Pacific Northwest Baskets

Hand Woven Cedar Bark, Grass Woven Baskets

Cedar bark basket weaving is a skill that has been passed down through untold generations of the Pacific Northwest Coastal peoples. Red cedar trees are partially stripped of some of their bark and only the inner bark is used for weaving. The cedar bark is soaked in water until it is soft and it is cut into strips. The cedar strips are woven and then held in place by twining with narrow strips of rafia or thinner cedar bark.

Click here to see a photograph from the BC Archives of a Haida woman weaving a basket in Masset, Queen Charlotte Islands.

Click on small photos to enlarge.