To attend, you must RSVP. Send an email with the subject “December Zoom” to ColumbiaBasinBasketryGuild@gmail.com.  Please put your full name and email address in the body of the message. We will email you a meeting invitation a few days before the event. You can attend via telephone, computer, smartphone, or tablet. Let us know if you have questions.

Cael Chappell will present a program about the Baskets of Africa project. “In 2001 I founded a fair trade project designed to support weavers and their families in rural Africa. I still work at Baskets of Africa every day, it’s my passion to work with weavers and baskets from across Africa.”  https://caelchappell.com/

About Cael: Some of my earliest memories are of my mom creating beadwork and my dad making things from wood in his shop. From a very young age I was taught an appreciation of handmade objects. 

In 2001 I founded a fair trade project designed to support weavers and their families in rural Africa. It’s my passion to work with weavers and baskets from across Africa.

I also enjoy creating my own baskets in my personal style. I’m developing a language in basketry, sometimes whimsical and at other times serious, to convey my impressions of places, things, people, concepts and miscellany.

My material of choice is waxed flax linen thread because it’s a tiny material that allows me to execute complex designs in a small basket. I enjoy creating the diminutive structures and shapes of a basket with these complicated combinations of designs. My favorite techniques to use are twining, reverse twining and 3 or 4 rod wale. Weaving baskets from waxed linen thread can take weeks or even months to complete one piece.