BASKET FOR TOYS MADE OF TWIGS

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Toys! For a small child, they are of great importance. He spends a lot of time with them. He can even consider them alive. This is his wealth, his treasure! Through them he cognizes the world. And it would be foolish to underestimate their importance in the life of the baby and treat them carelessly. Toys must be kept clean, periodically inspect them for damage. And it would be nice if they were stored in a special basket, and not in a box from under the TV. A beloved bunny or teddy bear cannot live in an old box. Therefore, we offer you to weave a basket for toys from vines. Made from environmentally friendly materials, it will decorate the interior of any room and bring joy to children.

For work you will need such materials

1. Plywood sheet measuring 40x60 cm.
2. Drill, drill, nail, hammer, simple pencil and ruler.
3. Bamboo sticks with a diameter of 4 mm and a height of 30-45 cm.
4. Glue for wood or superglue.
5. Long rods of weeping willow.
6. Twigs of shrubby willow.
7.3 m decorative twisted rope made of sea grass. You can buy it in large construction supermarkets.
8. Varnish for opening wooden water-based products and a brush.
9. A piece of cotton fabric with a children's pattern measuring 1.5x1.5 m.
10.2.15 m of lace and 1.5 m of elastic.

Getting started weaving a basket for toys

1. Take a sheet of plywood measuring 40x60 cm and a thickness of 1 cm. Its corners should be rounded. Mark on the end of the plywood the holes for the pigtail of the vine that will adorn it. The holes should be 2 cm apart and have a diameter of 3.5 mm. The “braid” bend will have 4 rods in the upper waves and 6 rods in the lower ones. In each hole you need to insert 2 twigs of shrubby vine. The bend "braid" begins with weaving 4 rods. Therefore, in the place of its beginning, three holes should be marked three times as close as possible to each other. These pairs of holes will be 2 cm apart, like other single holes. In each hole, make a dent with a nail and a hammer. This will facilitate the drilling process.

2. On the surface of the plywood bottom for the basket, you also need to mark the holes for the main racks. Their diameter will correspond to the diameter of bamboo sticks, as they will serve as racks in the basket for toys. Mark them with a pencil and a ruler at a distance of 3 cm from each other.

3. Drill the marked holes. Their depth at the end of the plywood will be approximately 1-1.5 cm. It is better not to make holes on the surface of the plywood so that the bottom of the basket has a beautiful, smooth appearance.
4. Weave the “braid” bend at the end of the plywood bottom.
5. Take the bamboo sticks and place them on the glue in the holes drilled on the surface of the plywood. Let the glue dry. We took bamboo sticks 30 cm long. This is not very convenient, since the basket will be higher and bamboo racks will have to be built up during the weaving process. Well, if you find on sale similar sticks with a height of 40-45 cm.
6. Take 3 long willow twigs and wrap them one at a time in three racks. Weave 3 ropes around the bamboo racks.
7. When the height of the rope reaches 5 cm, proceed to layer-by-layer weaving of 5 rods. To do this, get 5 long willow twigs for each rack and weave 25 cm upwards in a layered weave. We took here rods of weeping willow so that on the inner surface of the toy basket we get as little as possible extensions of rods. Although you can get by with shorter rods of shrubby willow.

8. Having finished layer-by-layer weaving in 5 rods, weave a couple of rows with a simple line weaving with a rope from sea grass.
9. Now step back 4 cm and again weave 2 rows with the same rope. 4 cm of bare bamboo racks form a kind of squares, which in the future will serve as basket handles.
10. Braid 2 cm up with a rope of 3 rods.
11. Firmly fasten the ends of the rope and proceed to building up the racks for bending the "rod" of three pairs of rods. To do this, cut the bamboo racks and grow in front of them one at a time from the rods of shrubby willow. The rods need to be deep. So that they reach right down to the lower rows, woven from a rope of sea grass.
12. Weave the bend of the "rod" of three pairs of rods.
13. Basket weaving is completed. Open it with water-based varnish. It is not as toxic as solvent based varnish. Therefore, it is often used to open children's furniture.

14. While the varnish is drying, sew a lining for the basket. The fabric lining plays an important role in the toy basket. It closes the places where the twigs were growing, and thereby protects children's fingers from unpleasant contact with them. Also, the lining prevents the basket itself from becoming dirty. If necessary, the lining can be removed and washed at any time. Simply cut the fabric so that its parts fit the dimensions of the inside of the basket and expand slightly upward. Leave a couple of centimeters at the seams. Also add 10 cm to the height of the lining. This is necessary so that it can be bent outside the basket and fixed on it with an elastic band.

15. Having sewed all the cut parts, you will get a kind of bag. Bend and stitch its edges so that you get a hole for the elastic.
16. Tighten the elastic in the bag.
17. Sew lace around the perimeter of the lining.