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Fall Shows – Fall Colors – New Designs

Today is Labor Day and time to finish up some new baskets and start some new ones. Our first show of the season is behind us now and it was a good start. Whiteland High School was a new location for us and the Hoosier Handmade Craft Market was full of the expected wonderfully friendly customers and fellow artisan vendors.

Our next show will be A Fair of the Arts in Bloomington, Indiana on Saturday, September 14th as part of the Farmer’s Market. We will also be at the one on October 12th. 

We are anxiously awaiting to hear back with approvals on a couple of others that will fill in our schedule for the year. Hope to have good news for you soon!

We have been working with fall colors and jute but we have some new sources of colored rope which are exciting any time of year.

The chill in the air finally started today so we are ready to get back to the “show business”. Hope to see you at one of upcoming shows!

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“Expanding Our Line”

In a previous blog post I introduced some of new “Soft Pottery” designs. Expanding that idea a little more, one day recently I felt the urge to Go Big!

It took a few days to complete this one but the results have been quite pleasing. This is designed to be a floor or hearth piece standing at 9″ tall with a 12″ diameter. You can use it for whatever you want, so we gave a stiffening/hardening treatment and sprayed it with fabric protection. It is fairly strong and durable for $150.

Let me know what you think here.

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Sunflowers

Sunflowers have always been popular in Bonnie Baskets. I am already getting some requests for sunflowers in anticipation of our late summer and fall arts and craft festivals. Here is a sample of what I have prepared for now. There may be more to come … I don’t know.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Relaxing Day – $35

 

Sunny Straw – $35

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunny Cuties – $30

Sunflower Splash – $65

Sunflower Soother – $25

Solitaire Sunflower – $35

Fun Fall Fields – $45

A Dress for September – $30

Pail of Sunshine – $35

Sunflower Halo – $40

Yellow Sunrises – $40

Our first public display of these will be August 24, 2024 at the Hoosier Handmade Craft Fair & Market in Whiteland, Indiana. If you see anything you want to have sooner – just let me know.

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Carolina Shaggy

This one is an homage to the Carolinas, among our favorite places to travel.

Mountain Thread Company Shop
Bonnie and Katherine

The rope at the top is from The Mountain Thread Company located in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Blowing Rock, North Carolina. A couple of years back, we stopped by there to stock up on their high quality all cotton rope made locally. We really wanted some rope but also wanted to personally meet Katherine Lile, the owner.

The sea shell is one of many Barry found at the beach during a recent visit to Edisto Island, South Carolina.

While staying at Edisto Island, we took a day and went fabric hunting at quilt shops nearby on Hilton Head Island. The fabric on the bottom features a sea turtle from a custom batik print that the shop, Island Quilters, designed. The shop owner, Beth Hanlon-Ridder commissioned a basket to be made using their fabric. Bonnie ended up making two baskets for her but we still had a little fabric left over to make this one. The colors of this fabric reflect the colors of the old rustic relics of shells you find on the beaches around there.

With a nod to the music scene there and a dance they call “The Shag”, we named this one “Carolina Shaggy”. Interested, $70 plus shipping if needed.

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Butterflies in the Kitchen

“Butterflies in the Kitchen” was inspired by an old mixing bowl that sits atop a bookcase in my sewing room/studio.

I’ve had this bowl for over 50 years and an old college housemate used to make her “Claw the Oven Door Dill Bread” in it. So many great memories, smells, tastes, and good times! I love that bowl.

This fits right in with my our new soft pottery collection and I am sure there will be more along the line with this design.

“Butterflies in the Kitchen” takes me to my happy place but it can be yours. $60 plus shipping if needed. If you want it let me know.

 

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Nine Lives

 

Almost every basket I make takes on a life of its own after I start. This one set a new record of starts and restarts, ripping out stitches, flipping the basket inside out and back again, two different machines, and being very close to cutting the cord and throwing the base in the trash. All of this to achieve another new look that has yet to happen but resulted in this crafty one.

Each basket kind of creates itself in its own way, and this one easily named itself “Nine Lives”. Topped with jute and a pipa knot at $65 you can add a little Boho Chic to your life. Questions or comments?

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A Labor of Love

Savannah Porch Social A

Another exploration of soft pottery started with a big happy accident. We have been looking for ways to get very vertical sides to the baskets to make them taller like a vase. One way to do that is to increase the starting diameter so you can tilt them up at a right angle up and over the nose of the machine.

I made a huge starting disk and one of my machines was having fits. I thought it would be cool to have a dark thread against the natural colored rope. Since the machine was being contrary, the stitching looked horrendous. It really need to be covered with some fabric on the top and the bottom. There are a couple of ways to do this, one I don’t like and the other I hate. It was too late for the one I don’t like and I had never done the more difficult one at such a large scale. After much frustration and naughty words, I got it done and it came out pretty darn good!

I wanted the sides to just be naked rope with no fabric wrapping. It was a challenge to keep the sides smooth and consistent, more like a pottery vase and less like a basket. Barry had found some very nice dyed rope that was all cotton and consistent quality. I added some in about midway up, not really knowing at the time how tall it would become at the end.

This project was indeed an exploration and there was much collaboration between the two of us along the way. In the past, I start them, stop when I am done, leave him some rope to work with and have him finish them how he decides (with my approval of course). This time, his ideas for the finishing touches drove the design and construction along the way.

Using two colors of rope on the brim was a gamble but it worked. Barry found a single copper pipe from an old wind chime we collected in some former life and proceeded to saw, file, sand and paint it for several iterations to finally get it how he wanted it.

So, it is what is. I present to you a labor of love, “Savannah Porch Social“. Imagine sitting on your front porch sipping sweet tea and visiting with whomever walks by.

Available at $95 for a limited time at The IN Store, or just let us know.

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Unique Names

As all of Bonnie Baskets are unique works of art we have felt the need to start naming them to help ourselves and our customers refer to them.

This little cutie is our first named creation, “Weavers Willow”, and is priced at $25. It incorporates some grass rope and thin jute fiber. I think it is quite “baskety”, light and airy. Interested? Let us know.

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New Soft Pottery

This large basket is a new design concept for us. Think of it as “soft pottery”. We are excited about the expansion of our creative inspirations that will incorporate some skills previously developed in jewelry making.

This particular basket uses a custom made bead of forged copper inspired from a bracelet Barry made years ago. He loves getting out the blow torch and specialty hammers to creative one-of-a-kind pieces.

So far we have received very favorable comments about this large basket and are encouraged to do more. Keep checking in to where this takes us! Facebookers can Follow, Like and Share on the Bonnie Baskets page to keep updated on our journey.