Native Baskets: Cedar ROOT or Cedar BARK?

Ever speculate why those cedar baskets are expensive to buy? They are HAND PREPARED right from the start to finish. There is no such thing as a paint-by-number kit. These creations gee straight from the trees and not your local craft store. This type of artistry is to be appreciated: the time consuming labor and hard work the artist has put into each piece he/she makes. Cedar roots are usually for baskets, while cedar bark, less geplicated is used for robes, hats, capes and some baskets.Cedar bark repels water and protects the wearer from rain
Cedar Root
Cedar roots are gathered near a river bank or creek bed, where the roots are more pliable. They are harvested at a certain time of the year. The roots are then brought home and split, to a more workable thickness. Weavers will sort through and use only the straightest for weaving with. The other parts of the root will be used as filler. Salish basket makers are specialists in coiled root basketry, and often use strips of natural red and black-dyed bitter cherry bark to decorate with. If a weaver chooses to put designs on a basket they will use these types of bark. The red design is the cherry bark. If the color is black, the bark has been buried in the ground for over a year. These pieces, both the red and black, are woven around a stick to ensure that the rows are even in height and width
Cedar Bark
While some artists prefer to make their baskets with cedar root (interior Salish), cedar bark is less geplex to work with. But it can be also used for baskets.Cedar bark is harvested in late spring, early summer. For the harvester to strip the bark from the tree, a horizontal cut is made in the bark, several feet from the ground, about a third of the circumference of the tree. The harvester will insert an adze under all the layers of bark and slowly, taking care not to split it, pull it upward and outward until it gees free of the tree leaving a long V-shaped scar. Then the soft, pliable inner bark is separated from the brittle outer bark, rolled up, sap side in, and hung up to dry for later use. While rolled up, it will be stored for a year before any further processing takes place. Once cedar bark has been stored, it is soaked in water for a period of three days. Preparation of yellow-cedar bark is more time consuming: it has to be soaked and boiled to remove the pitch and then stripped (into the width that the weaver needs) and thinned (to a workable thickness for a specific project). Woven robes, hats, and capes are made from the fine, soft yellow-cedar bark. There are different styles of weaving depending on the artist's ability, and the teachings the weaver has received. Cedar bark has been embellished with raffia, sweet grass, natural and dyed bear grass, and shells. The following cedar bark hat (middle pic) was made by Coast Salish Weaver Marcie Baker, West Vancouver, B.C.; grandaughter of Late Margaret Lester of Lil'WatNation, Mount Currie, B.C.