At a WAFTA meeting a few months ago I watched, fascinated, while the person next to me twiddled scraps of silk fabric into string. It was beautiful string - not merely utilitarian string. She showed me how it was done - and I made a few samples once I got home. Then, at the last WAFTA meeting, the guest speaker Lynn Marshall talked about the baskets she'd made - mostly from handmade string and items picked up from the bush or garden. The activity after the talk was to have a go at making string from raffia and fabric strips. It is really very easy and I am amazed that I can have lived 52 years and not known how this was done! I showed my God-Daughter how to make it, and she created a lovely thick rope of lime green, aqua, and blue with a sprinkling of bright reds and orange. When I showed her how it was done I happened to choose a wild hand-dyed rayon and a rust-red cotton. I fell in love with this colour combination and will keep going until I run out of fabric so that I can have a go at turning it into a coiled basket.
