Workshops List
Reed Basket Weaving
March 17 - 19, 2011
Learn to weave fun, beautiful and useful round baskets. In this 3-day class you will make your own round bread basket, for serving rolls and muffins; one round utility basket, perfect for displaying dried flowers or a carved wooden spoon collection; and one 9-inch round berry basket with a handle. If you have time, you will be able to add colored reed or seagrass embellishments to you basket. While weaving these baskets you will learn all the skills you need to continue this rewarding craft at home.
Register now - sign up before 12-31-10 for the early registration discount. Before 12-31-10, the non-refundable registration fee for this session is $30, between 1-1-11 and 3-1-11 the non-refundable registration fee is $45. Registration deadline for this class is 3-1-11.
Total Class cost (does not include meals and lodging) -
Register before 12-31-10 - $230
After 1-1-11 - $245
Amount due to Sharon at the beginning of class $200, which includes materials. She accepts cash or check.
Minimum 3 students, maximum 8
Instructor: Sharon Ferniman
Her ability to work out ideas, patterns and designs serves Sharon Fernimen well as the basket maker at the Ozark Folk Center. Sharon has been interested in crafts most of her life. She taught herself crochet and cross stitch early on. She worked for eight years at the Flat Creek Dulcimer and Craft Shop, in Hardy, Arkansas. When her husband, Bruce, retired, his goal was to live somewhere he could ride out into the forest from his back door. Sharon’s goal was to work at the Ozark Folk Center. So, they moved from Hardy to Big Flat. Now Bruce can ride his mule Tulip right down to the river and continue on for days and Sharon spends her days visiting with folks and weaving baskets.
Sharon’s basket weaving is based on tradition. She originally learned the craft as a Committee of 100 apprentice at the Folk Center and studied with Julie Stow for 6 weeks. Sharon likes to develop a new style or two of basket each winter during the off season. She watches trends in kitchen and house wares and keeps an eye on popular colors.
Sharon’s way of understanding and breaking a process into its parts also makes her an excellent teacher. Her classes fill up quickly each year and many of her students return to make more elaborate and advanced creations. She teaches several reed and pine needle basket weaving classes during the year and is always happy to teach students One-on-One classes at a time that works for them. Like any true teacher, Sharon enjoys watching her students learn.