Judy Mallow

Oh no this looks kind of fun; things made cheaply from easily-harvestable materials. And in New Zealand all the materials are introduced trees and they basically just drop rubbish on the ground. Also coiled pine needle baskets originated everywhere and nowhere, so they don't seem to be an obvious form of cultural appropriation; they seem to have achieved their current form a century ago in North Carolina. Handcrafts are such a minefield. Anyway, this is a straightforward book with good show more diagrams and a gallery of things to try – no step-by-step handholding, just pointing you to where the various techniques are applied. A few of the masterworks in the gallery are just horrifyingly OTT, and the recurrence of mugs/cups/pitchers is puzzling as I'm pretty sure pine needles aren't watertight. Oh well maybe if they're shellacked. Or maybe it's an adventure in surrealism, like André Breton's fur cup and saucer. show less

Make this your BIBLE for pine needle basketry. I've bought a lot of books over the years but this is really the only one I've ever needed.