82-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 19, 1988
Functional And
Baskets Woven
BY SHARON SCHUSTER
Maryland Correspondent
WESTMINSTER With Eas
ter just around the bend, Peter Cot
tontail is probably selecting that
indispensable accessory, the
basket, for his hop down the ‘Bun
ny Trail.’ Sharon Schaeffer of
Westminster, Maryland, weaves
baskets that even a bunny with the
most discriminating taste will find
irresistable.
As a weaver of baskets, Sharon
Schaeffer is accomplished in the
craft, with her creations featured in
area craft shops, mail order cata
logues, and in a book entitled
Baskets, by Nancy Schiffer, 1984.
Sharon, an art teacher at West
minster High School, said she first
became interested in baskets eight
years ago. She learned the basic
skills along with two of her friends
who became her business partners.
“There was a time when I pro
duced more than one basket per
day,” she recalled. “Then I made
the transition from shops and craft
circuit, to being an independent
consignment dealer.” She sells her
baskets in Maryland and Pennsyl
vania shops and out of her home.
“Here and in Pennsylvania, people
are respective of the craft,” said
Sharon. “They realize that baskets
are functional as well as
decorative.”
“I use baskets all the time,” said
Sharon. While others tote their
belongings in canvas bags, Sharon
conveniently tosses son Curtis’
needs in a market basket and off to
the babysitter they go.
lets in thel
laeffer displays some of the varieties of baskets that she weaves. The
light colored open-weave basket is a cheese basket. Katie holds a key basket.
A friend who lives in town car
ries her mail in one of Sharon’s
hand crafted baskets. Nine-month
old Katie has a basket full of toys,
and she can even climb into the
largest basket made by her mother
to play with her 3-year-old brother
Curtis.
Many think of baskets as being
either of the Easter or laundry vari
ety, but Sharon is quick to explain
that there are many more varieties
of useful and decorative baskets.
“Sometimes this is called a butt
basket,” Sharon said pointing to
the two humps of the traditional
Appalachian Egg basket. “It’s the
biggest seller, and I enjoy making
it the most.” The flat Pie basket or
Double Pic basket is made for
transporting delectable pastries
with care. Cheese baskets have a
large open weave so the 1 iquids can
drip through.
“There are stories behind most
of the baskets,” Sharon said. Farm
women used hen baskets to take
their hens to market. The key
basket has one flat side so that it
can be hung on the wall by the door
so you can loss m the mail or your
keys when you come in. The
square and rectangular baskets are
market baskets.”
Sharon uses natural materials
when weaving her baskets. The
reeds of various widths are mostly
ash, and the handles are oak.
Sometimes Sharon twists reed for
the handles. She can make a basket
in an evening. She said, “A basket
is something you can pick up and
put down. I do it in bits and pieces
Ir Dorset flock.
Decorative
With Pride
as I am walking around.” When
Sharon has many orders to fill for a
show or an exhibit, she said she
produces them in “assembly line
fashion. I make all the handles at
once, and so on. It’s faster that
way.”
Sharon explained that “the hard
est part of making a basket is mak
ing the structure to weave on. I
usually make a God’s Eye to hold
together the ribs the part that
you weave over and under.”
Sharon noted that a basket
weaver can often be identified by
the details in the weave. There are
individual looks for baskets. It’s
like a signature.” Sharon also signs
and dates each one of her baskets.
Traditionally, baskets arc all
natural in color. “As they age, they
get darker,” she explained.
Sharon also collects old baskets
and looks for baskets in good
shape with a natural darkened col
or. “Sometimes people ask about
repairing old baskets. The general
rule of thumb is, don’t do it.”
When new materials are used to
repair a hole in a basket, it may
decrease the value of it as a collec
tor’s item. “It never has the same
patina,” she explained. “Old
baskets in good shape sell for as
high as $9O. The average in this
area is $50.”
The baskets that Sharon weaves
are functional, but are often pur
chased for their decorative quality.
She said, “I have started adding
bows and ribbons, and I like to
experiment with color. It’s just like
dying fabric. The reed will take the
Frank & Sharon Shaeff er pose with 3 year old Curtis and 9
month old Katie who are snug in their mother’s prize
winnl basket.
_ron jet imonstrates basket weaving. She
begins with the basic frame. Her baskets have been fea
tured in the book entitled Baskets, (foreground) 9 Month old
Katie in an Appalachian Egg Basket.
color because it is porous and
absorbent.” Sharon us6s Batik
dyes for vibrant colors, and Rit dye
for lighter shades. “You can use
anything that will slam,” she
explained. She has experimented
with codec, tea, and raspberries,
among other natural sources.
The largest basket that Sharon
has made holds both children with
room to spare. It won a contest at
the shopping center lor the largest
basket. The lop hoop is over two
feet in diameter. The smallest
basket she has made is about four
inches.
“There is a peaked interest in
dote*
baskets for Easter,” commented
Sharon. Easier at the Schaeffer
home is more than what’s m the
basket, it’s the basket itself. She
noted that her 3-ycar-old son has
never had the same basket twice.
Sharon’s interests arc not lim
ited to sheep. With her husband,
Frank, she raises a flock of Dorset
sheep. “We had a good birthing
season,” she reported. Frank added
“We had six sets of twins and one
set of triplets so we have over a 200
percent growth rate.”
The Schaeffers arc pleased with
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