Bark Baskets

Baskets and other Special Orders: Contact Doug first.

Here is a picture of some of the styles of baskets I make and sell. They are usually made of tulip poplar bark and laced with strips of hickory bark, and they have an inner rim splint made from oak or ash. Counter-clockwise from the lower left :

  • Two backpacks (with nylon adjustable backpack straps) 19” high x 16” wide at the top, and 17‘’ x 13” wide – around $200–$$400
  • Flat bottomed hamper 14” high x 16” wide – around $200
  • Larger gathering basket 13” tall x 10” – around $100
  • Large berry basket 10” x 8” wide – around $95
  • 3 small berry baskets around 8” tall x 5” or 6” wide – around $85

Sometimes I have a few smaller baskets and some without inner rims that are less expensive. There are many others in process. All the baskets are rugged, functional, and beautiful. Some are simply well-crafted baskets with average looking bark, while others are more like works of art with particularly beautiful bark, extra lacing, ornamentation, and knot holes in just the right place (like those two backpacks) and they’re priced accordingly.

Please contact Doug for basket, honey, International or other special orders. We’ll give you PayPal address to proceed.

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Description

Basketry from natural materials has been an interest of mine ever since I saw Paul Geouge’s tulip poplar and hickory bark berry-picking baskets hanging from his porch in the South Toe River Valley in the shadow of the Black Mountains of North Carolina. It was almost thirty years ago that Paul and his son Ben generously taught me how to make them and I’ve been making ever since. In the last few years my son Todd has been making them as well. The trees we use are usually 10-30 year old tulip poplar sprouts that are shading some of our cultivated areas. Usually when we cut a tree I will take the larger pieces of bark from lower down on the trunk for gathering baskets and backpacks and Todd will use the upper pieces for smaller simpler baskets. (The wood is used in our wood stoves.) The lacing is made from the inner bark of hickory or occasionally poplar or mulberry.

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