The benefits of learning basket weaving

For as long as there has been mankind, there has been baskets. In order to transports goods, belongings, and food, humans turned to the plants and fibres around them to create baskets. As civilisation progressed and began trading with one another, basket weaving techniques travelled with the goods in the baskets in which they were transported, spreading a variety of techniques throughout the world. Basket weaving is still done today, and can bring benefits to the practitioner. In this article, learn more on the benefits of learning basket weaving.

Relaxation and satisfaction

Basket weaving is an activity that offers the weaver relaxation and satisfaction. Just as with knitting that invites calm and peace, so too does basketry. By working with your hands, you engage the mind in a different fashion. Matthew Crawford According to Matthew Crawford in his book, The Case for Working with Your Hands, the satisfactions of manifesting oneself concretely in the world through manual competence have been known to make a man quiet and easy. They seem to relieve him of the felt need to offer chattering interpretations of himself to vindicate his worth. With baskets, this is fulfilled in two ways. Firstly, the end result of the basket is practical, whether it is a wicker hamper, wicker basket or cane basket. Secondly, it is beautiful. When you are finished weaving a basket, you have completed a tangible task that takes care and skill to make. It is a tangible result of hard work that can be seen more easily than a career that is in the realm of the esoteric or intangible.

Practical

By making a basket, you are creating something that can be used. Just as early humans made baskets to care and store things, your baskets can be used in the same fashion. You can use them to bring in eggs from the chickens, vegetables from the garden, a meal to eat on a picnic or use them to organise the belongings in your home.

Income

As basket weaving is a skill that takes time and patience to learn, it is valuable. Going to craft stores or artisan fairs, you will very often see that this is true by the number and varieties of baskets sold there. A market for baskets of any kind means that if you gain enough skill to make baskets well, you will be able to sell them and earn some income from your work.