Karuk Basket Materials

This blog is to document one full year of gathering and processing my Karuk basket weaving materials. My intention is to educate and raise awareness as to the time and energy basketweavers spend collecting and preparing their materials before a basket can even be started. People ask “How long did it take to make that basket?”; “Can’t you buy your materials in the store?”; “Why do baskets cost so much?”

Monday, May 12, 2014

Finishup

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Traditional Karuk basket weaving materials (2013-2014)   This past year of gathering basket materials has been extra special for me...
Sunday, May 11, 2014

Gathering and Processing Hazel

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Baskets are comprised of two parts, the weavers (weft) and the sticks (warp).  Klamath River basketry generally uses either hazel or willow ...

Gathering and Processing Willow

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Willow sticks are used much like hazel sticks, as the backbone (or warp) of our baskets.  The sticks can be very straight and a have nice wh...
1 comment:
Thursday, May 8, 2014

Gathering and Processing Spruce Root

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Spruce root is used as a basic weaving material (the weft) to hold together the sticks (the warp).  Most often in Klamath River baskets, th...
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Gathering, Processing, & Dyeing Woodwardia

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The three tribes on the Klamath River use woodwardia fern to create the reddish colored overlay in their baskets.  The cap I made last year ...
Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Gathering and Preparing Black Fern

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With the twining technique of basketry that we use on the Klamath River, we make great use of overlay materials to produce intricate p...
1 comment:
Friday, July 19, 2013

Gathering and Processing Bear Grass

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The third week in June my husband and I took off on a week-long camping trip to look for and gather bear grass and black fern.   We had...
4 comments:
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About Me

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Karen Young-Lenk
I am a Karuk basketweaver, as was my great-great grandmother Emma Pearch, from the Klamath River in far Northern California. I'm dedicated to continuing the basketry art form of my ancestors. The gathering and processing of my materials through to the actual weaving of a basket gives me a deep sense of connection to the rhythms of the natural world and to my heritage. I aspire to make Karuk baskets that show the beauty and creativity possible using the traditional plant materials and the techniques passed down since our beginning of time.
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