Basketweaver uses Deer Antlers for Handwoven Baskets
Her hobby might turn most people into basket cases. But it keeps her busy, and her customers seem to like her handiwork. Laurie Zientek, of Fountain, Michigan, has been weaving baskets for the last 20 years.
Her recent niche market has been baskets with handles made of antlers. She makes between 300 and 500 baskets per year.
"A lot of people who are made at their husbands give e antlers from their personal collections", Laurie said. She has a fairly good supply of antlers at the moment, but that doesn't stop her son, Andrew, who shot an 8-point buck one year, from keeping the door to his room locked. "The rack is locked up in his room and he won't let me use it," Laurie said.
One of the larger sets came from a mule deer rack that still had a kill tag from 1947 attached to it. Her friend owned the store the rack wasin and sold her the rack for $20. She usually removes kill tags, especially for craft shows n the more urban areas.
Her brothergave her a set of giant farm-raised deer antlers that she will incorporate into a firewood bakset, and she makes small mail or napkin baskets from sets with just 2-points on a side.
Many of the baskets she makes are made-to-order. They are crafted around a set of antlers someone gave her just for a basket they will purchased when completed.
Elk antlers are too large for her uses, and most Mason County deer antlers have been too small recently. "Those are the ones I end up making antler buttons or giving them to people to make knife handles from," she said of spikes.
The only drawback to working with anlters is the smell that arises when they are sliced with a saw. "They really stink when you cut them," she said.
Most of her baskets are sold at craft shows, where many of them are also crafted. Her preferred place to weave is sitting on the floor in front of HGTV, but she creates many during craft shows. "A lot of these baskets are crafted at shows because it's so boring to sit there all day," she said.
Laurie is usually the envey of her neighbors at craft shows because her display is fairly lightweight. "I can put my baskets into big bags and be gone in half an hour. My weaving doesn't break, either."
Laurie makes baskets from reeds or ribbed reeds. Flat reed baskets are quicker to make because she puts a wood bottom of them. Ribbed baskets take longer because there is more weaving involved. She said it takes about 3 hours to make an average size basket.
- Brian Mulherin
2005 - 2008 © Simply Baskets
