my preference list. It is usually found growing in areas that have been cultivated and then neglected. It also thrives along rows between fields and lanes, and in hedges and bushes. You'll find honeysuckle along the edges of woods, but it needs too much light to grow deep in the woods. Because honeysuckle is known to choke less aggressive plants, many people are more than willing to let you harvest from their property. In fact, they will often call you if they know you want it.

Most basket makers like to strip honeysuckle bark because it spirals on the vine and tends to shed constantly unless removed. Spring is therefore a good time to gather it, as the rising sap makes bark removal easy. If you collect it at other times, however, just boil it to remove the bark. The resulting vine is smooth, hard, light in color, and takes dye well.

If I could have but one basketry plant, itwould have to be wisteria. I have yet to finda basket-making technique that can't bedone with some part of the wisteria vine.

Kudzu. In the 1930s kudzu was imported from Japan for erosion control in the South. It is what I call a beginner vine because it's so easy to use. Fast growing and strong, kudzu is used in Japan as cattle feed, medicine, food, drink, paper, and fabric. Unfortunately, the extraordinary toughness of kudzu vines causes them to clog the machinery of our mechanized society, and it is thus considered more of a weed than a useful plant here in the United States. It just keeps on growing—covering trees, houses, and whatever else happens to be in its path.

The upper growth is similar in appearance to wisteria, although not as woody or strong. It is fine for framework on a decorative piece but is not as durable as you would expect of a vine of its size. The bark—which is practically rip-proof—varies in thickness with the size of the vine; it can be used as weaves, for wrapping, or even for cordage. My favorite parts, though, are the ground runners, which j ust go on and on. If used whole, they kink, but when split, they are wonderfully flexible. There is none of the breakage or cracking that you get with so many of the other vines.

Grapevine. The first vine everyone thinks of in relation to baskets is usually grapevine. I love its delightful tendrils, which I have just recently started using for free-form miniatures. Grapevines can be wild or cultivated and they tend to be straighter than other vines, thus lending themselves to more traditional shapes. It is most suitable for use as framework. With the exception of muscadine vines, grapevine is not real flexible and makes poor weavers, even in the smaller diameters. Although I love the bark, I almost always boil and strip any grapevine I use. Prone to insects, it is even more susceptible when the bark is left on. The boiling kills any eggs within the vine that could hatch later.

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