Carolina bamboo is now offering private and group Kuboo basket classes! Read on for the details.
There are plenty of options. You can come to us or we can come to you. This article will provide most of the details you will need in order to plan a basket class with us.
- Decide on location. Do you want us to travel to you? Within Spartanburg county there will be a $50 travel fee. Outside of sptbg county the price will depend on mileage. Contact us for a quote to travel beyond sptbg county. It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyways, there is no travel fee if you come to us.
- How many people? You can have a solo private class, or you can bring friends. The limit is 10 people per class. More than ten and people get frustrated waiting for help. 6 is the ideal number of people.
- We don’t offer discounts for more people because more people actually makes it more difficult for instructing purposes. This is why 6 is the recommended amount. We certainly can instruct up to 10, but it splits the instructors attention amongst more people…hence the waiting part.
- Decide on what level of instruction and amount of skills you would like to acquire.
- you can just make a basket with all of the materials already prepared by our instructor (Aaron, the resident Kuboo Wizard). This means you just make the basket without any material preparation required on your part.
- you can learn how to harvest and/or process kudzu. This would be harvesting kudzu from the wilds of sptbg county (or wherever you are located)
- you can learn bamboo harvesting and splitting. We can do this with any type of bamboo. We just need permission from the grove owner to harvest some canes. This would result in using green bamboo as we would harvest and split immediately.
- adding more skills to the experience results in paying more. It is just a function of time, but it won’t break the bank. We are committed to teaching folks all about bamboo and kudzu culture, or as we like to say “Kuboo culture” (The Japanese word for kudzu is “kuzu”, and “kuboo” is our word for both). Price for this will depend on how many people you have and how many skills you want to learn. This can easily turn into a multiple day venture. It could even turn into a regular apprenticeship. But it can also just be as simple as one class where you just make a basket.
- Pricing
- To just make a basket with all materials already prepared starts at $50 per student and goes up from there depending on material options and size of the basket. $50 is a “six egg” basket similar to the one Aaron is holding pictured at the top of this article, and it is made from split bamboo and kuzu. A 12″ diameter basket (second picture above) will cost $75. These are circular baskets. You can make up to a 24″ diameter basket that could function as a laundry hamper. You could also make a backpack basket. Bigger than 12″ diameter pricing will vary based on what you want, but you can expect to spend around $125. We’d have to consult on your project to determine pricing.
- if you want to add super refined bamboo strips it will cost more and that cost will depend on the size of the basket. Have a look at video below to get an idea of what all is involved in processing bamboo for basketry. The video features Aaron splitting bamboo down to 1/64th splits for use in basketry
- Super-refined boo will add a minimum of $15 for a small basket, and prices go up from there depending on size and amount of super- refined boo you want to use.
- We also offer died bamboo and kuzu. Currently we just use rit dye (a chemical dye), but we are looking into making natural dyes available (indigo). With rit dye you can have pretty much any color. If you select from what we already have dyed and available it will just be a $10 add on, but if you want us to dye for your project it will be $20 and up depending on amount.
- to sum up the pricing fiasco…$50 per student is an entry level basket. From there you can spend as much as you want and price will depend on the amount of skills, materials, and therefore time that will be required of our instructor
- contact Aaron at aa***@************oo.org to get the process started.
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