My Neurospicy Soup

I found out recently you can use spent dandelion flower stems to make cordage. I’ve made baskets with pine needles using the coiling method before, so why not dandelions! It’s difficult to forage for natural materials where I live, but dandelions grow everywhere. At least until the city sprayed all the ones in the parks. . . but I still got a backyard full to work with.

I have this cordage I made last week. I’m wetting it with a spray bottle and damp towel to make it less brittle.

I trying some cotton embroidery floss from the dollar store. Which I later regretted. It was only 2 ply and it snapped multiple times. Because of this I couldn’t pull my thread as tightly as I like.

I tie a knot onto start of the cordage (where the twist starts making a loop). Then start wrapping the thread.

Once I’ve got enough, I start to coil it. I pierce through it with a needle (using pliers as needed) to start a base. Then start stitching around it.

3 episodes of The Simpsons later and I got a nice disk for a bottom. Then I start shaping the sides, making it steadily narrower.

A couple more hours and I got a little basket! I backstitched along the top to help keep it secure.

Now to make a lid, which every tiny whimsical basket needs. It’s a pain to make, but I included a little handle.

I triple knotted the ends, trimmed any stray bits and it’s done!