Thanks for showing how you work. I’ve made a lot of birchbark baskets, but your shape at the beginning is the hardest to perfect, I find. Having a perfectly square base is so lovely.
You are so welcome! I made a pattern that is basicly only 1/4 of the basket. The shape is exactly the same 4 times. So I trace my 1/4 shape and then flip it side to side and bottom to bottom. Which gives your shape 4 perfectly same corners. That shape can be a square or a rectangle and give you a different basket shape. It is hard to explain in a comment but hopefully this is clear as mud ! Thanks for stopping in and checking out my video, regards, Steve.
Great work... and well done on explaining and sharing how to do it... I will try this think it's just something hands on to learn it by doing it... thanks for sharing there eh!
Another creative work from Nomadic which his work delicacy about basket from Mother Nature contributes material Nomadic needs to create awesome basket. Well done.
It's really beautiful, I love the décoration and the shape I'm looking for a tool like the one that you use at the beginning of your work , a sort of crock, could you tell me where I can find the same ? Thank you by advence
Super travail de ''Pro''!...et je ne parle pas seulement de la confection du plat, je parle aussi de la vidéo, bonnes explications des techniques, bonnes prises de vues, bonne musique, tout est parfait.
Thank you, I have made a spruce bark canoe and spruce bark basket video as well that you may enjoy. I will get some more bark project videos out in the summer, I do need to go gather some winter bark here just before the leaves come out. :) Cheers and thanks for passing by my channel ! NW
Beautiful work, looks awesome. Would you be able to send me a picture of the pattern you use for the large container ? Also what type wood did you use for the top piece around the rim? Thanks
The one I used for this basket was a spruce strip. White spruce. Like Grapes said, cedar works awesome, probably better than spruce. I did many in the past with eastern white cedar strips.
Thanks, they take me up to 40 hours to make. I can make some more simple ones but they won't be as decorative and long lasting. Thanks for checking it out !
Great video! I had a great trip and meet ups. Learning a new editor. It may be a long time before I will be able to publish it. lol You make beautiful baskets♥ I can wait for the snow vids again!
The bark is harvested in the early spring, before leaves are out, or just as the leaves are starting to come out. This is called winter bark. You can get the bark wet and scrape off the thin layer of brown off and it gives you the two tones / colours.
It would be nice if you could tell me where I could find a tool like the one you are using at the begining of the video , a sort of long open crock , many thanks , and it's a beautiful work well done. !
Hi this one is called a mocotaugan or crooked knife. They're mostly made by hand and quite rare to find nowadays. The specific one in the video was made by martin lotmigny from Montreal. He had a website called archeofact or something like that and I had ordered it from him.
check out my more recent video on scraping winter bark designs on the canoe. The bark is gathered before the leaves come out, then when you scrape off that thin layer, it gives you the 2 different colour tones for the designs. Cheers !
Thanks Sionnah ! Including the time spent gathering the materials and making winter bark designs, I would say it took me around 40 to 50 hours of work to make my basket.
Nomadic Woodsman I have to say, what you created are priceless artifacts that my 6 yr old daughter's Native American heritage cherish and what many of them created for utilitarian purposes but are also beautiful. Keep creating. Keep teaching. Always remember your feelings as you made each masterpiece. Exceptional work. Thank you!
Your videos are like a surprise package. You never know what the topic will be. Love the fire barrel.. Excellent craftsmanship in the basketwork. What was the diameter of the birch you harvested the bark from? Thanks for the totorial. Everything is traditional except for the C.T. clamps!
Haha thanks I try to keep videos outdoors related but love to share my different passions lol. Tree circumference was 66 cm so diameter was 21 cm. Clamps work well at keeping the bark in place while i sew. I could make some wooden ones if I really needed too I guess. Thanks so much for watching & commenting my friend.
For baskets most barks are thick enough if you collect it using a knife and you take the totality of the external bark. Sometimes it is even too thick. Bark would probably be 1/8 inch thickness or a bit less. I've collected bark up to 1/4 inch thick for birch bark canoes, but that's very thick, almost too thick to work with for baskets and shaping the bark.
@@NomadicWoodsman Amazing, thanks so much, that good to know. Have you any videos of craving the art work on the baskets? You don't show you doing it in this video, but would love to see. What do you find is the best tool do the engravings with?
Thank you! 😊 When you use bark that was gathered in early spring it has that dark colour on the inside. It is the cambium layer of the bark which occurs in winter. You can scratch it off and have that 2 coloured design.
Thanks for checking it out my friend. I would say it took me around 40-50 hours to make the basket with the lid. Takes time to gather all materials and scratch the winter bark designs. :)
I am into bark containers as well. Wished I'd seen your video last year , lol ! It would have saved me some time I'm sure. I've gathered bark , spruce root and some cedar this summer and can't wait for the snows to come and drive me indoors. The one thing I don't have and need is a crooked knife. Yours looks "store bought". Could ya help me out with a source please. Is that spruce root you're useing? I have white spruce i picked. Is black spruce any better?
Hi thanks for the comment and checking out the video. I have a few crooked knives, the one in this video was made by an artisan I know called Martin, here is his website he reproduces all kinds of north American native style artifacts from different era's. Here is his site : www.abotec.ca/en/index_fichiers/reproductions.htm . I also used for a long time a simple store bought knife that was used to clean horse hooves. The spruce root in the video is white spruce, works very well. If it is too difficult to remove the bark from the roots, make them boil a bit and the bark is way easier to remove. Hope this helps !
The spruce root i pulled stripped pretty easy but it was early spring and may have been sappy. If i have to harvest in summer I'll keep the boiling in mind tho. Thanks for the link to your friend too. I used to have a hoof knife to. I saw in a book years ago someone made one from a file. Probably be a fun project but lots of work. Can't wait to see some more of your videos. Keep it up. I've got a bunch of slippery elm bark i collected last summer. I think I might try your design from this video to make some containers.
Yes crooked knives were made with old files, it is in my to-do list to make one, just haven't had the time yet. There is a few weeks when the buds open and the sap is running that the roots are easy to peel, you collected at the perfect time. You can watch my other video Making a Spruce Bark basket, I used a similar design but made the basket a bit bigger and more rectangular. Cheers ! :)
Really awesome but/and *PLEASE CONSIDER ADDING A NOTE (or embedding a note in vid)* about how this bark comes from a felled (cut) tree. I just think that needs to be spelled out for non-outdoors ppl who might unknowingly kill live trees by peeling little souvenirs for themselves from standing trees. Most ppl appreciating this vid won't do that but IMO every little bit of that kind of reminder/info helps. Thank you for demonstrating this basket. Awesome first nations know-how in action. Thank you thank you!
Bark from dead trees is great. In many ways prettier. What many don't know is you can remove ( top layer ) of bark without harming the tree. the bark will kind of grow back. Actually the bark left just hardens , thickens and turns a darker color. Someone who doesn't know what he's doing could go to deep and harm the tree. I agree with what your saying , to point. I've seen trees in parks that had bark removed for whatever reason and it's not pretty. Trees were alive though. This guys lives in the wilderness and can't really stop vandalism by adding a "note". It would be a better world if he could.
Hi Shauna, some barks split more easily than others. Every tree/bark has different properties / thickness etc. I would try to puncture holes farther from the edge of the bark. Also, triangle shape or square shape awls are better than round as, when you rotate the awl it will remove some fibers/bark instead of just splitting it apart. Another option you could do is use a very small drill bit and drill a small hole, and then expand it by separating the fibers with the awl. If you drill too big of a hole though it will be very apparent and will look odd. Hope this helps ! Thanks for the question. NW
When you gather the bark early in the spring, it has a natural dark colouring on it. It is the inside of the bark along the wood. It has this in the winter. Bark is called winter bark. If you get it wet and scratch of a layer, you get the designs. If the bark is gathered in hot summer weather it is more of a pale yellow colour and you cannot do designs on it.
Love the work you did on this basket! Well done! I have several questions for you. What time of year do you collect your winter bark? I collect the regular type in June but I have never had anyone tell me if there is a magic time to collect winter bark and if there are any special techniques to collect it. I also am terrible at pattern making. My baskets have been small because I blew up some drawings from books that I have. I was wondering if you would be willing to sell a cardboard pattern of the main part of the basket you made in the video. It is the size I have been looking to make. Love your channel . Thanks
Winter bark is collected in spring just before leaves come out.In my area this is around end of April. You can also collect in the fall once the leaves have fallen, if the tree is ''sleeping'' so no growth/no actual sap flowing you will have winter bark. The winter bark is harder to collect as it is ''stuck'' on the wood and you have to scratch it out with another piece of bark or what works great is a flexible plastic sheet that you slide between bark and wood. Watch some videos on birch bark canoe construction/builds you will see the bark collection process. Send me and email at primitivewoodsman@gmail.com I will try to find my pattern and send you a picture of it. Thanks for the comment.
Hello I didn’t realize a year ago that my son was logged into my phone under his account and I had messaged you under his. I had asked you about a pattern and I have only now seen your reply. My email is rguano@gmail.com. I would be happy to pay you for a pattern. Sorry for this delay and confusion. Rog Rosloniec
do you steam the wood for the rim before bending it? I have been trying to make wooden rims for my ash baskets and havent been able to bend them to shape without breaking them. also a little verbal instruction could add a lot to the video :)
You need to keep the thin splint of wood in water for 1 or 2 weeks so that it absorbs all the water. Then you want to put the whole piece of wood in boiling water for 10 or 15 minutes depending how thick the wood is. Then you slowly shape it. If it has any knots it will snap. Also, split wood is better than sawed or cut wood as it will follow the grain. Hope this helps ! I will make more videos on this subject :)
Boiled and peeled spruce roots. I used those an explained the process in another video on my spruce bark canoe build. They are an excellent natural binding material. Thanks for the question !
That is a great idea, and less difficult to bend the wooden splint. The bark is stiff enough to re enforce the basket and supple enough to go around. I will do that next time !
I cannot insert any photos or documents in the description of the video. All materials I used are pretty much seen in the video. I will try to make another video showing some of my patterns I've used in the future. Thanks for asking and watching ! I made a whole series this summer on building a 13 foot canoe with spruce bark. I have alot of tutorial style information in those videos as well. The equipment and process for baskets is very similar to canoes. Cheers from Alberta, Canada !
You need winter bark for it. The winter bark has a layer on top of it naturally. You simply make it wet and then scratch it off with a knife. In my last video that i posted this week i harvested some winter bark, now is the time to harvest it before the leaves come out on the trees, then it is summer bark.
Yes, split spruce roots. The hard part with those is taking the bark off and then splitting them all equal sizes. I usually boil them for the bark is easier to peel. and then split them lengthwise once or twice depending on how big the are.
Thank you, it looks like a good project to work on over a couple of weeks. A little "zen" work so to speak. Subscribed. Will be watching for more "projects" in your new and older videos. Thanks again.
I found a birch canoe book and they mentioned using basket ash for bindings too. Black/brown ash pounded splints. Probably not any easier to make. I've done both. I sell ash splints for basketry but I don't sell spruce root. Both are fun to make anyhow. Just thought I'd pass along the info
Thanks ! The designs are scratched off of the winter bark. If bark is gathered early before summer, it has a layer of reddish colour on it which can be scratched off to create the designs :)
@@ABWeaver Spring and summer, it is easier to peel when the weather is warm (more than 20C and the sap is flowing between bark and wood). If earlier spring while leaves are coming out, we call it winter bark. And you can scrape off those designs on it, geese and stars, etc. if you collect in warmer weather it is easier to peel but you won't be able to scrape off the designs on it. Will still make a beauty basket though !
@@NomadicWoodsman Hope you do a vid on that. I've been collecting material for one but good bark is holding me back. might do a Dogrib style. They had small , crappy trees , just like me. I have found some fairly decent cedar and split out a good start.
@@timothylongmore7325 watch my series i did last summer. I built a canoe with spruce bark instead of birch bark. You need a pretty big spruce but easier to find than good birch in my opinion. I am planning on building another canoe with birch bark next summer !
@@NomadicWoodsman Yeah cool. I cruised through your home page and saw that. Can't wait to watch them. We have big spruce but I never saw one that did'nt have branches right to the ground. I got a huge elm behind my barn that would make a great canoe but man it'd be a heavy boat.
@@timothylongmore7325 Elm were uaed by iroquois to make really big canoes. Spruce and elm make more crude canoes than fine birch bark. But it can and was done :)
It's okay to show us how to do baskets but you never said what you used for the rim and your technigue for bending them. A little naritive might have helped us. I apoligize for the spelling, English was not my strongest point. Us natives use saskatoon branches for the rim, When fresh easy to bent. I use heat from stove or camp fire to bend my birch. Will have to give the water thing a try. Never told us what you used to sew basket with and how to prepare. It is beautiful work , love the designs on basket.
hi thank you for the comment. The rim here is a split piece of white spruce. It also works well with eastern cedar. The idea is to shave it down and keep it along the grain of the wood... The lashing used are split spruce roots, I have multiple other videos on collecting, boiling and preparing spruce roots. The process for my roots is the same for a basket or a canoe. I would encourage you to check out those videos. I had also done some videos on the spruce bark canoe rib splitting with spruce and also with eastern cedar splitting some thin planks. I use these planks for basket rims. Saskatoon branches and willow works very well for sure. I use some boiling water to make the wood more flexible. It is the same method as when bending ribs for a birchbark canoe, you soak your wood for a few days, then steam it or pour boiling water on it, and then slowling bend it to required shape. Then fix it in place with a clamp or root lashing. Hope this helps ! thanks again for checking out my video, respectfully, Steve
@@xXDevinNaveauXx Give me your email or send it to me at primitivewoodsman@gmail.com. i will send you a photo of my template. You can replicate it from the photo. It is a great size gor berries. I collected fiddleheads with it in my last video and it worked awesome.
@@NomadicWoodsman waa about to say the same thing. Lately I've been drawn to birch bark. No real reason why. So I started harvesting bark and chaga from down trees. I will in no way bother a live healthy tree. Did u use root for tok hold the basket
