Dear Reader,

First things first, I have to say, straight out, that–I’m not lying–I am literally EXPLODING with passion with what I am/can do with this project, right now!!!

Alright, now that that’s out of the way, let me update you on the last two weeks of my In-Depth Project!!

First up, I have not been able to have a meeting with my mentor yet–but hang in there–our first meeting is actually going to be today afternoon! That was the soonest time we could arrange to meet, so unfortunately it is after the due date of this post. However, don’t fret! I promise to come back and update this post about the happenings of the meeting/How to Have a Beautiful Mind as soon as it is over, around 5pm! See you then!

Secondly, I got supplies for basket-weaving! But that’s not it, I also started weaving with them!

I want to give a special thanks to my fellow classmate Kira, who was in fact the supplier of my supplies. When I mentioned I was learning basket-weaving for In-Depth, she immediately told me she had some supplies that she’d be willing to lend me. I am so grateful and lucky that I could buy supplies without having to go through the hassle of buying them online, thanks to Kira! Thank you for letting me buy your supplies, Kira!

Getting supplies from Kira, in my opinion, has given me a leg-up in this project because I know now what the cane looks like and sort of what to expect if I ever try to buy more online. (Which I’ll do, eventually!)

Now, I get to tell you about what I’ve learned in terms of the skill I have chosen.

1. I actually did get to meet my mentor in person, during class, because she came over to teach us how to weave a cedar bark bracelet! I believe that was on Monday January the 18th. Here is my bracelet:

We all wove a bracelet, as part of class. I would say this counts as a little intro thing to my project because it is weaving, and with cedar bark at that! After the class was over, I got to talk with my mentor, in person, and she said she would be willing to show me how to harvest cedar bark! And that is something I REALLY wanted to learn how to do, since the beginning when I was thinking about this project. I want to learn how to harvest materials for basket-weaving, so as not to have to buy them, and I’m excited to learn that from my mentor sometime in the future!

2. Now, this is a ‘breakfast tray’ that I started this week but have not finished yet:

I will be honest that I am a little behind in terms of my learning contract plan. I am supposed to have started my second basket/article by now. However I am still on my first. But I am not too worried that I will for sure catch up, over this weekend or sometime soon.

Now I’ll talk about the processes of weaving each of the articles above:

Bracelet:

• At first, I (and probably the whole class, I would think) was a bit confused about the ‘braiding’ technique Ms. Marks was trying to show us. But after a while, she came around to each of us and eventually, we all kind of got the hang of what we were doing.
• The cedar bark was extremely nice and extravagant to work with.
• We watched a video (that Ms. Marks made) about how they got the cedar bark to come this way, in strips, from stripping the bark from the great big tree to peeling it.

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Tray:

• I have found so far that I remember how to basket-weave, from this one newspaper basket I made a few months ago, from watching an excellent video.

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• But it’s real different weaving with real cane, feels much more authentic and exciting!
• Cane must be soaked in order to work it (unlike newspaper obviously). I had to use a…don’t get me wrong…foot-bath bucket for this purpose as we didn’t have any other suitable buckets!! But don’t worry–it’s clean–in fact, we use the foot-bath-bucket as a laundry bucket!
• Cutting the cane is a little tricky. Can’t ever cut it quite clean.
• The book I am using is the BEST how-to book ever. It’s called ‘Baskets’ by Tabara N’Diaye and I love it! It’s like my bible now! The instructions are also super clear and helpful, although I don’t think I would have been able to get this far if I hadn’t had previous experience with the newspaper basket.

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Some of my frustrations/obstacles I’ve encountered so far:

• That I might not be able to meet my mentor in person for her to show me the art of harvesting cedar. I’ve looked around everywhere for places we could meet. Then Mr. G told us we could meet in the classroom. But now Humanities is over so I’m not sure if we could still do that. So, I think we might have to go with Ms. Marks showing me how to do it virtually/on screen.
• At first, before I heard Kira had supplies, I was a bit worried about finding basket-weaving supplies–specifically cedar bark–as it was nowhere to be found on the (online) market. My mentor specializes in weaving with cedar bark so that was why I was so intent on looking for it. But now I realize, I don’t necessarily have to weave with cedar. I could try using other materials first, such as the cane Kira gave me, as well as some other materials I’ve researched such as twine, rope, grass, reeds (wherever I’ll find any of those…), plastic strings…I’m starting with cane because that’s what I’ve got now! And cane is the most common type of material to weave with, so I’m sure I’ll find lots of tutorials and projects other than the excellent book I’m using now!
• If I had gotten supplies earlier, I would be on track with my plan now. However, that is not what happened. So I’ll go with it and try my best to catch up! Lesson learned–get supplies early.

Alright, I hope this post has provided you with some insight into my project! Without further ado, Anita signing out! Thank you and have a great day.