About

Using time-honored techniques unique to working with birch bark, this class offers the opportunity to create a beautiful, sturdy and functional knife sheath. A Swedish-made Mora carving knife which the bark sheath is fitted to, is included with the class. Using split river cane, students may choose one of the several traditional patterns used to stitch the sheath. Students may also attach a plaited lanyard to the sheath so the knife can then be conveniently worn around the neck. 

Materials Fee: $60. Bring cash or check payable to BARN to beginning of class.

Skill Level: All skill levels welcome.

Age Requirements: This workshop is open to ages 14 and older.

Please bring a bag lunch. We have a refrigerator for storage.

Instructor: Karen Sherwood began her basket weaving journey creating vessels useful for wilderness survival and woven with materials gathered from nature. Over the last 25 years, her understanding of weaving and the preparation of traditional materials has become much more refined while her interest in creating “working” baskets remains strong. Karen carries a passion for exploring historic basketry techniques and styles and brings this to her work by harvesting and preparing her own basketry materials. She shares her connections to the plants and their remarkable uses when teaching each project. With these connections, each project becomes a unique blend of past and present. “It is with this vision we hope to honor the plants and the traditions they have grown from to give insight to, not only the past but how it can illuminate our future”. Karen teaches ethnobotany programs with the Washington State Department of Ecology. She leads basketry classes throughout the county and as well as other earth- centered programs through Earthwalk Northwest, a wilderness school she and her husband founded in 1996. More info at: www.earthwalknorthwest.com.