Basket Making Workshop August 17
Hello Beautiful Golden Anchor Quilting Community!
We are so excited to host Ray Lagasse Basket Maker for a one day basket making workshop at Golden Anchor Quilting! Just register, show up, and leave at the end of the day with a FINISHED basket! You may have seen some of Ray's baskets at the shop, we love how well construted and stunning they are! Beauty truly meets function in these baskets! The workshop is Saturday, August 17, 2024, and is just $150!
Space is limited, so register early! Once you have registered make sure to choose the basket you wish to make and email your selection to Louisa@goldenanchorquilting.com (any basket pictured, EXCEPT lidded baskets they are a two day workshop)
Choose your basket HERE We think the Garden basket or the market basket would make WONDERFUL sewing baskets!
Register HERE
Ray Lagasse
Basket Maker (Lempster, NH)
Ray Lagasse is a former juried member and award winner of the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen.
Ray learned basket weaving 30 years ago in order to teach this traditional craft form to children at a small
elementary school in western New Hampshire. He made his first basket as part of a course at the Audubon
Society where he was, he says, “the worst student in the class.” He kept at it, however, and over time
refined his craft to create baskets that beautifully wed functionality and individual style.
Lagasse’s baskets draw from traditional techniques, but are unique in the way he incorporates a beautiful
hardwood base inside the basket and runners on the bottom. Sometimes he uses fine hardwoods for the
handles and lids as well. He scours small local mills for these specialty woods, which include bird’s-eye
maple, spalted ash, dark tiger maple, and cherry. He has also used antique chestnut barn boards that still
show their nail holes.
Rather than work with a mold, Lagasse free-weaves his baskets, and he uses an Indian cross-stitch, instead
of staples or nails, to bind the rim. The baskets are finished with brass tacks and rivets, and harness leather
in some designs like the Wine Basket and Lidded Basket. Finally, each basket is rubbed with non-toxic
lemon-bean oil that enhances the subtleties of the wood and allows the baskets to be food-safe.
Ray currently teaches basket weaving throughout the State and is received enthusiastically by those who
attend his workshops.
We can't wait to see your baskets!
In Stitches,
Louisa