This original piece began its life as a much loved and indelibly stained Red Oak dining table leaf, rescued on a fortuitous hunt. I hand-dyed seven variegated colors of reed, cut the base and left a small dot of permanent ink centered on the bottom. Since we've all had pen disasters, I find that small dot worthy of a knowing grin.
Woven with four graduated widths of cane and closely aligned ribs, the pattern - and the title - refer back to my first solo trip west. The flowers of the Kansas prairie, the mountains in the distance near Denver, the storm in the Wind River Canyon of Wyoming, and the directional arrows pointing left, to the West.
After adding a triple rim of cane and round reed, hand-sewn with artificial sinew, I left the spokes in an eyelash fringe for that wide-eyed girl that went west. Finished with a light shellac.
6.75 x 12.25 x 12.25
THE WAY WEST
Original, one of a kind, only.