It’s so nice to “meet” you here on my wicker weaving website. My journey to becoming a professional chair caner, wicker furniture repair specialist, antler basketmaker, and instructor began in 1975 when my son was just an infant.
My mother-in-law had both encouraged me and insisted that I learn how to weave a paper rush seat. She had a black, mule-ear chair frame and wanted a rush seat woven for it.
Although my MIL had done some chair caning in the past, she had not done rush weaving. And was not interested in learning how to do it herself.
So she bribed me by saying I could have a beautiful walnut drop-leaf dining room table in return for weaving the seat of that old mule-ear chair she had.
Shortly after I agreed to teach myself, she brought over an instructional magazine article, the paper rush weaving materials, the chair frame, and wished me luck!
If you’d like to see pictures of my first, sad, rush seat, just click here: Cathryn’s first paper rush chair seat.
Eventually, I started a home-based business, weaving part-time so I could still care for my young son.
This worked out perfectly, since I could be with my son, make some pocket money to help with the family finances, and have a bit left over to call my own.
My mother-in-law was right, I loved the antique chairs that I worked on. Because of her encouragement, I have enjoyed years in the arts and crafts field, with a special emphasis on wicker repair and chair caning.
For that first 15 years or so, I enjoyed my home-based business weaving the rush, cane, and splint seats. And since it was part-time work, I could still get housekeeping done, meals made, and help my son and daughter with their homework.
Wicker Repair Shop Opens in Zumbro Falls, Minnesota
In 1991, I leased my studio in Zumbro Falls, Minnesota and became a full-time, professional weaver with my own retail storefront.
Here, I repaired and restored all types of wicker furniture and all types of woven chair seats, sold antique wicker furniture, cane & basket supplies (locally only, no mail order), taught a few classes, and marketed my deer antler baskets.
In November of 1999, I purchased the domain WickerWoman.com, where I set up my very own wicker repair, chair caning, and basketry information and resource domain website with no e-commerce.
Over the years, I’ve added a little bit of e-commerce to the site with the National Furniture Repair Directory™, the Cane & Basket Supplies Directory™, and sales of my antler basketry art and antler basket patterns.
What started with only a four-page information and resource website has now morphed into a site with many weaving basics pages and thousands of individual blog posts.
The site continues to grow, providing resources, information, helpful hints, how-to articles, classes, and photos.
We’re here to perpetuate the nearly lost arts of chair caning and wicker repair and to promote the crafts of basketry, woodworking, upholstery, furniture refinishing, DIY, and upcycling.
Challengingly Creative Weaving Projects
In the late 1990s, I had the great pleasure of creating two wicker/cane replica airplane seats for Johnson’s Wax Company’s Sikorsky S-38 Amphibian airplane.
The owner of the company and the pilot himself, Samuel C. Johnson, commissioned Born Again Restorations in Owatonna, Minnesota, to build a replica of the Sikorsky S-38 that his father flew to Brazil in the 1930s.
In Brazil, they discovered and developed carnauba wax for use in their products.
After three years in the making, Sam and his two sons flew the Sikorsky S-38 amphibian airplane replica on a re-creation of the route his father took many years ago, logging over 15,000 miles on the round trip.
Here is the first of several videos telling the story of the Johnson Wax Company and the historic recreation flight to Brazil. Carnauba: A Son’s Memoir
I also made two more almost identical wicker/cane replica chair seats for the Sikorsky S-38 amphibian private plane that Born Again Restorations owner “Buzz” Kaplan made for himself.
This one was a replica and reconstruction of the original “Osa’s Ark”, used by the filmmakers and authors Martin and Osa Johnson (no relation to Samuel C. Johnson) in the 1930s, when they filmed their African journeys.
The replica made for Buzz Kaplan was made using an original S-38 wing and tail booms. Buzz and his wife made several trips of their own to Africa on a plane painted in black-and-white zebra stripes!
Osa’s Ark Sikorsky S-38 replica was also used in the 2004 movie, “The Aviator,” starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes, and later in 2012 in the “Wandering Star.”
Here’s the trailer of the “Wandering Star,” and if you look closely at the first interior shots, you can see the two cane/wicker chair seats I made.
Grants and Awards
2000 brought a new aspect to the shop through the Folk Art Apprenticeship Grant awarded by the Minnesota State Arts Board and the McKnight Foundation.
I was honored to serve as Master to Apprentice Ben Scott from Byron, Minnesota. He learned all the various materials and patterns involved in chair seat weaving: hole-to-hole cane, cane webbing, wide binding cane, paper rush, natural rush, and splints.
Over several weeks, Ben visited the shop for one-on-one chair caning, business marketing techniques, and tips of the trade.
Ben later applied his learned skills to his own chair caning business, which he opened after retiring from his position as an Episcopal priest.
Ben quickly became an accomplished weaver, providing his services to customers from Byron, Rochester, Minneapolis, St. Paul, MN, and surrounding areas.
Another plus for us was when authors, Paul and Sarah Edwards highlighted both myself and Ben Scott in their book ” The Best Home Businesses for People 50+“
A few years after working with Ben, I was awarded two Arrowhead Regional Arts Council/McKnight grants: a Career Development Grant, 2004, for an antler basket exhibition at the MacRostie Art Center in Grand Rapids, MN, and a Career Development–Emerging Artist Fellowship, 2005, for travel/study to England.
Creating Seatweaving Community
In July of 2007, I had the distinct pleasure of being the President of the very first chair caning guild in the nation, called The SeatWeavers’ Guild.
We have a website and held our first annual gathering and workshop in July of 2008 in the founding state of Ohio at Robbins Crossing on the grounds of Hocking College in Nelsonville.
In 2017, we held our 10-year anniversary Gathering, coming full circle and returning to Nelsonville, Ohio, after traveling to several other states in the interim.
I am a proud founding member and served two terms (2007-2011) as the first President of The SeatWeavers’ Guild, Inc.®
Supporting Guilds and Organizations through Membership
- The SeatWeavers’ Guild, Inc.®
- National Basketry Organization
- Headwaters Basketry Guild, MN
- The Missouri Basketweavers Guild
- Association of Michigan Basketmakers
- Oklahoma Basket Weavers Guild
- Handweavers Guild of America
- The Basketmakers’ and Chair Seaters’ Association (in the United Kingdom)
Read Cathryn’s Artist Resume and Artist Statement pages for more information about her antler basketry.
Traditional Baskets and Deer Antler Basketry
Basically self-taught and after getting the chair seat weaving and wicker repair down pat, basketry began to intrigue me too.
So in the early 1980s I made traditional reed baskets, wicker baby cradles and bassinets and started entering in arts and craft shows around the region.
One day, in 1988 I saw a picture of a deer antler basket in a magazine and decided that I could improve on that design, so I went home and began creating my own original designs.
The antler basket quickly became my signature basket and is what I’m best known for in the basketry world today. I’ve enjoyed creating the antler basket sculptures for nearly 30 years now.
I love teaching antler basket and seatweaving classes through national basket guild workshops, folk schools and conventions, and authoring antler basket and seatweaving patterns.
I really enjoy meeting people, traveling, and passing on my knowledge, helping perpetuate these fine crafts!
Cathryn’s Antler Basket and Seatweaving Patterns
With over 25 developed antler basket patterns and several traditional and seatweaving patterns, there’s always a variety to choose from at a workshop, convention, or basket guild class.
Patterns are available wherever I teach, here on WickerWoman.com, and from several cane & basket supply companies.
Three of Cathryn’s deer antler baskets were featured in a 1999 reprint of Splint Woven Basketry by Robin Taylor Daugherty and can be found in other books and publications.
Her antler basketry is frequently selected for juried art shows, traveling exhibits, and art gallery exhibitions.
As Seen in National Craft, Antique & Small Business Books
These fine authors either featured my work or requested my craft and marketing expertise in the following books:
- HOMEMADE MONEY-STARTING SMART! and HOMEMADE MONEY-BRINGING IN THE BUCKS! by Barbara Brabec, 2005
- YELLOW PAGES, by Ralph & Terry Kovel, 2005
- THE BEST HOME BUSINESSES FOR PEOPLE 50+ by Paul and Sarah Edwards, 2004
- SIX STEPS TO FREE PUBLICITY, by Marcia Yudkin, 2003
- 101 BEST HOME-BASED BUSINESSES FOR WOMEN, by Priscilla Y. Huff, 2002
- HANDMADE FOR PROFIT! by Barbara Brabec,2002.
- PRICING GUIDELINES FOR YOUR ARTS & CRAFTS, by Sylvia Landman, 2000
- SMALL TOWN MINNESOTA FROM A to Z, by Tony Andersen, 2000
- SPLINT WOVEN BASKETRY by Robin Dougherty, 1999
- KOVEL’S GUIDE to SELLING, BUYING, and FIXING YOUR ANTIQUES and COLLECTIBLES, by Ralph & Terry Kovel, 1995
Business Changes and Relocation to Angora, Minnesota
In 2002, we sold our building in Zumbro Falls, MN, and closed the business there to relocate to northeastern Minnesota, where we purchased 120 acres.
Angora, Minnesota, is near Cook, the Gateway to Lake Vermilion, just outside the northwestern boundary of the Iron Range, and only 70 miles south of International Falls, MN, at the Canadian border.
Although I’ve limited the number of chair caning and wicker repair jobs I commit to, I’ve been teaching several classes both in the state and across the country, exhibiting in regional and national galleries.
We built a huge studio/garage on our property where I do the wicker repair, chair caning repair and create my antler basketry. I have offered some weaving classes and private instruction here, too, but prefer to teach at outside venues.
Although I retired from the day-to-day activity of chair caning and wicker restoration in 2013, I continue to teach my crafts and develop and market the antler basket patterns and my deer antler baskets here on my website.
Relocating to Hudson, Wisconsin
Update: After staying in Angora for seven years following hubby’s passing, I sold the 120-acre property in northern Minnesota in 2019.
The kids encouraged me to move south again, so I moved to Wisconsin to be close to my daughter and her family and my son and his family in Minneapolis.
In 2020, I purchased a 16 ft. x 12 ft. brand-new Old Hickory Building she-shed, painted in my favorite colors: sage green with cream-colored trim and maroon accents.
And with the help of my son-in-law, who insulated, wired, and installed the wallboard, the she-shed quickly became my favorite weaving studio space.
Happy Weaving to you all!