plaiting plastic fantastic

Plastic these days has a bad name, and for all the right reasons.  It doesn’t stop me loving it though; colour, strength and versatility are characteristics that attract me to these polluting synthetic polymers. Plastics could easily be my guilty pleasure if I didn’t keep a tight check on it. That said, I’ve been doing my bit for the environment this week by making use of old plastic bags for dailymades.  Inspired by my recent workshop at the Museum of London (see weave and wealth), I rekindled my passion not only for plastic but also plaiting.

plaited plastic bags
dailymade #121221

I all too often realise I’ve forgotten how to make something as I attempt to recreate it and therefore need to improvise which inevitably leads to different outcomes every time.  Necessity truly is the mother of invention! Allowing myself to forget is somewhat planned however, as the possibility of creating new everytime is is too good an opportunity to miss.

So, expect to see more variations of these woven items in days to come on dailymades as I’ll indulge myself over the festive season plaiting plastic fantastic!

plaited plastic bags
dailymade #121220

for more details on plaited baskets and projects
using recycled materials, see
Practical Basketry Techniques

weave and wealth

paper, chinese ink and tea

With the advent of the first baskets being made, humanity took a giant leap forward; goods at last could be stored, exchanged and traded. Honouring this history in the context of a workshop planned at the Museum of London in Docklands, I decided to focus on the collection documenting the pool of London as one of the world's first major trading centres, a city that became a ‘warehouse of the world’ between 1830 and 1939, as ships brought in exotic commodities from the far east and the then-called ‘new world’. 

paper, chinese ink, herbs and spices
dailymade #121210

The workshop consisted of plaiting baskets (a technique largely imported from Asia) using layered paper strips and tissue paper.  The strips were painted, then filled with the participants’ own blend of spices, herbs and seeds to create fragrant containers for them to take home. As the fragrances will eventually fade, I suggested the baskets could be buried in the ground or in containers so to allow the seeds to germinate.

The containers produced over the course of the one afternoon were symbolic items celebrating London’s rich history and cultural diversity.  Sadly I got too busy to take pictures at time. These of course couldn't have conveyed the wonderful aromas produced as the spices and herbs were mixed, ground and added to the baskets, so below is a poem by John Masefield, part the museum display, that might go some way in bringing smells to mind:

You showed me nutmegs and nutmeg husks

Ostrich feathers and elephant tusks

Hundreds of tons of costly tea

Packed in wood by Cingalee

And a myriad of drugs which disagree

Cinnamon, myrrh and mace you showed

Golden paradise birds that glowed

More cigars than a man could count

And a billion cloves in an odorous mount

And a choice of port wine from a bright glass fount

You showed me, for a most delightful hour

The wealth of the world and London’s power.