Tiger Maple Picnic Basket

Lagasse-PicnicBasket3
Originally uploaded by amyshaw.

Amidst all this snow and wind today, let us think for a moment about summertime picnics!

Ray Lagasse of Lempster, NH, makes the kind of generous, beautiful, useful baskets that will inspire you to prepare lovely light suppers to carry to the park, the way a nice big copper pot can encourage hearty batches of soup.

His trademark is the special hardwood he uses for the interior bottoms and, as in this case, the tops of his sturdy baskets. They are just exactly what a good basket should look like, feel like, and serve like, but they have the added
value of a peculiarly gentle beauty. Something about them reminds me of the grace of spotting a deer in the forest.

This particular double-hinged picnic basket (click here for slideshow) that we just brought in yesterday has the most handsome piece of dark tiger maple we've ever seen. It is rich and ribbony and has more character than you'd think a piece of wood could. The photos in the slideshow don't do it justice, but they hint at the idea.

The interior bottom of the basket is nothing to sneeze at, either. It's made of 4 panes of bird's eye maple and some lighter tiger maple fastened with brass tacks. It vividly speaks to the care and attention Ray gives to his work that the bottom should be so fine.

All of the wood is polished smooth with non-toxic, all-natural Block Oil. And the piece is signed and dated on one of the protective bottom runners.

We have a number of other baskets in different sizes and shapes as well, including a deep wool-gathering basket, a jaunty round serving tray, and an elegant longer piece called the double-pie basket (because it's made to fit two pies side by side -- very holiday handy!) We also have a wine basket made with a long harness leather-covered handle designed to carry 2 bottles.

Come check them out at Greenjeans!