Shaker Cheese Basket: Hexagonal Weaving

Led by local artist and educator, Jenna Lechner, this class will cover essential basketry skills including how to 'upset' a basket and master the art of basic lashing around the rim. Jenna will also share insights on sourcing materials and maintaining the traditional integrity of this remarkable design.

In the 1800s and early 1900s, versions of this basket served a crucial role in cheesemaking among the Shakers, a religious community renowned for their exceptional craftsmanship. The baskets functioned as strainers, allowing cheese curds to drain through the open weave. The Shakers—credited with countless innovations, many developed by women—created this particularly clever and economical design. The open weave requires less material while maintaining remarkable strength and structural integrity, proving that sometimes less truly is more.

Traditionally, these baskets were crafted from black ash tree splints, harvested through a labor-intensive process that required considerable skill and patience. Students will work with commercially-available reed, making the technique accessible while honoring the traditional construction methods, to construct baskets 3” high and 11” in diameter.

Once completed, students can line their finished basket with linen cloth, transforming it into an elegant serving piece perfect for bread or other foods. The hexagonal weave technique taught in this workshop appears in basketry traditions around the world, with particularly notable examples found in Japanese craft traditions.