Carolina bamboo is now offering private and group Kuboo basket classes!
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 Spartanburg County the price will depend on mileage. Contact us for a quote to travel.
- Choose how many people are participating. You can have a solo private class, or you can bring friends. The limit is 10 people per class. In a group larger than ten, people tend to get frustrated waiting for help from one instructor. (Six is the ideal number of people)
- Note: We don’t offer discounts for more people because this actually makes it more difficult for instructing purposes and requires more material preparation. This is why six people is the recommended amount. We certainly can instruct up to 10, but a larger group splits the instructors attention amongst more people. This maximum number is fluid, and can change with an experienced group of students.
- Decide on what level of instruction and amount of skills you would like to acquire.
- You can make a basket with all of the materials already prepared by our instructor. 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 could include harvesting kudzu from the wilds of Spartanburg 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 bamboo canes from their property. This would result in using green bamboo, which we would harvest and split immediately.
- 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). This can 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 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 shown in the first picture at the top of this article, and it is made from split bamboo and kuzu. A 12″ diameter basket (second picture above) will cost $105. These are circular baskets. You can also choose to make up to a 24″ diameter basket that could function as a laundry hamper, or weave a backpack basket. Keep in mind that baskets larger than 12″ diameter pricing will vary based on what you want, but you can expect to spend around $125 if you choose to weave an oversized basket. We’d have to consult on your project to determine pricing if you want to weave beyond 12″ in diameter.
- 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 the below video to get an idea of what is involved in processing bamboo for basketry. The video features Aaron splitting bamboo down to 1/64th splits for use in basketry.
- Super-refined bamboo splits 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 dyed bamboo and kuzu. Currently we just use Rit Brand dye (a chemical dye), but we are looking into making natural dyes available (indigo). With Rit dye you can choose from many color options. If you select from what we already have dyed and available, there will be a $10 additional fee, but if you want us to dye materials beforehand for your project, there will be a fee of $20 or more, depending on the amount of requested materials.
- To sum up the intricate 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 the amount of time that will be required of our instructor.
- Contact Aaron at aa***@************oo.org to get the process started.
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