Cycloid Weaving, Spirals and a Few Knots- a link to an online introduction
Cycloid weaving
This unusual weave doesn’t quite fit into any of the main accepted basketry techniques of plaiting, coiling and twining. It is almost, but not, a knot. The Ashley Book of Knots describes a circle of cycloid loops as a Monkey Chain, (diag. no. 1374), having an affinity with crochet. It is a weave with a strong geometrical patterninge and when used with flexible wire produces very tactile structures, which can be eased and squeezed into many forms.There are examples of recently made cycloid woven baskets and turban stands from Indonesia and Borneo, more of this in a future presentation
Spirals- I can’t remember quite how the spiralling began but I suspect it grew from the natural curve that appeared when making lengths of flat looping with a small increase or decrease in the number of loops per row.My ongoing challenge is to weave a sea shell, using the cycloid looping technique, in the same way that the mollusc would build a home, incrementally, about its own body. And it’s not just a coiled tube. This led me to Fibonacci numbers, leiotropic and dexiotropic spirals and – more of this in a later post
Worshipful Company of Basketmakers