As every basketmaker knows,

Old baskets like old friends

Just get a little grayer,

And become more valuable

with the passing of time.

 

- Jim Bennett

Baskets were among the first artifacts created by early humans who wanted to carry more than they could hold in their bare hands. Fossil traces of ancient baskets tell us much about the lives and cultures of humanity throughout the ages.

In the centuries before Russian settlement of Kodiak Island, the Native people developed a tradition of finely wrought baskets from sea grass and other materials, often woven tightly enough to serve as water carriers. At about the same time that Russian trappers and traders began settling in coastal Alaska another basketry style was reaching its apex on the east coast of the continent with the Nantucket style baskets.

Wild Iris Basket Designs creator, Penelope Cyr-Lorenson brings these two traditions together with a wide variety of baskets.

"Penelope" means weaver, a fitting name for Penelope Cyr-Lorenson, who weaves refined Nantucket baskets. She lives on Kodiak Island and started her weaving career in the early 1980's.

This master weaver likes to incorporate nature in her work. Many of her baskets include seashells, driftwood, colored seaglass, dyed seagrass, new and used longline and Alaska ivory and bone. Her craft involves her husband, Charles, who makes most of her molds, bases, and handles.

The reed Penelope uses in her baskets is of excellent quality but like all reed it is a natural fiber. Occasionally a basket may appear flawed but it is actually the natural characteristics of the reed.

Wild Iris Basket Designs has a new "line" of baskets created by Penelope Cyr-Lorenson.  This longline is utilized by fishermen to catch Black Cod and Halibut.  She creates these baskets with new and recycled longline.  The baskets come in a variety of shapes and colors and can be ordered with lids.  Penelope adorns her baskets with colored seaglass, portholes, dyed seagrass, seashells, and Alaska ivory and bone for a nautical flare.

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