Willow
return to non-digital art

The image below shows both sides of the same basket. One looks shorter because the branches are curving away from the camera in that shot. The name is from the four willow branches that make up the main structure of this basket. The other basket material is reed. Gut has been stretched here and there over the basket, and splashes of reddish paint added to both reed and gut. Hanging from one of the branches is a small bunch of emu feathers. The basket itself contains bits of bone, shell, quartz crystal and teeth. It is approximately 4" wide at the widest point and the distance from the bottom leg to the top of the longest willow branch is 30". The distance from the bottom leg to the top of the main basket part is 11". There are three bunches of feathers that go with this basket. See details photos photos below:

These are the three sets of feathers that go with the basket. The owner can hang one or all from any of the vertical willow branches. Bunch 1, at the top, is a Golden Pheasant feather. The beads are shell and turquoise. Bunch 2 are pheasant feathers, also, with a shell bead at the top. The third bunch are emu feathers with another shell bead. The shell beads came from a bunch I purchased long ago and are supposed to be quite ancient, but I no longer have the papers on them. Below are two close-up shots of the basket.

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