Choctaw Elbow Basket Pattern

How fascinating!  Here's the story of Dianne Stanton's development of the Choctaw Elbow Pattern....."In 1988, I traded baskets with a dear friend and fellow basketmaker, Claude Medford, Jr. The basket he made for me was a double mouth elbow basket of dyed and natural river cane, that he gathered and prepared near his home in Natchitoches, Louisiana. In the letter with his basket, Claude wrote, You can dry herbs in elbow baskets, or put the handles first of wooden spoons in both sides. They are usually hung in the cook houses, which in the ol 'South were separate from the living quarters.  This basket is similar in technique to the one Claude made for me, but is made of dyed flat and flat oval reed. It has a 3/3 twill woven base with point twill turn, spiral woven sides, splint-style rims and a wrapped handle."  Basket measures 13" wide, 16" high (including handle) and 4" deep.

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