Weaving baskets as a livelihood

Originally, Ms. Welch's calling was as a veterinary technician, and she loved the job. When her first child arrived, though, a vet clinic didn't necessarily prove the best place for bringing up baby.

So the new mom "dusted" off her basketweaving skills and approached Scott Community College about teaching basket weaving for adult education.

That was about 12 years and countless baskets ago.

Today, in addition to teaching several classes each week, Ms. Welch sells basket-weaving supplies to other basket makers around the country via the Internet.

Her years of weaving have helped her move from skill to artistry, so she is in demand for teaching in St. Louis or Indianapolis at state basketweavers guild conventions, where she teaches as many as 600 students at a time.

"And I still teach evening classes through Davenport's adult education program," she said.

At the same time as she began teaching, Ms. Welch also began selling some of the baskets she had made, as well as supplies for other basket makers and the Basket Werks evolved into a home business.

Two years ago, Ms. Welch, her husband Jim and their children moved to the old farmhouse where she, her father and her grandfather all had grown up.

Mr. and Ms. Welch converted an old metal building on the property to a shop and studio.

"Upstairs is for supplies and downstairs is the office and workshop," Ms. Welch said. "I have open weaving times at the shop where people can come and weave. We do all kinds of baskets. Over the years, I've kept taking classes."

The Basket Werks, she said, usually has around 100 baskets available for sale, but she teaches now more than she sells.

"I enjoy teaching other people to weave," she said. "They're so proud of themselves when they're finished."

And, she said, weaving is very therapeutic.

"You're so focused on what you're doing, you don't think about anything else."

Ms. Welch dyes reed in her shop and otherwise prepares her own materials. Mr. Welch helps with the Basket Werks by doing the bookkeeping and most of the mail order sales, which constitute the majority of the business, today.

"I'd like to branch out into willow furniture," Ms. Welch said. "I've played around with it. I built a willow chair, but it wasn't comfortable, so I'll need so more work on that.

"Weaving with willow is fun, though. I've taken classes in the Amanas on willow baskets, where they taught willow traditional basketry. I enjoy doing all types of baskets," said Ms. Welch.

The baskets available at the Basket Werks range in size from small, $5 necklace-size baskets woven from a waxed thread to very large, $100 baskets.

Ms. Welch finds plenty of uses for her baskets around the house.

"I love them for clothes hampers, and I have baskets for magazines and napkins. I can use them lots of different ways."

Similar baskets are available for sale at the shop.

One important benefit of having learned basketry, Ms. Welch said, is having been able to stay home with all three of her children and to stay close to her 92-year-old grandmother, who once ran the family farm with her husband and now lives across the road.

Ms. Welch charges $20 to $25 for weaving classes, in which each student completes a basket.

Arguably her most unusual basketry classroom is Mac's Tavern in downtown Davenport, where she teaches a class the last Tuesday of every month.

"We start weaving at 6 p.m.," Ms. Welch said. "Anyone interested can call to sign up."

Sometimes, progress means preserving the old ways of doing things.

For more information on Basket Werks or available classes, call 285-4851.

-- By Catherine Guy