Wish Basket Pendants

by Diana Lee White
(Henderson, NY)

Almost 6 years ago, I saw a picture of something a friend had created using galvanized steel. This friend, a long standing member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, had a Viking character. So the item he made was, naturally, a Trichinopoly (aka Viking Knit) chain.

I was so intrigued by the method and the fact that it was something historical in nature that I googled, found some information and a basic free tutorial.

I had some craft wire in my basket and off I went making chains.

It wasn't very long before I wanted to use better wire, so I invested in some different gauges of sterling and .999 fine silver. From Trichinopoly chain making I soon graduated to wire working, and I've never looked back.

The recent tutorial featured on your newsletter reminded me of a pair of somewhat more elaborate basket weave style wish baskets I made a couple of months back.

My baskets were inspired by Mary Tucker's work. You can see her absolutely stunning pieces over at Flickr.

So, without further ado, here is one of the woven wire wish baskets I made.

The basket is constructed of 18gauge copper and gold colored aluminum craft wire in 30gauge. Some of the gold coloring wore off near the ends of each long piece of wire I used to do the weaving, giving the piece a surprisingly lovely variegated finish.

Diana Lee White
My wirework on Flickr
Mockingbird Lane on Livejournal