Basket Weaving Classes at The Country Seat, Inc. - make a basket in Kempton, PA - Learn the Art of Basketry by taking a basketmaking class, Weave a basket today! Weave Nantucket, antler, birch bark in basketry class.

Print a Registration Page, e-mail or call (610-756-6124) to register.
All fees must be paid in advance to reserve your space in class.

2009 Classes - details coming soon -
Saturday, September 5th ~
September 18th - 20th - Central PA Guild's A Basket Odyssey ~ Knotless Netting Gourds and Necklaces. Visit their Website for more information.
Saturday, October 17th ~
October 23rd - 25th - Bedford County Guild Convention ~ Easy Continuous Twill on a Square slotted base (Sunday morning class). Call Carolyn Fraley at 814-623-7399 or e-mail for more information.
Saturday, November 7th ~
Saturday, November 21st ~
Saturday, December 5th ~ Marbling Workshop - maple strips or silk scarves, just in time for making Christmas gifts!
Saturday, December 19th ~

Seat Weaving with Jean Bove - Please check back for 2010 dates and classes.

Please see our FAQ Page on Seat Weaving for helpful hints and answers to your seat weaving questions.

Maggie Silva - Nantuckets

Nantuckets with Maggie Silva - October 1st, 2nd and 3rd, 2009.
The basket or baskets you wish to weave can be choosen from the list below or you can go directly to Maggie's website and choose from anything in her PDF files (please e-mail her for the pdf URL's). Her kit price is the materials fee that is due to her your first day of class.

Print a Registration Page, e-mail or call (610-756-6124) to register which days you wish to attend.
You MUST FIRST register your choice of days with us. All tuition fees must be paid in advance to reserve your space in class. We are taking reservations for the 2009 dates.
~ class times 9 AM - 5 PM on Thursday & Friday. 8 AM - 4 PM on Saturday ~

Choose from any of the baskets below or directly from Maggie's website (see link at the end of baskets shown).

3 Day Classes:

NH Purse ~ 5” x 3-3/4” x 4” ~

Ellipse Tote ~ 10-1/2" x 5-1/2" x 8" (leather straps)

2 Day Classes:
Arawjo Creel Purse ~ 9" x 4-1/2" x 7"

3" Tiny Oval Purse ~ 3" x 2" x 2-1/2"

Tall Boy ~ 6" x 4" x 9“

8" Round Nantucket
Sand Pail
(includes shovel)

1 Day Classes:
1-1/2" Oval ~ 1-1/2" x 1" x 3/4" with one handle (higher price for 2 handles)

Coaster Caddy w/Solid Wooden Rim ~ 5” x 1-3/4” (includes Coasters)

Half Pint Salt & Pepper ~ 5-3/4” x 3-1/4” x 2”

2" Heart ~ 2" x 2" x 1"

2-Egg Round ~ 3-1/2" x 2-1/2"

Sharon's Baguette ~ 12-1/2" x 6" x 2-1/2"

Flower Basket w/Solid Wooden Rim

Print a Registration Page, e-mail or call (610-756-6124) to register.
All fees must be paid in advance to reserve your space in class.

Maggie's website:
http://www.basketryetc.com/

Congratulations to Maggie! At the NC Basketmakers Convention 2006, Maggie was awarded first prize in mould woven AND Best of Show.

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Birch Bark with Vladimir Yarish
~ All the way from Veliky Novgorod, Russia
Look for Vladimir to visit with us again in spring of 2010!

If you can't wait until 2010 to learn diagonally plaited, double woven birch bark, watch for Vladimir's beginner DVD coming soon, a Country Seat exclusive! Vladimir's new book written with Flo Hoppe & Jim Widess, now available. expands on the basics with several more lessons, history and a gallery of traditional and contemporary plaited weaving.

Two Square to Round Diagonally Plaited Baskets

Russian Birch Bark Footed Oval Basket with Saw-tooth Rim

Oval Birch Bark Basket Stitched with Spruce Roots

Wall Pouch in Russian Birch Bark with Pinwheel Curls
birch bark wall pouch

Karl Marks Street 8, Apt 28
Veliky Novgorod 173015, Russia

Certified "People's Artist" (Master Craftsman) in 1997
Accepted into The Union of Arts of Russia in 1998

Artist's Statement

When I was shown how to weave birch bark in 1984, all I wanted was just to make a few baskets. All my life I have liked to make things by hand. As I continued making baskets, I realized there is a huge Russian tradition of birch bark weaving that dates back for ten centuries. I felt the need to support this tradition and decided to make only traditionally shaped Russian baskets.
When I founded the studio to teach people, I learned how to weave something not very traditional. My students in every class "taught" me that. I then understood that, if I wanted to continue teaching people, I needed to change my view on basketry a little.
When I came to USA for the first time I saw a lot of weaving styles: traditional, contemporary, avant-garde... and was back home with a headache.
Now I know that there are many ethnic groups, nations, many shapes, styles and directions beginning from deep tradition to ultra-contemporary. And if I start to weave something, I must make my best to finish the project!
Vladimir Yarish

Click here for photos from Vladimir's 1999 visit to The Country Seat.

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Check back for May 2010 dates with Bonnie Gale - Weaving with Willow class

"Bonnie Gale has been a professional willow basketmaker for the past fifteen years. A Kennedy Scholar with degrees from the University of Manchester and M.I.T., she has trained with professional European willow basketmakers. She is proprietor of "English Basketry Willows" (a small business selling imported European basketry willows, willow basketry books and tools) and founder of the "American Willow Growers Network" promoting the growing and the exploration of the uses of willow. She teaches traditional willow basketry across the United States at major conventions and guilds. She writes extensively on traditional willow basketry and willow growing and her articles have appeared in Early American Life magazine, Basket Bits, Basketry Express and assorted basketry publications. Her work has been shown in major basketry exhibitions and she is the recipient of numerous awards. In 1999, she was awarded an Artist's Fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts." taken from Bonnie Gale's Resumé Page

To learn more about the "American Willow Growers Network" visit English Basketry Willows Site

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The Country Seat, Inc.
Basket Weaving Classes
1013 Old Philly Pike
Kempton, Pennsylvania 19529-9321 USA
Phone: 610-756-6124
e-mail: weaving@countryseat.com
Fax: 610-756-0088
web site: www.countryseat.com

Free catalog upon request. Please e-mail us at weaving@countryseat.com with "catalog" in the subject line and your name and postal address in the body of the e-mail. Catalog #30 is the current print catalog, please keep the Country Seat Courier newsletters as they contain all of our new products and any changes to the print catalog. New products are added to the on-line catalog as they arrive. If you have placed an order, a catalog and newsletters will be sent with the order.

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