TheNHBushman.com

Occasionally I run across people making things in these small villages where I travel. I find the talent and skill of the local craftspeople to be very impressive, and I am always amazed at the quality products you can find being made by the local craftsperson. I also like to purchase products right from the local craftspeople so the money stays in the village.

I found this elderly gentleman making a fish basket. I have a couple of similar baskets in my home, used as decorations. One of my baskets actually has pieces of long black hair that were accidently captured by the basket weaver (apparently female) and woven together with the straw into the basket. I’d never seen one being made before, so naturally I had to document it!

Notice the pan of water used to moisten and soften the individual strands of straw that he is working to form the basket.

Although advanced in age, this gentleman is quite articulate with his hands.

Skill like this takes years to cultivate. Look how uniform the construction is.

This is what making the baskets is all about - catching fish for food. Here is the family cache of fish outside the home. The wife of the basket maker is taking out a few fish to be used for their lunch. The villagers use the baskets to catch river and pond fish, and then they keep live fish in these earthen jars. As I stated previously, the baskets that I own are used in my home for decorations, but here they are used in daily life.

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