Sweet Grass Basket Weaving in Charleston

Sweet Grass Basket Weaving in Charleston SC Female: And these baskets are one of Charleston signatures, Sweetgrass basket only from here in Charleston, South Carolina. Joseph Foreman: I will make one. I will give you some bushels to go with this basket. It’s going to tell you what you need to know about them. Female: Uh-huh. Joseph Foreman: I’ll get bushels of the each one, okay. Catharine Stanley: Hi! Female: Which color is the brown? Joseph Foreman: Well, this right here is high enable. Female: Okay. Joseph Foreman Well, this right here is bull rustic like what we did now. Female: The brown? Catherine Stanley Yeah! Joseph Foreman: This is the slight color of the Sweetgrass and that will carry the fragrance in the basket. Female: Oh, this is great. Catherine Stanley Yeah, these are very nice here. Joseph Foreman I hope you have some children because you don’t have to hand in down with someone in your present stall. Okay? Female: Okay! Joseph Foreman Thank you very much. Female: Thank you too! Catherine Stanley Enjoy the basket. Female: Thank you. Catharine Stanley: Alright. Joseph Foreman And Bulrush is one of our strongest structure here that we only used in the baskets. Now the forest is ready on March. Then our Sweetgrass has to carry the feminist baskets. This goes on hours. It made of salt water. It’s a CD and I will bind them. We bind them with coming from the state with the Palmetto tree. That would be bind the basket with same palm you used in church on Palm Sundays. And we also like a long leaves, pine needle to give you some like decoration and what-not. Here’s a laid view of the basket where we going to have the French knot. It’s down the pine needle. Do you follow me? It’s for natural material use and we keep this basket only with water and it goes in value every year. They can only be done by hand. Some of these baskets take quite a number of times to make and there is some people that do a little faster but if you want a real, good basket you are going to take your time to do it. Do you follow me? Some of those picnic baskets, a lot of them they just wrap and knead but we weave ours. Do you follow me? That’s what make ours so firm and they will last for so long because it is made well. See, with basket cases, we love our work. I hate it from the child but now I love it with all my heart while this has been handed out on my family here in the United States for ever since the 16th century. This culture started with our saviors ancestors from West Africa group. You see they were really on synagogue in those areas and yes, my mom made me do this gift and I was seven years old. I didn’t ask to do this. My mom made me an ultimatum. He told me to make her the bottom of this basket or she said, “The broom will be my bottom.” That’s how I wanted to be a basket case. I decide I will be making baskets. So, this is has been handed down. We learned these baskets from watching our parents and then you know when you have been born and raised into something it’s common to see it all the time and then eventually you just fall into it. You watch your mom and dad doing and doing it constantly, over and over everyday. And now, eventually you know you want to get involve to see what mom and dad is doing. Now they want you to get involved. And once you get involved it is like, “Wow, I got myself on top.” But something here I just can’t get out off because believe me making baskets it takes all of your daytime pleasure. Believe me you will know when your husband or your wife is when you’re making baskets. You know, they are home sit night at chair doing a basket case like me. And I’m going to show you something here. Now, I have brought into the basket case that you don’t know I may see him basket. If you look at this basket here, now think of a placemat. You know what’s the placemat? You see this one here? All those all belong, one side I have is all predominantly Sweetgrass. And then you turn it over, I have Bulrush. Do you follow me? That’s what I have bought into this art as I used for my signature pieces to describe Joseph basket from the others. Since Joseph give it to you. Bulrush in one side, Sweetgrass on the other, do you follow me? So, I over laid them. I used two material back to back and now that’s very hard to do. Catherine Stanley: We represent about four to five communities from the Mount Pleasant area and we’ve basically all the opinions are the same element in high school. Families know each other, attended basically the same churches in that area. Our parents taught us this craft when we were in elementary school. Most of us, our families actually that’s the way they are made, a woman selling his baskets and we enjoy making it. We give all our heart and soul because we want to produce it the best. We know people appreciate the best. Joseph Foreman: We want to give the people their money worth and more. Catherine Stanley: Yeah! Joseph Foreman: We love what we do. Catherine Stanley: We enjoy making it. It is worthwhile. A lot of disciplining, patience, time and perseverance but it is all worth it because when we’re through making a piece we know we have created a very unique work of art.