812-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 5, 2002
Bishop Weaves A Love of Her Craft Into Every 4-H Basketry Project
CAROLYN N. MOYER
Tioga Co. Correspondent
LIBERTY (Tioga Co.) Mari
anne Bishop, a long-time 4-H
leader, is always willing to give of
her time to help teach young peo
ple new skills, and she couldn’t
be more proud of her students of
basketry. In fact, one of her long
time students, Emily Norman,
had her handmade picnic basket
named “best of show” at last
year’s Pennsylvania Farm Show.
Emily’s large oval basket fea
tures swing handles and a twill
bottom. To win the “best of
show” at the 2001 Farm Show,
she not only competed against
other baskets, but other crafts as
well.
In 2002, other members plan to
send their baskets, which have al
ready earned awards at the Tioga
County Fair, to the Farm Show
to compete with arts and crafts
from across Pennsylvania. Lori
Mitstifer will show her Shaker
cheese basket, Wendy Mitstifer
will exhibit her twill basket and
Renee Norman plans to send her
carousel corn basket to be exhibi
ted.
Bishop started learning about
the art of basketry when she was
young.
‘l’ve always enjoyed baskets,”
said Bishop. ‘When I was quite
small, a friend of my mother’s
gave me a little picnic basket.
Later, my Dad learned how to
make baskets at the Bucks Coun
ty Historical Museum. When he
died, my mother handed me his
tools and said, ‘Here, go learn
how to make baskets.’ So, my
Mother made me do it!”
The first basket Bishop learned
to make was a melon basket
using two wooden hoops that are
woven together with flat reed.
“I learned it through an exten
sion program for homemakers,”
she said. “The second basket that
1 learned through that same pro
gram was the berry basket.”
What began as a personal de
sire to learn the art of basketry
has blossomed into a quest to dis
cover more ways to develop the
art form.
“At that time 1 was teaching at
the Peace Valley Nature Center,
and when the other girls saw the
baskets, they wanted me to teach
them. So I had to learn a new
basket every month to keep
ahead of them.”
As of this past year, Bishop has
helped her 4-H students with
nine different styles of baskets.
In the first year, the students
make a melon basket, just like
the one that Bishop started with.
The following year, they make a
May basket and learn how to
shape the sides of a basket by
themselves, without the help of
stabilizing hoops. The third year
gets even more challenging as
they form a berry basket.
‘lt’s a trick to get the sides up
Ephrata Cloister Offers Local
History Class Beginning Jan . 31
EPHRATA (Lancaster Co.) Have you ever heard of a horn
smith? Are you curious about the care of rare manuscripts? Did
you know that some early bread bakers suffered from “baker’s
knees?”
If you ever have wondered about these and other parts of the
past, the Winter History Class at the Ephrata Cloister is a pro
gram you would enjoy. This series of special lectures is pres
ented each Thursday morning beginning Jan. 31 and continuing
until March 21. Sessions are held in the Visitor Center at the
Ephrata Cloister and begin at 9 a.m. and run until noon each
day. The series concludes with a day-long field trip on April 4.
Tuition for the series is $25. Members of the Ephrata Cloister
Associates receive a discount.
More information and registration materials can be obtained
by calling the Ephrata Cloister at (717) 733-6600.
Members of the Liberty Community 4-H Club have been weaving baskets under the
direction of Marianne Bishop for many years and have garnered many awards. Shown
here are, from left, Renee Norman, Daren Hopkins, Lori Mitstifer, Wendy Mitstifer, Emily
Norman, and Dane Hopkins.
so they’re all even,” said Emily
Norman.
In the fourth year, the kids ex
periment with colored reed as
they make a decorative star bas
ket. Three different colors are
outlined on paper with colored
pencils.
“It was hard to make sure you
had the design right as far as the
color goes,” said Renee Norman.
“You have to follow the pat
tern from a piece of paper. It’s
hard to see sometimes if the reed
goes under or over,” said Bishop.
The next step is making an
apple basket. The bottom of the
basket is formed with spokes and
the finished basket is round in
shape.
In year six, the students try
their hand at making a coiled
basket using long pine needles or
straw. Lori Mitstifer chose to use
rye straw to make her coiled bas
ket. Although she admits it was a
challenge to get it together, she
thought using items that are
available locally put a neat twist
on the project.
“These are very difficult,” said
Bishop. “You have to hold the
materials together while you pull
the lashing around them.”
After mastering the coiled bas
ket, the 4-H’ers try their hand at
a carousel corn basket.
“We made up the name of this
basket because we copied a pic
ture in a magazine,” said Bishop.
The Shaker cheese basket is
done the next year.
“That’s a very challenging bas
ket,” said Bishop. “The Shakers
actually lined them with cheese-
cloth. The Shakers learned that
pattern from the American Indi
ans, I think. I have books on Na
tive Indian basketry and that
pattern is in there.”
Finally students attempt a twill
basket which follows a very dif
ferent pattern and has a charac
teristically flat bottom.
“Each year we try to have
them learn something new,” said
Bishop of her students. “Toward
the end we try to put some of
these skills together.”
As the 4-H’ers reach the upper
levels of the project, Bishop often
finds herself looking for new
projects.
“One of these years, I hope to
have some students cut their own
wood emd make a basket using
wood splints,” she said.
This past summer, Bishop
guided the hands of 55 4-H mem
bers, many of them learning the
craft for the very first time, oth
ers attempting to try a new bas
ket. During the past 12 years she
estimates that she has helped
more than 70 different 4-H mem
bers learn her craft.
Seven of her students gathered
at her home recently, each bring
ing some of their favorite baskets
to show how each project has
taken shape.
Ten-year-old Dane Hopkins is
in his second year of taking the
basket project in 4-H. He thought
it would be fun to follow in the
footsteps of older brother Daren.
So far he has completed a melon
basket and a May basket.
Making the baskets is reward
ing in itself, but as part of the
4-H project they also need to
keep track of their expenses and
time investment. Most of the bas
kets can be completed in a day,
but others take considerably
more time. The bigger baskets
might take several days.
“I spent a lot of time on this,”
said Emily Norman, who would
like to add a lid to her creation.
Renee Norman agreed and noted
that she has 20 hours invested in
making her coiled basket.
“By the time the students
reach their fifth or sixth year,
they know how to handle the ma
terials and they don’t need some
body watching over them all the
time,” said Bishop.
Older students also are avail-
Marianne Bishop shows 10-year-old Dane Hopkins how
to weave a new type of basket at her home.
able to help the beginners.
Even though it takes a good
deal of time, most students say
the project is worth it.
“It’s fun to see how they turn
out,” said Daren Hopkins who
has completed several years of
the project.
Bishop also volunteers her
time teaching other groups the
art of basketry. She has taught
basketry at the Bucks County As
sociation for the Blind, at senior
centers, for church groups, new
comers groups, and others. She
also sells some of her baskets at
local craft fairs.
The learning that goes on
when Bishop teaches a new skill
to a group of 4-H’ers is often a
two-way street.
“Some of the creative ones
have taught me to go beyond...to
reach and stretch and try some
thing new. The carousel com bas
ket is probably one that I
wouldn’t have done with 4-H’ers,
but they saw it and liked it. Then
I had to go home and figure it
out,” she said.
They also learn to work with
the materials that they have
available to them.
No matter how fancy or big the
baskets become, Bishop says her
favorite is still the very first one
that the kids make.
“When the kids come in, their
mothers look at the basket and
think that they can’t do it. When
the kids go home with the fin
ished product, the parents are
surprised and pleased, and I
think the kids are too. It’s the
first one that they’re doing and it
looks difficult, but they do it.”
she said.
t** + -Ar v
v.* < ?
,> # >
■W < t v-< •> x
'.t sth*’ ,
‘ ytV - *