I searched the back of craft magazines trying to find anything basket related. It was so rare to find anything about baskets back then. Somehow I found Royalwood. To my delight they had a few basket patterns, reed and handles. I invested $50.00 in supplies, quit my 9 to 5 and started my new “hobby”…basketmaking. I could stay home with the kids and weave. 10 years later…. I was still weaving. Our little kitchen had become my workshop and our small house was filled to the brim with basket stuff. My husband Bud said he was going to write a book for basketweavers husbands. Chapter one…How to walk on reed gingerly without breaking it. Chapter two…How to reach around reed to get into your panty drawer…and so on. He knew it would be a best seller. After 10 years of eating, drinking and sleeping around reed, he built my workshop. Geeeeeze some men just take a little while.LOL I think it was sometime soon after he found reed in his tea that finally got him to build that workshop and get me a place of my own to work. In the fall of 1994 I moved into my brand new huge, how am I ever going to get rid of this echo, workshop.

I had been teaching locally for a few years and was doing about 5 or 6 juried craft shows a year. It was a lot of production and very little creativity. One of my students had gotten a catalog for a convention in North Carolina. We picked out classes and decided to go. Have you ever been to a convention or big crop for scrapbooking? There were 600 weavers , about 150 classes for the weekend and about 50 venders. I was like a kid in a candy shop … about like I am now with paper! I was so inspired and jumped right back into production as soon as I got home. I would weave then burn out…weave then burn out. After a while of this, I realized my happiest times were when I was teaching. I had been experimenting and had developed a couple of my own designs. I proposed them to North Carolina and to my surprise was excepted to teach in 1996. I loved it so much I started deleting the craft shows one at a time. If I could teach in North Carolina then maybe I could teach in Indiana too. Before I knew what was happening I was teaching in Michigan, Kentucky and Georgia and loving every minute of it. I now teach 20 to 22 weeks a year all over the United States. It’s great to have a job that you absolutely love. I love creating new baskets and I love teaching technique.

Over the years I have won many awards, I have been written up in all of the basket magazines and many articles. I have published over 100 patterns and I’m in the process of Co-writing a book about basketry.

I have to give a lot of credit to my husband of 37 years, Bud. He is my closest friend and my strictest critic. He has learned to cook better than I do and overlook my messes. Our children Cory, Josh and Emily are grown and carving out a life of their own. All are creative in their own way. We have two Grandchildren Aiden Clarke and Reese Kennedy Holbert. When I’m not playing with them or just watching them grow, I can be found in my workshop, Oz the dog under foot, music turned up, sitting next to a window, viewing nature, and creating another basket. There is no longer an echo in my workshop. To be truthful, there is a path to my workspace. I also am now sharing the workshop with all of my paper yummies. I sure could use an addition on my workshop. I guess I’m going to have to brew Bud some more reed tea… I may even throw in a few scraps of paper for good measure. {Wink}

I have really cut back on teaching for this year so I can develop some new designs, work on a few gallery pieces, and finish my book. Then…Last month I found Fiskateers! I love the challenges, I love the creativity, but most of all…I love the people. Thank you so much for allowing me to be a part of your group. Bless you all and happy crafting…Gail