Construction Work for Rural and Elementary Schools Part 10

When the base has grown to the required size, turn up for sides and continue sewing in the same way until the necessary depth is obtained.

To give a finish add enough gra.s.s to make a thick coil around the edge.

Colored hemp may be woven in with the gra.s.s either as a lining or so inserted as to make a beautiful pattern. The value of the basket will be enhanced by the use of sweetgra.s.s, if this material is obtainable.

The model given is made of marsh gra.s.s, sewed with raffia of natural color, and the design is made in pink hemp. Its base is five inches in diameter; its depth one and one-fourth inches.

Corn husks may be used instead of gra.s.ses, and are unexcelled for beauty and artistic effect. Use the inner husk from the ear when green; though the husks will dry, the varied color will not be lost. When made up with a contrasting color of green or golden brown raffia they are most attractive. Gra.s.ses may be kept a long time; but before using them soak them thoroughly, and let them dry out. This treatment will make them so pliable that they may be handled as easily as though freshly gathered. The long needles of the southern pine also are thus worked up.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BASKET TRAY]

15 Basket of Splints and Raffia

_Problem_--To teach construction, using splints and raffia.

_Material_--Splints of ash or flat reed: eighteen splints, each 1/412 inches; 3 splints, each 1/418 inches, for binding of edge. Raffia of two or three colors.

_Dimensions_--Base, 44 inches. Depth, 2 inches. Sides, 24 inches.

Lay a set of nine splints flat on a surface. Take one of the remaining nine and weave across for the first row. Add a second splint, weaving in and out through alternate ones. Continue until all the nine splits are woven in and the square base of the basket is formed. Have splints sufficiently damp to be flexible; otherwise they may break. Bend up the splints at right angles to the base for sides, thus making corners. Now with the raffia weave in and out, interlace the thread at the corners, and draw it tight enough to hold the splints in place. Introduce color to suit taste.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOTTOM OF SPLINT AND RAFFIA BASKET]

When the sides are finished, take an eighteen-inch splint and lay it around on the inside of the basket close to the last row of raffia.

Hold it in place and turn the ends of the basket splints over it inward. These end splints must be trimmed evenly and left just long enough to bend over the splint running round on the inner side. Take two more eighteen-inch splints; having placed one inside the edge and the other outside the edge of the basket, with a needle and a long thread of raffia whip over and over. Bring the needle through each opening between the splints until you have gone around the four sides.

This makes a suitable border and completes the basket.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BASKET OF SPLINTS AND RAFFIA]

The model given here has ten rows of natural color, ten rows of green, six rows of brown, ten of green and ten of natural color, which combination makes it two inches deep.

COMBINED REED AND RAFFIA

_Problem_--To teach how reed and raffia may be combined in construction.

The models suggested here are very simple and can be made by the younger children of the lower grades. These have been held to purposely, for the child needs first to learn how both to use his fingers and to handle a needle; and afterward he must have much practice before he can take up the more difficult st.i.tch in the Indian basketry.

In beginning the combined reed and raffia work, the first thing I should make is a miniature umbrella.

[Ill.u.s.tration: UMBRELLA (For description see opposite page.)]

16 Umbrella

_Material_--One 9-inch spoke of No. 4 reed for handle. Nine 4-inch spokes of No. 1 reed for ribs. Raffia for weaver.

Have the spokes thoroughly soaked and keep them wet. Also, have the raffia damp. Place the four-inch spokes around the nine-inch spoke, hold them firmly, and wrap tightly with the damp weaver four or five times; then tie, but do not cut the weaver. Now stand this bunch of spokes on end on a board or desk top, press the nine spokes out so as to form a circle parallel with the surface of the desk, and with the weaver work in and out among the spokes. The convex top of the umbrella will soon form. To lengthen the weaver, tie on a new piece of raffia.

Continue weaving until within an inch of the ends of the ribs, or until the umbrella is four or four and one-half inches across; then fasten by tying the weaver to one of the ribs.

To form a ferrule, slide end No. 1 of the handle reed down until it stands three-quarters of an inch above the outside of the umbrella.

Drop a little glue into the cavity to hold the reed in place. Now take end No. 2 of the handle reed and curve it to form a ring or to appear like the handle of a real umbrella. Tie it with raffia to keep it in place and lay the umbrella aside to dry. When it is thoroughly dry, clip the points of the ribs to equal lengths.

This little toy suggests the invention of primitive life or of an uncivilized nation of which the pupil has some previous knowledge. It is most attractive, and to have made it greatly pleases the child.

17 Miniature Chair No. I

_Material_--No. 4 reed: one piece 15 inches long; one piece 6 inches long; four pieces 10 inches long. Several lengths of raffia.

Take three ten-inch lengths of reed and bend them so: [Ill.u.s.tration]

Fasten them together at the joints and wrap with the raffia for about two inches to form the front legs. Next attach the fifteen-inch length of reed, placing the ends together to form the back legs and allowing the extra amount to extend above in a bow to form the back.

You now have the framework of back, seat, and legs. At the back, where the bow extends above the line of the seat, place a five-inch piece of very wet reed to the front of the bow and at the edge of the seat; carry it around and lap it at the back and fasten to hold the back legs together and shape the seat.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CHAIR No. I Made of reed and raffia.]

This chair has a woven seat of raffia. Use a very long needle and carry the raffia from one side of the seat to the other in close lines until the s.p.a.ce is covered one way. Then reverse the action and work from front to back, weaving in and out among the cross threads exactly as you do in darning. Be careful to keep the thread even, to prevent sagging. When the seat is woven whip the edge all around with raffia for a finish.

Next take the remaining ten-inch piece of reed, bend it to a four-inch square and insert it between the legs one inch below the seat. Tie it to each leg and wrap the intervening s.p.a.ce with the raffia as you go from leg to leg. This forms the brace which holds the legs in position.

For the back take a very long thread of raffia in your needle, make seven cross threads and weave a spider's web, having the center fill about one-fourth the s.p.a.ce. When the web is finished, b.u.t.tonhole around the reed to fasten the spirals in position and to give a finish to the frame of the back.

Lastly measure and trim off the legs to equal length. The back should extend two and one-half inches above the seat, and the legs should be two and one-fourth inches long.

18 Miniature Chair No. II

_Material_--No. 1 reed: six spokes, 10 inches long; one spoke, 6 inches long. No. 4 reed: two 15-inch lengths; six 10-inch lengths and one 12-inch length. Several lengths of raffia.

Weave two mats two inches in diameter in the following manner: Lay three ten-inch spokes across three ten-inch spokes at right angles.

Place beside the under set the six-inch spoke. Take a piece of raffia, not too thick, for a weaver, and beginning as you would begin a basket or mat with a reed weaver, weave until the mat is two inches in diameter. Do not cut either spokes or weaver. Have the reed well soaked, that it may be very pliable and in no danger of breaking.

To construct the back, take a mat and a fifteen-inch length of reed, bend the latter to a bow and place it back of the spokes at the edge of the last row of weaving. Bend each spoke consecutively over this reed and bring the end of the spoke through between the last row of weaving and the reed. This forms a loop over the No. 4 reed. Thread the weaver into a needle, and take it in and out where the No. 1 reed, or spoke, crosses between the mat edge and the No. 4 reed in the form of a back st.i.tch. The first one fastened, continue in the same way until ten spokes are bent over and tied down. Next take the twelve-inch length of No. 4 reed, bend it to this shape: [Ill.u.s.tration] then fasten the three remaining spokes to the two-inch s.p.a.ce as you have done with the other ten. Take the second fifteen-inch length of No. 4 reed, bend around again and fasten by running a piece of raffia in and out and over through each s.p.a.ce between the loops. Lay it aside until the seat is prepared.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CHAIR No. II Made of reed and raffia.]

_Seat._ The mat is ready. Bend a ten-inch length of No. 4 reed into a 2-1/4-inch square. Set this around the mat, bend the spokes over it and fasten as you did those of the back. Again take three ten-inch lengths of No. 4 reed and bend so: [Ill.u.s.tration] Place these around three sides of the prepared seat and fasten them by wrapping them over and over with raffia, and the front and two sides of the chair are formed.

Adjust the back to the fourth side of the seat; fasten it by wrapping it closely with raffia. Next bend to a form near the size of the seat a piece of No. 4 reed. Place this around the legs, to form a brace, about one inch below the seat in front and about three-fourths of an inch below in the back. Let the joining point of the reed come at the back.

With a piece of raffia fasten this to one leg, then wrap the raffia over and over along the brace until the next leg is reached, secure it and pa.s.s on to the third, then to the fourth, when the entire brace will be wrapped with raffia and the four legs held in place.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BACK OF CHAIR No. II]

Where the back is attached to the seat, you will have four No. 4 reeds coming together to form the back legs. This would make them too thick and clumsy and they would not be symmetrical with the front ones. To prevent this, clip two of the reeds between the seat and the brace on the legs. Cut out the ends of the one of the back first worked in, and the ends of the one forming the back brace. There is left the outer fifteen-inch spoke you put on and the one which came around from the side of the seat. These two form the back leg on each side. Wrap closely with raffia the intervening s.p.a.ces between the seat and the brace so as to leave no unsightly ends.

In bending the reed to fashion the legs it is impossible to have it all the same length; adjust this by letting the unevenness come out at the foot of the leg and when the chair is finished measure and cut off the legs to the same length.

RULES FOR CANING CHAIRS