The Conservation of Baskets

by Barbara Owens, SAC staff

At Spicer Art Conservation we specialize in textiles, paper and objects. "Objects" is a broad category, but for us it is typically an object made of organic material that is difficult to treat, and so we are contacted for its conservation. We treat objects made of uncommon organic items, like: bone, skin, feather, hair, porcupine quill, horn, bark and a variety of species of grass, to name a few. Baskets, of course, are typically constructed of grass, but are also often embellished with additional items (feathers, glass beads, quills) making them a compound object, which could make them particularly complicated.

A basket surrounded with tools to clean, conserve, and create safe storage for it.

Baskets are often not alone in a collection, instead they exist in groups, sometimes very large groups.
A few years ago, Spicer Art Conservation and other conservators had a great opportunity to clean, rehouse, and condition a very large group of baskets. The collection of over 700 baskets were owned by the United States Department of the Interior.

A small sampling of some of the baskets in the US Department of
the Interior collection.

The first portion of the DOI collection was gathered in the 1930's by the first Secretary of the Interior, Mr. Harold Ickes, who then gave them to the people of the United States. It is a little known collection, but with the now improved access and storage, more research on the collection will be made. What is evident is that within the collection are great examples of all types of baskets from North America.  Read more: http://www.doi.gov/museum/upload/Interior_Shelves_newsletter_2010_issue1.pdf

Baskets have been used by humans for 1000's of years and they have many characteristics: they are vessels, sometimes with a lid. Baskets are woven, coiled, stitched, braided, knotted or put together in creative ways which make them come together in a specific shape. Baskets are purposeful or decorative, exchanged in trade or tourism. Each of these qualities are what determines the conservation of the object.

The before and after conservation photos of a sweetgrass basket with glass bead decoration.
LEFT: The basket's lid had fallen into the top, the handles were insecure, threads were loose and the basket was quite dirty.
RIGHT: The basket's form is more readable, it has its shape and the entire surface of the sweetgrass and glass beads
have been cleaned of the accumulated dirt.

Many baskets come to us embedded with dirt. This is not surprising as baskets are incredibly dimensional with surfaces of "nooks and crannies". Baskets can loose their shape over time, slouching or warping below their own weight. These two concerns are addressed during the conservation treatment of a basket. First the basket is vacuumed with low suction and a brush attachment to release any loose dirt on the surface both inside and out. Next the basket is cleaned with swabs and a mild enzymatic cleaner. Stabilization occurs as the basket requires it; this can be in the form of a full internal support or refastening loose embellishments or handles.

The glass beads on this basket were encrusted, both in and outside
 with dirt. Custom-made fine cotton swabs were used to gently
remove the embedded dirt from each individual bead.

Swabbing the lip of a basket to remove dirt. The swabs are created from
cotton batting to  custom-produce the best size and shaped swab for the job.

Some baskets come in very small sizes, but this makes them no less complex.
 The outside surface of this basket is completely covered in tiny glass beads.
While the inside is a tightly woven, and features a simple step design.  

Read more about basket conservation and how to create storage supports in a National Park Service "Consev-o-gram": Storage Supports for Basket Collections

Read all about SAC's conservation of an enormously large basket in our previous blog: "The After Life of an Enormously Large Basket", where we discuss the store and support of a basket on a very large scale.

The "enormously large basket"

We are happy to help you with your basket or your collection of baskets.  Examples of basket conservation can be found on our website: spicerart.com, or on our Pinterest page devoted to basket conservation.

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Gwen Spicer is a textile conservator in private practice.  Spicer Art Conservation specializes in textile conservation, object conservation, and the conservation of works on paper.  Gwen's innovative treatment and mounting of flags and textiles is unrivaled.   To contact her, please visit her website.

The "After" Life of an Enormously Large Basket and its Lid

Our story begins with this large box, a box that clearly has seen better days. It was covered with old, peeling, tape and rested on a wooden pallet in the middle of a climatized warehouse. What was inside? That was the question, and to make it all the more mysterious, when the box was mentioned, it was always spoken about in a hush voice, as if we were afraid the box would know we were asking about it.

This box of mystery is owned by the Department of Interior, and it was part of a larger project to rehouse over 800 baskets in the collection. When we saw this box, we had no idea what was inside, and little did we know what we would find.

The very large cardboard box.

When the lid was finally pried off and the tape released, all that could be seen was the lid to a preposterously large basket. The lid seemed lost as clearly there was damage. A rim somewhere was broken, and was now just resting on the lid. The basket below was wrapped and appeared protected. Perhaps too protected, as no one had any idea what it was and it had never been unwrapped during a time when any present DOI staff member could remember!

Finally, it was time to see what we had. The box was carefully brought into the workspace and the outer cardboard walls and layers of wrapping materials were removed. The lid of the basket was lifted, to find that the entire basket was full of polyester batting!  

What we found was a wonderfully preserved coil construction basket with slightly tapering sides, covered with images of several birds within a diamond lattice design. The birds were depicted as flying or swimming, and some with wings raised. The records showed that it was believed to be a Tohono O'odham basket, possibly made with yucca, Devil's claw and cattails. If you are not familiar with the Tohono O'odham, they are a people of the desert southwest, living in an area at the southern border of Arizona.  Tohono O'odham means "desert people" in their language, and they are well-known for their contemporary coiled basketry.

One of the many birds.

The materials used to construct the basket were in good shape, however, it is the shape and overall weight of the basket was not helping it. The lower third of the basket was buckling under its own weight, and in a matter of time, tears and weak areas were going to develop. Certainly from the photos you can see this basket is incredibly large, to be specific it was 91" tall and 84" around at its largest point.

Like all the other baskets treated in this collection, it (and its lid) was vacuumed, both inside and out. And then we had to address the most pressing issue, how to support the weakening base? It was, after all, the inherant-vice of the weight of the basket that was causing the bulges to appear. The flaring shape just was not conducive of its size and weight.

The loose band of coiling was found to be part of the lid's
 internal rim. It was determined to keep the rim with the lid
but not reattacted.

Supporting the lower sides, both inside and outside, was the decision made and was no easy feat when tackling such a large artifact. What was decided was to produce a "girdle" of sorts. The girdle would wrap around the outer surface, while internal braces were positioned inside. Below are images of the various steps.

Blue board was scored at even intervals. Here Shaun and
Toosie are positioning the boards.

The measured boards were secured and lined
with Ethafoam sheeting.

Shaun and Ron Harvey doing final adjustments.

The ends were trimmed diagonally for a snug fit.

Internal supports that braced the interior sides.

Shaun adjusting the securing outer straps.

The rehoused, and now fully supported basket!

The basket along with the batting that was inside.

The basket is still a mystery in that we are not sure what it was specifically made for, when exactly it was made, or even if it was made by a Tohono O'odham member. The Tohono O'odham are possibly the largest seller of Native baskets, so they not only produced the baskets for traditional utilitarian purposes, they also made them for ritual uses and to sell to tourists. A basket of this size is not typical, so I wonder was it made for collecting a lot of beans? Or perhaps a huge laundry hamper for a family with a bunch of kids? Or perhaps it is so unique because it was made for a ritual or particular occasion, if so, what was its purpose?

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Gwen Spicer is a textile conservator in private practice.  Spicer Art Conservation specializes in textile conservation, object conservation, and the conservation of works on paper.  Gwen's innovative treatment and mounting of flags and textiles is unrivaled.   To contact her, please visit her website.