Frequently asked...

What do you charge for your baskets?

Prices have a wide range due to the many variances.

These variances include: size of material used (fine vs course); size of the basket; woven intricate design or false embroidery with maidenhair fern and or dyed canary grass; lids (optional) with a rattle top or double rattle top lid, and hours to weave the completed piece. Quotes are available upon request.

Why do these baskets command such a premium price?

The materials used are red and yellow cedar bark or spruce roots from the Sitka Spruce tree. These items cannot be bought at your local craft shop. The best quality bark and roots must be harvested in the spring. The Spruce tree in your back yard does not mean it will have the best roots for a basket, as generally the trees from which roots are harvested need to be growing in sandy areas. It takes many hours to dig enough roots for even the smallest of baskets.  

The next step is the processing.  Roots need to be roasted over an open fire to steam the impurities out. A traditional tool called an eena is used to strip all the outer bark from the roots. Many more hours of splitting and scraping the roots are required before they're ready to be used in a basket. Delores, her teacher used to say, “whatever time it takes to weave a basket, it is half again as much time to gather and prepare the materials for that basket.” So if you have a basket that takes 100 hours to weave, you must add another 50 hours to have enough material on hand to create this piece. In the end, it takes around 150 hours to create this piece of traditional artwork.

Another factor to consider for the premium demanded for these specialized baskets and hats is that presently there are less than a dozen weavers weaving traditional style Haida (Spruce Root) basketry for purchase, from the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia to northern Alaska.

Why are they called trinket baskets or rattle top baskets?

Many baskets which have lids, have rattles in a secret chamber in the knob of the lid. Many different materials are added to create the
rattle. In the early days, it was the gizzards stones from local birds.
Then, after first contact was made, lead shot (from firearms) was used. Now days, I use glass seed beads to create a soft rattle sound heard when you gently shake your basket's lid.

In days of old, before TV & radios, a mother would store her precious (trinkets) in this type of basket. If a child or a stranger got into the basket, the mother could hear the noise of the rattle top, and stop the intruder. Hence the name has evolved thru the tourist trade of "trinket or rattle top baskets."

What is the shiny brown material used in the designs on these baskets?

The brown material used in the traditional design work for the baskets is Maidenhair fern. It is harvested in mid-summer and dried for use later. Only the stem is used for the designs. A needle is used to separate the colors of the maidenhair fern, which can range in color from caramel brown, blood red to black.

How do you authenticate (sign-signature) your work?

With the exception of the first dozen baskets (which her family has) all her work is signed, including the year.

If you look on the inside of the basket or hat you will see a set of initials and a two digit year. Her early work had the initials - DRY (maiden name- DEBBIE ROBIN YOUNG). In 1998 she married her life partner and her initials changed to DYC-DEBBIE YOUNG CANADAY. An example of her signature today would be DYC - 06.

What sizes do the baskets come in?

She can weave whatever you would like. The smallest are her earrings which are one half inch in diameter. Baskets range in size from one inch diameter, with or without a lid, up to 12 inches in diameter (largest basket to date). Hats generally run 15 inches in diameter and roughly 6 inches high.