Make your own Chip Basket
Wooden punnets called chip baskets were once made at two factories in Edenbridge. They were used to hold mushrooms and soft fruit such as strawberries. Chip baskets were woven from strips of veneer (or ‘chips’), in either poplar or willow and stapled together.
You can read all about Chip Baskets here
Creating your own chip basket (as your great grandparents may have done) is an easy and fun activity, why not try it?
You will need:
2 sheets of A4 coloured construction paper
tin foil
Sellotape
2 paper fasteners
pair of scissors
stapler
Instructions
Print templates A and B onto construction paper and cut out all the pieces. You will have 3 long strips, 5 shorter strips, 2 shapes, 2 border pieces and a handle (the shortest strip)
Fold along the dotted lines on each strip. Weave the strips from template A into a lattice. Adjust the strips so that they are equidistant on all four sides.
Secure the strips together with Sellotape as shown, leaving the 4 corners free.
Staple the two shapes from template B inside each end of the basket. Curl the shapes inwards to fit and staple in place, leaving a 1 cm gap between strips at each corner. The sides of the basket should lean out slightly.
Join the 2 strips of equal length from template B with Sellotape to make a long border. Staple the border in place through all thicknesses around the outside of the basket
Fold along the dotted lines of the smallest strip from template B. Wrap the strip in tin foil with the least shiny side outermost to make a handle. Position the handle on the basket and ask an adult to make a hole either side through all thicknesses. Secure the handle in place using brass paper fasteners.
