baskets

baskets

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Double Curled Easter Basket Part 4

Some people wrap the handle after the rim but I was thought to do the rim before the rim so that's what I do.  You can do it how ever you like but this tutorial is for novice weaver.

so you should have a basket like this, handle ready to be wrapped.  You'll need 1/4" flat flat color and long 1/4" flat flat natural.

the colored 1/4" flat flat will be the accent piece and rather than just putting it from the rim I decided to put it all the way down to the base of the basket.






now take a long long piece of 1/4" flat flat soaked well rough side down and insert it behind the handle.









 turn the basket so the outside of the basket is facing you and simply wrap around the handle.
 continue 3 times.  Why 3? I don't know why, that's what I was taught years ago, so that's what I do.  It is important to wrap the handles tightly and not over lap but at the same time do not leave a gap between each round.
 then you take the reed under the accent piece, then over, under, over, under, over, under and so on.  You can make a pattern if you like by going over twice, under once, what ever you like.









 after you reach near the end of the handle you can eye and see where about 3more rounds to end the handle, pull through the accent piece all the way down to the base, just like the other side.
pull and cut the accent piece











now wrap the handle 3 more times and pull the end through the back of the handles like you did in the start.


 underside of the handle should be smooth and gap free like this.
 and not to worry about the gap there because that's where the rim will go!

pretty right?












Rim time!

 measure around the rim row this one was 29" so I cut 1 piece of 1/2" flat oval and add 2 inch and cut 1 more at 31"
 soak well and take the long piece and place it around the  rim row and use clothes pin to hold  it in place.
take a pencil and mark where it overlaps. 

Outside of the overlapping










 and same for the  inside of the over lapping

do the same thing for the inside of the basket  using the shorter piece.  Make sure you leave the rounded side out.
 You should have 2 pieces with pencil mark.  Each piece should have a mark on the rounded side and on the other end should be on the flat side.
 When I started weaving we didn't have cool tools like these so I used little paring knife.  Now I use  these super cool.. the yellow one, you can get it at any hardware store, the other one is woodworking tool, you can get it at widgetsupply.com its called a square carving router. 
 scarf off the rounded part
 then scarf some of the flat side on the other end.
I also  like to round off the end a bit to give it a more smooth look.











 put it back on the rim row on both inside and outside. make sure you start on opposite side.  Hold it in place with clothes pin.
 it should look like this.
I used 2 colors of no3 round reed in complimenting color, I started and stopped at the base of the handle on each side.  and used ziptie to hold it in place so you can remove the clothes pins.









 you can start lashing anywhere  but avoid the overlapped part.  Some people lash differently then I do but this is the way I was taught so this is the way I've  done it and the way I teach people how to do it.

insert the lasher in space between the spokes.
under the rim, under the rim filler.
down the other side inside of the rim.
 slide it from inside out on each space between the spokes. and pull it though and make sure you keep it tight











 so here we are at the handle.  We want to X the handle
 slide the lasher here.
 pull it through, making sure its tight.
 You want  to go back here and pull through
you made a X and now














Now you want to go back here to finish the X













pull through then continue until you reach the start












 here we are at the start
 to finish you do the same thing you started.
under the rim
 pull it through
 under the rim filler over the basket wall but under the  inside rim. pull it through and cut the ends at the rim.











All you now need is a curls!  I will post my final part 5 later this weekend just in time for Easter!

Monday, March 19, 2012

Strawberry Cream Roll



Strawberry and Cream Roll Cake


6 Large Eggs (separated)
130gm Sugar
90 gm Cake Flour (sift 3x)

10-1/2" X 15-1/2" Jelly Roll Pan (or similar size is ok)

1-1/2 cup heavy cream
strawberries washed, hulled, dried and cut

1 recipe custard cream (optional)

pre-heat oven at 350F

beat eggs
if you don't have a stand mixer, hand mixer works fine too, just takes a little longer and your hand might hurt.
 looking good
stiff peak!
since I only have 1 Kitchen aid bowl, I put my whipped whites in another bowl while I work with my yolks
don't worry about washing the bowl because yolk is not bothered by the whites but if you where whipping the whites after the yolks make sure you wash it well becasue whites  will not get stiff if there is any fat in there and yolk is fatty!
add sugar in thirds while whipping
keep whipping

allmost there



Ribbon state reached! the yolk and the sugar really becomes off white and creamy
add sifted flour all at once and mix on low until combined.


 (oops I forgot to take pic with the plain cake so here is a pic when I made the chocolate roll which will be posted later)
add a little of the whipped egg whites and mix it up well.
add rest of the whites and fold it in gently but make sure it is incorporated well.

should looklike this but not chocolaty

 Pour in paper lined Jelly roll pan and use a plastic scraper if you have one to even out the batter
ready for the oven! bake at 350F oven for 15min.  If you plan on using the custard cream as part of the filling you need to  make the custard while the cake bakes so you can use it as  soon as the cake  cools.

take it out of the pan and cool on wire rack.  Once cooled flip it (I like to use plastic wrap or sheet of parchment paper.
 filling choice! you can keep it all whipped cream or use custard cream and whipped cream, today I did custard and whipped.  if you decide on custard and whipped here is the quick recipe for microwave custard cream. 









2 egg  yolks             combine yolks and sugar well,  mix in the flour and make sure there are no lumps.
40gm sugar              slowly add milk and mix so they are smooth.  Microwave uncovered for 1 1/2 min.
20gm flour               mix well and put back in microwave and heat for  1 min more. If its still loose
180ml milk              heat for additional 30sec.  add the vanilla and butter mix well, cover with wrap
1/2tsp vanilla           you need to put the wrap directly on the custard like the pic to prevent skin from
1tbsp butter              forming.  use once its cool so you want to make this when you bake the cake.
peel off the paper and the golden brown skin of the cake should peel off so flip it so the the peeled side will be outside of the roll
you need to either spread the custard cream or whipped cream on the cake
mmm yummy












add strawberry or any other fruit that are not watery like pineapple (pineapple  would be ok on top of cakes but not inside)










 cover the strawberries with whipped cream
ready to roll.  I made this the long way, use the paper parchment to help you lift the cake up to roll it away from you, keeping it tight. Make sure you don't roll the paper in the cake (if you have problem rolling send me a comment and I will make a video tutorial on rolling the cake) 







(sorry no yellow cake pic of rolled cake)
keep it in paper, fold the ends of the paper if they are long, wrap it in plastic and put it in the fridge and chill until you are ready to serve. 
unroll the paper, cake should stay rolled up, isn't it beautiful??  slice with sharp knife, wiping the knife each time you cut so you have clean cut cake instead of cream smeared cake. 
!!! if you roll short side you'll get a giant roll and would also be fun to eat! I will make it next and and post a pic!