Basket Weaving With Toni Best

September Workshops

No prior basketry experience is needed for either workshop. Come and learn a fascinating new skill with us!

Fascicle Pine Needle Coiling
Saturday, September 22, 1:00 - 4:00 pm

Fee: $55 for Guild Members ($65 for Non-members), payable to VCHSG.
OR Members $110 for both days (Non-members $150 for both days).
There is no materials fee for this workshop.

This class is a classic and all time favorite! Students of all levels will learn how to coil pine needles on the top of a gourd using the tips, or fascicles, to create a unique and beautiful pattern. You will be able to choose between different types of binders, or threads, and you will be expertly guided in a diversity of stitching to create your own work or art.

Floating & Undulating Coil
Sunday, September 23, 9:00 am - 4:00 pm

Fee: $65 for Guild Members ($85 for Non-members), payable to VCHSG.
OR Members $110 for both days (Non-members $150 for both days).
There is no materials fee for this workshop.

Students of all levels will create a unique work of art by coiling pine needles on a gourd. You can choose a floating coil which does not connect to a previous coil but floats with open space to another side. These free forms creations can be as imaginative as the student desires. Or choose an undulating coil, which is "appliquéd" to what has been coiled previously.

About The Instructor

Toni Best has been a creator and advocate of basketry for over forty-seven years. Using pine needles, raffia, and other natural materials, Toni has expanded upon native designs and weaves basketry that echo many American cultures while illustrating her own innovations and imagination.

Toni teaches extensively around the state and at gourd and basket festivals. Her baskets have been featured at the Wooden Indian Gallery in Visalia, as a special exhibit of weavers at the Kings Rivers Art Center in Hanford, Arts Visalia in Visalia, the juried Top of the Line Craft Show in Visalia, “Baskets As Art” at Harmony Works Gallery in Redondo Beach, The Jasmine Gallery in La Jolla, and Gwalala Basket Exhibition.

She is also a member of the Bay Area Basket Makers, Handweavers of the Valley, Misti Washington Gourd and Basket Guild, and the California Gourd Society. She has been awarded first prize for her skill through the Southern Conference of Handweavers in California and the California Gourd Society.

To register for this workshop, please mail your check, payable to VCHSG, to VCHSG, Attn: Elisa Purnell, P.O. Box 354, Ventura CA 93002, as soon as possible. If you need additional information, please leave a message below - including your email address. Thanks!