Basket illusion questions?

[Sam Fleisher]

I've only done three small bowls/plates so far and I'm going larger.

One of my problems is I don't really know what I'm doing but I'm not going to learn any younger.

The last one I used the 120 holes in the chefware kit and it worked good. I left a fairly large spot in the center natural though. Not a lot of instructions that I've found out there so far but I was wondering why I couldn't use different indexing so that the segments/ beads are more the same size from middle to outside edge.

Is that done and I don't know about it?

I realize they aren't going to line up and thought a larger bead dividing between inner and outer indexes might not look too bad. Or maybe it would.

Usually I'd jump in and just try it but it takes some time to do all the pyrography work so thought I'd ask first or maybe someone could direct me to a tutorial about the process in general.

I have a 22 inch platter blank that's whispering "do me" in my ear......

thanks

 

[Alan Weinberg]

There’s a fabulous tutorial on woodbarter. Tim is brilliant at these.

Cherry Basket Illusion

I hadn't planned on doing another thread on this one, but after some mis measurement and not wanting to spend time erasing all the layout lines, decided to go with it. I had a plan/design for this one, but that is all out the door now. When @Arn213 mentioned Frank Lloyd Wright and his use of...

woodbarter.com

New Basket Illusion

The pictures that @Arn213 has so graciously posted have lit the fire, so thought I'd start another thread to show how I adapt a design to fit on a given piece of wood. This is the basket I'm adapting the design from, one made by Lucy Telles. And here is a quick sketch on graph paper of the...

woodbarter.com

 

[Curt Fuller]

Sam, I think that first off there are really no rules in doing basket illusions. 120 holes in an indexing wheel gives you a lot of options. You can use them all, or any fraction of them. I personally only use the indexing lines to layout the basket design. Once I've got the design drawn on the beaded blank I burn the lines that outline the design. From there all the lines are burned sort of randomly and none of them line up. I just try to keep somewhat of an equal spacing between the lines.That's different than what most others do. I have done some that the lines all line up but I find that much harder to do. If everything is supposed to line up and you get a little off, it really shows. If none of it lines up, well it just gives it an entirely different look that I just happen to like. Before you tackle that 22" platter (which is a huge amount of work), experiment on some smaller, 6" or so, platters and try a few different ways.
I'm not very good at explaining or teaching but here's a link to my attempt to explain how I do it.

C

Thread 'Basket Illusion'

Mar 9, 2024

I've thought about documenting the steps of my style of basket illusion for a while and thought this would be a good a place to give it a try. Keep in mind that there are probably as many different ways to do this as there are people doing it and mine is only one of them. And I also need to give credit and thanks to those who taught me most of this. I was first inspired by Jim Adkins several years before I ever tried this myself. And to this day I still think his baskets are the most realistic I've seen. Steve Mawson has also been a huge inspiration to me and also become a good friend...

• Curt Fuller
• Replies: 64
• Forum: Tutorials and Tips

• 

 

[Sam Fleisher]

This is the one I was referencing with the 120 index. It's roughly 11 inches. I got it that far and turned it over to my sister to design and color. The way I'm doing it though I wouldn't be able to work like the guy from Cameron il. I have my pen mounted in a block/sled and use a platform held with the banjo. The completely burned pic is the front.

I have the shaped pen tips for burning on order but they aren't too quick on shipping those out. So hopefully my bead marks will get cleaner.

 

[Tim Connell]

Sam, as Curt mentioned, throw any rules out the door. You could have three different turners implement the same design and they would probably use six different methods!

What matters is the look you want. The style of Jim Adkins with the goal of truly imitating a woven basket with uniform sized "stitches" or the style using radial lines (cells) that increase in size from center to rim.

What I do is inspired by the baskets that Jim Adkins made, with the goal of making a "basket" that mimics as close as possible Native American woven baskets. When I started trying these, there weren't many (any?) tutorials, and that's why I spent the time to document my methods on WB that Alan so kindly linked.

While the baskets that Curt and I make are very similar in style, the methodology we use in getting there is different. I don't use an indexing wheel at all, all of my layout is done using dividers off the lathe. It works for me, but may not work for anyone else. These illusion projects can take a huge amount of time, and I will second Curt's suggestion of starting small and working through the methods you choose.

My methods have changed quite a bit from when I made my first one, and that is primarily because I figured out lots of little things that worked better for me. My work flow probably looks nothing like anyone else's, but the end results are similar.

Through practice you will develop your own methods, so don't get too hung up on following anyone's particular steps. Rather look through as many different ways of doing this as you can find and spend some time thinking about how you would put one together. Then, pick a simple design, and get started. What does and doesn't work for you will become evident quickly.