The Wale
A Wale is a special band of weave used in the process of making the basket to fix the shape of the basket and to secure the weave at various stages.
There will always be a wale just above the base, and just under the border. If the basket has finger holes there will be a wale under the finger holes as well, and there may be wales along the height of the basket in between the sections of weave.
If you want to add a bit of colour to your otherwise all buff basket you could opt for either green or steamed willow wales.
You can see a few examples here, and if you need any further help or information, please email Alison or give her a call on 01294 829012.
These baskets are made entirely from buff willow but you can clearly see the wales – just below and just above the finger holes
Green weave with buff wales between each section of weave. When making baskets in buff and another colour, like this, we weave the wales in buff to tie the design together.
This shopping basket is made primarily from buff willow but has a green wale just under the border.
This basket has green wales – one around the middle and one under the border – just to add a bit of interest to the design.
The customer here wanted three colours – buff, green and steamed. We used green for the weave, The bottom and top wales are in steamed willow. In the middle there are three wales, one buff with one either side in steamed.