  Look at all the uncolored baskets that you have a chance to see and select the basket that you think is the best. Why do you think it is the best? What is it used for? How is it woven? Look at the baskets that are made of two or more colors and select the one that you think is best. Why do you think it is best? How do you think the colors were made? Can you tell how the pattern is woven in this basket? Can you think of any colors that the Cave-men could use in their weaving before they learned to color reeds and splints? Can you think how they might have found a way to stain their baskets? Do you ever get stains in your clothing? What stains will wash out most easily? What stains do not come out easily? Which ones would you like to use to stain a basket? Do we have anything in our houses that we stain on purpose? What do we use to stain with? Have you ever seen colored earth? Can you think what it is used for? Why do you think the Cave-men liked to find colored earth? Where do you put water to boil it? Why did the Cave-men learn to roast food before they learned to boil it? Did you ever see anybody make dyes? Do you think people could make dyes before they learned to boil water? Can you think of ways in which the Cave-men might have changed the color of grasses, splints, and reeds before they learned how to boil water and to make such dyes as we use to-day? Why do you think they would wish to color them? How the Women Colored Their Baskets The women took a great deal of pains in weaving baskets. They wove the ends in carefully so they would not pull out. They bound the rims on neatly, so as to make the baskets strong. But for a long time they did not try to ornament their baskets. They wove their baskets so carefully that they were beautiful without ornaments. At first they wove each woof strand under and over each strand of the warp. Then they began to weave each woof strand over one and under two. a checked pattern “At first they wove each woof strand under and over each strand of the warp” This made such a pretty pattern that they tried other ways of weaving. They soon learned to use strands of different sizes, and after a while they learned how to color them. But they could not make such dyes as we have until they learned to boil water. Sometimes they found bright-colored leaves and feathers and wove them with the splints and reeds. Sometimes they stained the finished basket with the juices of fruits and berries. different pattern “Then they began to weave each woof strand over one and under two” Sometimes they painted patterns on it with paint that they made of colored earth. Then they learned to dye the splints and reeds in a very simple way. They soaked them in water before they used them, so as to make them pliable. They found that willow stems that were soaked in water were colored light brown by the bark of the stem. Splints buried in the leaf-mold of the brooks and marshes were colored a dark brown. When charcoal was mixed with the rich leaf-mold the splints were colored black. another pattern still diamond “They tried other ways of weaving” Green grass became white when soaked in water, and yellow if soaked for a longer time. The women used these and other ways of getting pretty colors. Then they worked the colors into pretty patterns, many of which we use to-day. THINGS TO DOWeave uncolored splints or reeds so as to make different patterns. Find a fruit that will make a durable stain, and stain some splints for a basket, or make a pattern by staining an uncolored basket. See if you can find how to take fruit stains out of clothing. If you can find colored earth, see if you can make some paint to use in ornamenting your baskets. Try different ways of changing the color of grasses, splints, and reeds, by soaking them in water or burying them in different kinds of soil. last pattern “They worked the colors into pretty patterns, many of which we use to-day” |
|
