The thrifting worlds aligned this weekend to make this project come together. First on Saturday, my husband proposed a morning of yardsale-ing. I wasn’t really interested but went along to spend time with the family. Of course I came home with a pile of finds – one reason I was reluctant to go. Among them was a string of solar lights… for a chandelier project “some day”. That evening we had a bbq with some neighbors who have a fence covered in English Ivy. I asked if I could steal some and they were happy to have me cut away, particularly the long strings that had grown below the trampoline and were headed towards the foundation of the house. Sunday I returned with my gloves and snips and pulled out a ton of great material. It was almost completely free of leaves (not much sun under the trampoline) but soft and supple and really easy to work with. My daughter wanted to hang out a bit with their dog so I started cleaning and twisting and before you know it, a chandelier shape. Back at home and a few zip ties later I have the perfect centerpiece for my roofless gazebo.

The fun thing about this kind of rustic basket work is that you really don’t know what you are going to get before you start. Given the unpredictability of the material you have to go with where it takes you. I knew I wanted two circles, easy enough if you have every made a wreath or a daisy chain. You simply twist and tuck till you have the size, shape and width that you want. The material was so easy to work with I figured I would try to build out the structure. I had origionally thought I would connect the two circles with twine or jute rope. I basically did the same thing I would have done with the rope but with the smaller vines, wrapping them around and tucking in the ends to keep them in place. A bit of a basket weave at the top to give it some structure and it really started to look like a light fixture.

Here is the light hanging in the gazebo, a soft light at night – not enough to read a book by but a great ambient light for dinner or night cap.

We stayed and played and basket wove till it got dark and then walked home. I love neighborhood friends who live nearby. Back at home I got out the zip ties and my new lights, attaching them to the rings. A bit of hot glue to secure the solar panel on the top, a bit of braded jute rope for mounting and it was all done, ready to be hung up the next day. (I decided to not get out the ladder in the dark in order to avoid a stupid fall, remarkably forwarding thinking for me.)

There was even enough material left over to make a couple of baskets. One to leave with my neighbors, and two for here or as gifts.

It is best to work with twigs or vines when they are fresh. If you let them dry you have to soak then in a bucket of water in order to get them ready to work with again. I just went for it and used up all the material before it had time to dry.

Ironically I was thinking that my “amazing” baskets would have been poor examples of workmanship not too long ago – when homemade baskets were part of a family’s survival and a standard pastime for children and women. My quick weave, rustic containers would have been nothing to write home about. Shoddy even.

Lesson for today: don’t throw away your yard clippings. If you don’t have soft enough material for baskets, check out these garden borders or this Christmas Tree. And the even better bonus! Totally compostable at the end of their lifespan.

…try new things, fix stuff, get your hands dirty, read about everything and live life the most that you possibly can while still being as kind as possible – to people and to the world around you.