Basket Material

Jennifer Bates
Northern Miwok
1979

Basket materials are split and bound into coils to dry. Before use, the strands have to be soaked in water to make them pliable again. Redbud and bracken fern root are used to create the red and black designs in baskets. Bracken fern root may be dyed using black walnut casings, rusty nails, or iron rich springs to deepen its black tones and give the strands a more uniform color.

Redbud, cloth. Dia 11, T 2.6 cm Yosemite National Park, YOSE 26072

Basket Material

Annie Kinsman Flores
Western Mono

Coil of split strands of winter redbud.

Pearl Moore, daughter of the original owner of the split redbud, the late Annie Kinsman Flores (1878-1990), sold this material at the gathering of the California Indian Basketweavers Association at the Tuolumne rancheria, June 1993.

Redbud, cotton cloth. H 5.2, Dia 13 cm
Yosemite National Park, YOSE 98079

Basket Material

Annie Kinsman Flores
Western Mono

Coil of the cleaned and dyed ribbon-like filaments from the center of the rhizome of the bracken fern, dyed black; tied with commercial jute cordage.

Pearl Moore, daughter of the original owner of the fern root, the late Annie Kinsman Flores (1878 - 1990), sold this material at the gathering of the California Indian Basketweavers Association at the Tuolumne rancheria, June 1993.

Bracken fern root, jute cord. H 3.7, Dia 13 cm
Yosemite National Park, YOSE 98083