When we first moved up here to our 120 acre place in northern Minnesota on the Iron Range in 2002, and before the willows grew so high you could no longer see through the open field back to the tree line, we would occasionally see a pack of wolves running after deer. But like I said, the willows and spruce trees have overgrown during our stay up here and obliterated our view.

However, over the last few days Mr. WickerWoman and I have heard one lone wolf on our property, howling both at night and early in the morning just as the sun comes up. He seems to be very, very close to the house, making his eery calls to his buddies, causing the little hairs on the back of my neck to stand up.

Hearing wolves out in the willows--Feb. 19, 2012

It’s an interesting and haunting sound, but makes me glad in a way, that we no longer have our Labs and keep them outdoors. I remember both of us going out to the kennels several times in the middle of the night to try and settle the dogs down and to investigate why they were growling and sneering.

We usually discovered or assumed that the culprit was a bear or wolf and scared them away. Thank goodness Mr. WickerWoman and I always carry a gun and know how to use it.

I learned that early on when I was harvesting my willow and diamond willow in the spring and summer, you NEVER want to come between a mamma bear and her cubs, for example. And running away from them in the bogs and swamps is not an easy thing to do.

Well crap, running in any way, shape and manner is not easy for me anymore, what am I thinking?

Then yesterday in early morning, the sound of that lone wolf escalated to a pair of wolves and finally a frenzy of the pack with a kill. The sun was shining brightly and the temperature was at about 15 degrees F., very crisp, clear with no wind so there was no mistaking where the cacophony  was coming from.

Only about 200 yards east of the house, out in the field.  That’s just passed the overgrown willows now, just this side of the tree line, EXACTLY where I used to take all the puppies and momma Molly every day for our walks!

I tried and tried to capture the sound on my digital camera, but the volume wouldn’t go high enough. But when we were in the house, we both could hear the noise very distinctly. I’m going to see if I can amplify the sound on my computer or perhaps through Youtube and if I’m successful, will post it here for you to listen to.

Wish we had a good, powerful tape recorder. Any of you have suggestions as to how I can get the audio turned up on the video I took?

Happy Weaving! Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much~~

Well, as you have probably noticed, if you’ve viewed my website or blog over the last few days, we’ve made some changes to the template.

It’s stayed pretty much the same with the three-column template for the last five years, ever since 2007, when I switched my site platform to WordPress self-hosted.

Now you’ll see only two-columns with a different navigation system located at the top instead of along the left side. Hopefully, these changes will be to everyone’s benefit, making the site more user-friendly and at the same time, still providing all the FREE resources and information you are seeking.

• The navigation bar widgets on the left have been removed
• Navigation is now at the top with a drop-down menu
• Navigation links are also still at the bottom of every page
• Sitemap is at the top and bottom menu, in case you get lost and need to find a specific page
• Blog Subscription box is still on the right on both site pages as well as blog
• Shareaholic banner is at both the top and bottom of pages and blog post
• Please pass on and share interesting pages and blog posts to your friends through Shareaholic

Well, that’s pretty much it for this post, except I’d like to get your input as far as these template changes go. And please excuse us and let us know if there’s something not working quite right as we make these transitions.

Leave your comments below here on the blog or go to the Contact Us page to send your thoughts. Thanks a bunch, hope you are enjoying the changes.

Happy Weaving! Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much~~

TUESDAY TIPS–In honor of Valentine’s Day, this Tuesday Tips is about making a heart shaped basket.

You can weave them out of birch bark as I did for a basketry class a few years ago.

My class basket sample for woven birch bark heart basket

Or you can make yours out of paper as the tutorial from the Handweavers Guild of America shows here.

Happy Weaving! Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much~~  

"First Attempt" Antler Melon Basket ©1990 Cathryn Peters

You know, ever since I designed and created my very first antler basket way back in 1990, this style basket has remained my favorite to weave. Although I also weave traditional baskets made from round and flat reed, willow and other natural materials, I always like to make my signature baskets (the antler basket) feature the antler as integral part of the basket, or the focal point.

Excerpt from my About Us-Artist Statement

The first step I take in creating an antler basket, is to sit quietly with the antler and listen as it speaks to me; hold it in my hands, place it on the table, looking at all the various angles. The antler suggests the form the completed basket is to take. Guiding my fingers, coaxing me to weave its desired shape, all the while conforming to the natural curvature of the antler itself, which is an integral part of the basket, not just simply attached to it.

"Bedazzled" Fallow Deer Antler Basket ©2004 Peters

And it never ceases to amaze me how different and individually unique they each are! Because of the confirmation of the antlers, it’s almost impossible for me to create baskets that are identical, or even remotely so. But having said that, I try my darnedest
to make the concerted effort for each design to be different from the last!

"Antlers Together" Wall Pocket Basket ©1996 Cathryn Peters

I love incorporating and weaving with the natural and sometimes unruly hand-gathered materials, like willow, bulrush, larch and barks.

"Flame" Whitetail Antler and Wild Willow © Peters

Weaving with the naturals exclusively does however, make the weaving much, much more difficult than weaving with the user-friendly and oh so malleable, rattan reed.

"Hunter's Dream" Antler Wall Basket © 1999 Peters

Really enjoy weaving the antler wall hangings, antler wall sculptures and antler wall pocket baskets, too.

"Reindeer Ripples" Antler Wall Sculpture © 2003 Peters

Be sure to check out TheWickerWoman YouTube Channel page to see some more of my Antler Basket Artistry. If you like what you see, be sure to “Like” it and Subscribe to my channel, leave some comments. Enjoy!

Happy Weaving! Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much~~

WEDNESDAY WICKER WISDOM — There are three main types of chair cane seats. Really, did you know that? Can you identify and name them all?

Various types and designs of chair caning.

Here’s a little hint about the three names of chair caning to choose from ~~

Do YOU know the difference between these cane seat patterns and materials?

• hole-to-hole cane, hand caning , or lace caning seat
• pressed cane, spline cane, cane webbing chair seat
• porch cane, wide binding cane, or binder cane seat

1. Here’s an example of the hole-to-hole cane, traditional hand caning, or lace cane seat where the individual strands of cane are hand woven through a series of drilled holes around the perimeter of the chair seat frame.

Hole-to-hole hand chair caning

2. This is an example of a spline cane seat, sheet cane or cane webbing seat where the machine woven sheet of cane is tamped into a groove that’s been routed out around the perimeter of the chair seat and held in place with a reed spline.

Spline cane, sheet cane or cane webbing

3. And here is an example of a wide binding cane seat, porch cane or binder cane seat, where the wide binding cane strands are woven around the seat frame rungs both top and bottom creating a double layer of cane. Frequently the design on the top of a stool or chair seat would be in a diamond pattern with a simple twill or herringbone pattern on the bottom or back. This type of chair seat pattern using this material was/is very popular with chairs and rockers used outside on a porch, hence the name, “porch cane seat.”

Porch cane or wide binding cane chair with woven seat and back

Example of wide binding cane footstool with dyed cane to accentuate the diamond pattern weave.

Footstool with diamond design in dyed wide binding cane

Well now, you will be able to go into any antique store, flea market or used-a-bit store and figure out just what type of cane seat you spot and know the materials it takes to fix it!

See the Cane ↦ Basket Directory™ right here on WickerWoman.com if you need some weaving materials and tools to complete your project.

And if you are not quite ready for that DIY project and want someone else to do the chair cane repairs for you, visit all the Seatweaving Experts listed in the National Furniture Repair Directory™, here too.

Happy Weaving! Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much~~

MONDAY MENTION — The SeatWeavers’ Guild, Inc. , the first and only chair caning guild in North America, will hold their 5th Annual Gathering this summer in Eagle, Wisconsin on the grounds of Old World Wisconsin on August 3-5, 2012. Mark your calendars and save the dates, we’re hoping to have the biggest and best turnout yet!

Old World Wisconsin, Eagle, WI

During the weekend our members will be providing lots of public interaction and chair seat weaving education for all ages, including:

• hands-on short chair caning classes

• chair seat weaving demonstrations

• rare chair seating exhibit for all ages

• lectures and talks on various aspects of chair seating and restoration

The SeatWeavers' Guild -- 2009 2nd Annual Gathering

Then during our members-only portions of the Gathering weekend, we will be holding our usual “Meet & Greet,” special seat weaving workshops, classes, annual membership meeting, dinner, tips & hints and more.

The SeatWeavers' Guild founding board members7-15-2007

Here’s a video look at our very first Gathering held July 2008, exactly one year from the date of our founder’s meeting in July 2007 , when we established the guild, chose the name, The SeatWeavers’ Guild , elected officers and drew up the by-laws.

Hope to see ya’ll this August at Old World Wisconsin–bring the family and join the fun! Must be a registered member of The SeatWeavers’ Guild, Inc. to participate in members-only activities.

Happy Weaving! Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much~~

The Ely Art Walk that started on Thursday, February 2 and runs through the 12th promises to be a great winter festival art show! There are over 500 pieces of art on display, presented by 150 artists in the downtown business establishments.

Begun in 1998 the Ely Art Walk is different from just about any art walk you’ve ever been to before. For one thing, it takes place in the winter and for another, all the art can be viewed outside through the participating business windows, so you can visit anytime!

Here’s the video The Playlist made of last year’s Ely Art Walk Feb. 3-13, 2011–Enjoy!

My antler baskets (although my name is misspelled in the brochure and map), will be featured in the window of Kess Gallery at 130 E. Sheridan Street, Ely, MN. Should be listed as Cathryn Peters, not Catherine, but hey…what’s the diff’? I answer to just about anything!

The Ely Art Walk is a part of the bigger and older, Ely Winter Festival.

The Winter Festival began in 1995 and over the years, activites such as a crafts fair, the Ely Art Walk, musical concerts, dances, sled dog rides and several food events have become part of the festivities, besides the wonderful ice sculptures and snow carving contest that has been a constant.

There will also be a “meet and greet” the artists of the Ely Art Walk on Saturday, February 4th from 1-4 p.m. at the Chocolate Moose on Sheridan Street (the main drag through town).

So, put on your hat, gloves and winter coat to join us in Ely, Minnesota for all the fun and festivities for the Ely Winter Festival and Ely Art Walk.

TUESDAY WEAVING TIPS–Bevel the Inside Chair Rail Edge
Surely you’ve seen several hole-to-hole cane seats that are broken and need to be replaced? Maybe they looked somewhat like this one below where the cane has totally failed…

Many times the cause of a seat failure like this is due to a sharp edge on the inside rail of the chair, cutting the cane.

If you are a chair caning specialist you will most likely already to know about this tip, but if not, please watch the video for today’s Handy Chair Caning Tip of the Day that I recently uploaded to my YouTube Channel. Just another way to help you be the best weaver you can be using insider tips and tricks of the trade.

Please Subscribe to TheWickerWoman Channel and let me know what you think of this tip in the comments below here on the blog. Thanks! Happy Weaving!

MONDAY MENTION– Although I’ve mentioned Former Glory Seat Weaving Blog many times before here on my blog, I think their latest post deserves mentioning them again.

For those of you not familiar with this chair caning repair and seat weaving supply company, Former Glory, they are located in the southern part of England and are frequent contributors to the discussions on my Seatweaving & Chair Caning Forum–The Caner’s Community Hub™ as well as listed on my Cane & Basket Supply Directory™.

Always intrigued by fancy, difficult seat weaving patterns, I was especially thrilled to read “Weekend with Gio Ponti” where Kim and Tim discuss and show through a series of pictures, how to weave this extremely difficult and time consuming cane design and technique used on the Gio Ponti chairs from the 1950s.

Be sure to subscribe to their blog so you don’t miss anymore of their wonderful chair caning and seat weaving posts. Don’t you wonder how long it will take these very experienced and proficient weavers to finish weaving this seat and what we would have to charge over here on this side of the pond if we did it?

Have you ever run across a chair seat design like this and did you attempt to weave it replicating the weave exactly? Please leave a comment here and let us know how you did on the project AND what you charged. Thanks and Happy Weaving!

Ran across this wonderful Youtube video today by the folks on the KeewaydinExpedition Channel on how to weave a hole-to-hole cane seat on a canoe seat. Nothing really special about the process, EXCEPT it’s been photographed in fast motion and is so fun to watch! Captivating!

I’m a fast weaver, but this sure puts me to shame. Happy Weavin’ Ya’ll …

TUESDAY WEAVING TIPS– Are preempted today by some breaking and shocking news about a fellow basket weaver and chair caner’s plight! He desperately needs YOUR help ASAP, so please basket weavers, chair caners and bloggers unite with support!

You won’t believe how Mitchell’s life and livelihood are being threatened by a landlord’s eviction notice and a group that are supposed to HELP folks with their living arrangements, backing out.

If after reading his plea for help on his blog post, please consider offering financial help, legal and social service advocacy help if you are able. And of course, if you are a landlord or homeowner with a room to spare, give him a shout!

Heritage Basket and Chair Caning Studio

I think if enough people know about this, surely there’s someone that will step up to the plate with some financial or housing help and solutions, don’t you? We basket makers and chair caners are a tight-knit group always ready to support and help others.

MONDAY MENTION– New Additions to the National Furniture Repair Directory™ Seatweaving section on WickerWoman.com!

• East Cobb Caning in Marietta, GA (winter location) and Highlands, NC (summer location)
• Woven in Time in Mishawaka, IN
• Courthouse Cane in Washington Court House (C.H.), OH

With the addition of these three new listings there are a total of 97 Seatweaving/Chair Caning businesses listed in this section alone, 13 are in the Wicker Repair section, 8 in the Furniture Refinishing and 5 in the Upholstery Repair section.

We are so blessed to have these businesses that care about preserving, restoring and refurbishing all these fine furniture pieces, saving them from the garbage dump and maintaining them as a record of our history.

And I am especially blessed to have the majority of the business listings with me since 2004, when I began the National Furniture Repair Directory™.

Be sure to read some of the Testimonials and then if you want to get listed also, visit the Furniture Repair Directory-Advertise page to sign up. Happy Weaving!

Weavin’ Wicker Woman Blog is once again available on Kindle! so when you are away from the Internet and/or your smart phone you can still read the posts and not miss a thing!

Get your dose of this chair caning, wicker and basketry blog, Weavin’ Wicker Woman on Kindle today. Keep in touch so you never miss a lick!

Sunrise Angora, MN 1-18-12 7:58 a.m.

Although these progression sunrise pictures are spectacular and warm looking, they are deceiving! It’s not warm up here in Northern Minnesota!

8 a.m. Sunrise Angora, MN 1-18-12

Yesterday when these shots were taken the temperature was -9 degrees, the coldest it’s been so far this winter up here.

Sunrise 8:02 a.m. Angora, MN 1-18-12

But now TODAY is a totally different ballgame! Our temperature outdoors with NO windchill was an actual -21 degrees! Just so you are clear about this, that’s BELOW ZERO as evident by the indoor-outdoor thermometer we have right here by the dinning table.

Coldest day so far in 2012 at -21 degrees 1-19-12 Angora, MN

But I heard on the radio that our close neighbor to the north, International Falls, MN (the official ice-box of the nation) had -22 degrees, beating us by one degree! Stay warm, ya’ll and let me know what it’s like in your neck of the woods by leaving a comment below.

WEDNESDAY WICKER WISDOM–Over the holidays I splurged and bought myself a MacBook Pro laptop, can you believe it? And after using a PC for over 15 years, this dyed-in-the-wool PC user is suffering tremendously. That change from PC to MAC alone is enough to make me want to pull my hair out. But there’s more regarding my computer problems…

Here are some wicker baby bassinet pictures for you to look at as we discuss my computer problems and after all, wicker baby bassinets is what this blog post is really supposed to be about anyway.

Me weaving my very first rattan reed original design wicker baby bassinet 1988

I also decided to get the Microsoft Word, Excel, and Outlook package for Mac installed here too, because I was familiar with that and hoped to transfer all my Outlook Express contacts over here to Outlook.

First Wicker Bassinet by Cathryn Peters 1988

Well, found out real quick that wasn’t going to happen! Outlook Express is not compatible with the new Outlook and they have different file extension names, too. So, not only do I have to learn a new computer Operating System, but have to learn a new email platform too, and have to set up my address book from scratch! Yikes, but this is a lot for an old dog to learn…

2nd Wicker Baby Bassinet by Cathryn Peters 1988

Anyhoo, rummaging around in my flash drives to input old photos here on the new Mac, I stumbled across some of the old pictures of my original design, (OOAK) one-of-a-kind, rattan reed baby bassinets and cradles from back in the late 1980s and some from 2000.

First Wicker Baby Cradle by Cathryn Peters 1988

Anyone know of a work around for the Mac that will enable me to RENAME the photo file names so they are not just a bunch of numbers? It was soooo easy on the PC, just select the photo, click on edit and change the file name to what you want and presto, it’s done.

Fancy wicker baby bassinet on legs woven by Cathryn Peters

But here on the Mac, I’ve tried that and it looks like the file change is gonna work, but then just reverts back to the old “12345.jpeg” format. Not at ALL good for SEO. Help!

Two wicker baby bassinets woven by Cathryn Peters-1988

Will do a complete photo album on the wicker baby bassinets and cradles when I get all this mess figured out with the photo file renaming. Hope you at least enjoyed looking at the pictures in this posts, and wish me luck on getting the picture file names changed on the Mac! Ugg, can’t believe there isn’t a work-around solution to solve this problem.

TUESDAY WEAVING TIPS– OK, this is not so much of a weaving tip as a “shout out” to a couple of my newly found best bud bloggers and basketry teachers, Eric Taylor, his wife Lynne at the basketmaker’s wife blog and basketmaker and blogger, Tony Stubblefield.

I suppose I should have waited and posted this next week on the MONDAY MENTION segment of the blog, but I couldn’t wait to pass on this great blog information you ya’ll.

Last week I was surfing around visiting some of my favorite bloggers from my blog roll (listed right over there on the right sidebar toward the bottom), and reading Tony Stubblefield’s JASkets Blog , when I read about last year’s basketry workshop with Eric Taylor.

Wish I lived close enough to attend one of Eric’s Nantucket basketry classes out East or maybe instead, I should just get in my car and drive down to see him at Tony’s next workshop in Missouri.

I have family in OKC, so driving the 1,500 miles or so could be turned into a business related “working” vacation, especially if I can teach my antler baskets or chair caning somewhere along the line, too!

After drooling over the baskets and all the pictures Tony had on his blog about Eric’s baskets and the workshop, I found that Eric’s wife Lynne, has just entered the blogosphere with a blog of her own called the basketmaker’s wife .

Lynne is a painter and designer by trade and just happens to love to write, especially about her hubby, their dog and what’s going on around in their world. I’m sure you will enjoy reading the posts from this woman with a great, authentic and quirky sense of humor as much as I do.

When you visit the blog, be sure and tell Lynne that you heard about her (and hubby Eric) through the shout out on the Weavin’ Wicker Woman blog.

Thanks and Happy Weaving!

This year will be different and I will elaborate in future posts, but for now watch this enlightening video about changes that you too, might like to make during the coming year!

Thanks to my blogging friend Nancy Jacobs at Basketmaster’s Weavings for posting this to her blog, where I saw it this morning.

1/13/12–WordPress is acting weird today, Friday the 13th, and removed the video I embedded in this post! Hope it sticks around long enough for you to see, cuz it’s really worth it. Cathryn

Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much~~

Wonderful words and sentiment, aren’t they? Bantered around the Internet for years and used on many blogs, websites, and even used in home decorations being made into vinyl wall decals! But have you ever stopped to think what that string of words actually means?

I did a Google search and found the poem in it’s entirety, written by Bessie Anderson Stanley in 1904 entitled “Success,” which was first published in Brown Book Magazine and later in the Boston National Magazine.

Her poem strikes a cord and resonates with me, it’s the way I’ve been striving to live my life for over a decade now. See if it doesn’t affect you the same way. Enjoy!

Success by Bessie Anderson Stanley

“He has achieved success who has lived well, laughed often, and loved much;
Who has enjoyed the trust of pure women, the respect of intelligent men and the love of little children;
Who has filled his niche and accomplished his task;

Who has never lacked appreciation of Earth’s beauty or failed to express it;
Who has left the world better than he found it, whether an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul;
Who has always looked for the best in others and given them the best he had;
Whose life was an inspiration;
Whose memory a benediction.”

Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much~~

Although this is not the first day in the new year, it is my first post for the year.

One of the things I’m going to try to impliment again this year is to be more productive here on the blog and make posts more often and consistently. If you blog, have you made a similar goal for your blog?

Hubby and I spent the holidays with our children, grandchildren and other relatives and had a very nice end for 2011 and beginning of the New Year 2012.

Now today, we are both spending time in our shops. He’s doing “car stuff” in the garage and I’m straightening up my “art studio.” Both in the same building, but each in our own little “hobbit” hole. Will be posting pictures of both here soon.

And now, maybe you’d like to read my very first blog post written EIGHT years ago on July 16, 2004. Enjoy!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! May 2012 bring many blessings, prosperity and joy to all my friends, family and blog followers.

Here’s a list of the best and most popular blog posts of 2011 for you to enjoy!

January 2011 was the most significant with regards to my blog, since that’s when I migrated the entire past SIX years worth of posts and photos from Blogger.com to my own domain website at WickerWoman.com and began posting for the SEVENTH year!

February 2011 Antique lovers, junktique and repurposing folks loved the saga of the Victorian Heart Shaped Wicker Set that took place over several blog posts.

April 2010 My Antler Basket Exhibit at Lyric Center for the Arts in downtown Virginia, MN.

May 2011 New art group organized in Cook, Minnesota with first event being the Spring Art Expo at the business establishments and new art gallery.

June 2011 The most significant and personal blog post of the entire year for me was this one about my father, Jack Jungroth, who passed away just hours after I saw him for the last time.

July 2011 4th Annual Gathering of The SeatWeavers’ Guild, Inc. in Noblesville, Indiana. I stepped down as first President after fulfilling two terms, a total of four years and was replaced by Wayne Sharp from Mankato, MN.

August-September 2011 First seatweaving weekend class at Marc Adams School of Woodworking in Franklin, Indiana–rush, cane and Shaker tape.

December 2011 Mindy King’s chair caning class at Woodcraft.

During this coming new year several changes will be taking place throughout my blog and website with the addition of many new pages, articles and photos. I even have some tutorials, videos and ebooks up my sleeve and will be launching some of them very soon, so stay tuned and Happy Weaving!