Renaissance Shopping Basket

This lidded basket is typical of those used by 16th century German working women and servants for shopping at their local markets, and is also seen in other countries. This quick project turns a seagrass waste paper basket into something with the right look!

I’d been looking around for the right shaped wicker shopping basket to go with my 16th century German gear. The ones in the images are deep but all the ones I could find to buy were shallow. I could commission one (but don’t know any basket makers), or take up basketry myself (yet another craft!)…

Or maybe I could re-purpose something I could buy easily – a seagrass waste paper basket, which I found in Spotlight!

Research

I’ve found several images of early 16th century German women carrying these baskets to go shopping, including these by Jörg Breu and Hans Wertinger. The handles are quite tall in proportion with the basket, so they can be slung over the arm.

And of course, such baskets are also found in other European countries too, such as these examples from France and the Netherlands.

You can see from the weave that these were probably made from willow or similar – some painting show the weave clearly, but there is clearly some variety in both form and construction. I was particularly taken with the attached lids on some of the examples.

Construction

I actually ended up making two of these baskets.

I made the first one a year ago as a quick project. It was not perfect – the handle was weak (made over rope) and shorter than the images, and it had no lid. But it worked well and looked appropriate.

But then I left it at an event 🙁 so I decided to make another, improved version…

The purchased basket has two small handles made of seagrass twine and wrapped in more seagrass. I cut them off carefully and kept them, so I could use the seagrass later.

For the new handle, I cut a pair of 1 year shoots from one of our Hazel bushes – just in time, before the sap rises in Spring! Any 1 year long straight tree shoot or sucker would work for this task, as long as you can bend it to the shape you want. Heavy cane from a craft store would also do the job.

I sliced off the buds to make the rods smooth, then bent the hazels to find the best section for a handle. I checked the size against the basket to make sure it was tall enough to open a lid. With the size sorted, I sharpened both ends.

I used a sharpened dowel to make a path through the seagrass weave, then inserted the rods one at a time into the weave, offsetting the thick ends nose-to-tail to make a handle of even thickness.

The hazel rods have different spring along the lengths (of course), so I bound them with cord to align them in a nice curve – and then tied the cord across the base too, so the springy handle doesn’t distort the basket. And a day to set…

For the handle wrappings, I soaked the original seagrass handles, then untwisted them to get the long lengths. Soaking made the seagrass soft and easy to handle, so I can make a tight wrap, and it will shrink a bit when dry. The wrapping will bind the handle into the weave of the basket, and finish the look.

I dried the seagrass off on a towel then wrapped the handle, binding the ends tightly into the top of the basket weave. The pieces were not very long, so I had to overlap the ends in several places. I made sure these joins were underneath, so they were less visible.

Once the seagrass wrapping was dry, I trimmed all the ends.

Meanwhile, the lid.

Along with the basket, I also bought a seagrass table mat from Spotlight. It’s too large, but it’s a spiral, so it can be made smaller… I unpicked the end and then unravelled the (double) spiral until it was the right size. Then I rewove all the ends back in, to make a neat circle.

I realised it was too soft to make a good lid – it is likely to sag. So I tried inserting the thin ends of my hazel shoots through, inside the weave. Nope, they are too soft. So I used fine skewers instead – light, strong and won’t be visible.

To attach the lid, I’m using a piece of thinner hazel – bending the green wood carefully into a U and sharpening the ends. Because the fine hazel is not strong enough to pierce the weave, I used a pair of heavy wooden skewers to make a path, then took them out and inserted the hazel into the channels.

I needed to use pliers to insert the hinge – this damaged the bark, but once dry it won’t be visible.

And it’s done!

Real willow or similar would be stiffer and work much better for both basket and lid, but for a quick project made from available materials, I’m happy with it.

The lid can slide aside (as here) or simply lifted up.

And now I have a more appropriate basket for my market shopping!