Backyard Baskets: Coiling with Natural Materials

with Alyssa Sacora

Thursday, June 25 | 10 – 4pm

Many local plants lend themselves to basket making. In this workshop, we will create a coiled vessel using iris, daylily and grasses harvested from cultivated gardens and wild places.

Coiling is a hand-stitching process that transforms a continuous bundle of fibers into a strong and versatile container. Found in cultures worldwide, it is a perfect technique to create one-of-a-kind baskets from plants growing in your backyard.

Each participant will complete a basket and leave with the skills to do this again on their own. Great for beginner basket makers and those with weaving experience that want to learn more about using local plants.

Alyssa Sacora is a crafts person exploring plant-based mediums in the form of papermaking, book arts, basketry and natural dyes. She finds inspiration by observing relationships in the wider world. To reduce her human footprint and encourage creative thinking, she primarily works with locally available and repurposed natural materials. Leaves, vines and bark from iris, daylily, kudzu, okra, tulip poplar and willow leaves are often combined with salvaged cotton fabrics to create her palette. Her artistic pursuits are directly related to her lifestyle choices with reciprocity and mindfulness as a guiding force. In addition to and in support of her craft, she tends a 3-acre homestead in Western North Carolina with her husband, Adam. They grow fruits and vegetables, medicinal herbs, and art plants. They use solar electric and solar thermal systems for electricity and heating, collect rain water and continuously look to design their space with sustainability in mind. Alyssa has taught for a variety of organizations in WNC and often utilizes an outside setting to help her students make the connection that we are nature and that our lives are intertwined with the plants, the soil, and the air around us.

• Members: Remember to enter your promo code upon checkout to receive your 10% member discount! Email [email protected] with questions.
• See a full listing of Adult Education Programs at the North Carolina Arboretum here! Questions? Check our FAQs.
• We are committed to fostering a diverse, supportive learning community. If the cost of a class is a barrier for you, please complete this scholarship form and we will see what kind of assistance we can provide.
• Follow us on Facebook & Instagram!
• Join our Adult Education Student Hub on Discord!
• Interested in supporting the NC Arboretum more directly? Donate to the ONE Fund here.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher The NC Arboretum Adult Education Programs