Craft Corner Tjanpi Basket Weaving

The Tjanpi Desert Weavers are a group of 400 Anangu/Yarnangu female artists from the Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (NPY) lands. Tjanpi (meaning grass in Pitjantjatjara) is a social enterprise of the NPY Women’s Council, working with women in remote Central and Western desert regions. Through Tjanpi, these women earn an income creating temporary fibre art, and selling woven products such as baskets, sculptures and jewellery. The Tjanpi Desert Weavers also sell their own weaving kits, with all profits going back to the artists - amazing! So if you can, I definitely recommend supporting them.

For this edition of Craft Corner, I followed their basket weaving tutorial, which you can find for free on their website. Here is my own Tjanpi inspired guide:

What you need:

- Lots of raffia, it is recommended to have at least two different colours. The total amount of raffia will depend on how big you want your basket

- A medium/large sized needle

- Scissors

Method:

1. The Tjanpi Desert Weavers suggest using 5-10 pieces of raffia. The more raffia, the thicker the rows will be. Tie these pieces together, leaving a small gap in the middle to thread through. These pieces will serve as your ‘tails’.

2. To begin, thread a piece of raffia through a needle - ideally, the bigger the needle the better. You don’t need to tie this piece. Using a different colour will make it easier to differentiate between the tails and thread piece, but is not mandatory.

3. Begin threading through the centre of the knot and work your way around the raffia tails. Once you’re done it will resemble a snail-shape.

4. Keep working around the tails by threading through the middle of the previous row to expand the centre. Wrap the thread tightly for firmness.

5. When your tails become too short, simply grab new pieces and thread them through the existing tails. If your threading piece is running out you can add a new piece by folding it over the existing one. You can also connect the ends of the old and new pieces by wrapping them together or tying them by their endswhatever works for you!

6. When you’re happy with the size of the ‘snail shell’ centre, place the tails on top to create the walls of the basket and resume weaving as usual.

7. Once you’ve reached the desired height, thread around the top row until it is covered. To finish, tie the ends and tuck away any bits that stick out around the basket.

To find out more about the Tjanpi Desert Weavers scan the QR code!

I found the process of weaving my basket really calming despite watching my partner play competitive Overwatch (iykyk) while doing it. I did make a few mistakes here and there but felt so proud holding up my tiny, wonky basket. I sent my mum a picture, who told me ‘that’s deadly’ which was all the validation I needed. Now, my basket is being used to store my headphones, hair ties and keys on my bedside :)