Coil basketry can be as simple or as ornate as you like. Techniques vary quite a lot between cultures, and according to material choice, but also how expedient you wish to make your bakset. The basket I show you how to make in this article is simple kind which doesn't take too long to make and can be made at home or out in the woods. Such baskets would have been extremely useful and important to our ancestors; because the coiled structure is so tight these baskets are ideal for gathering, processing and storing seeds and berries. With the coiling technique you can make baskets of many shapes; vase shaped, bottle shaped, or wide bowl shaped... A quick internet image search for 'African coiled basketry' will reveal some extremely refined and admirable examples. The possibilities for material choice are vast. I simply used hay and inner Elm bark for the basket featured in the tutorial below; as that is what I had to hand at the time. My favourite choice of material for the main core of fibres would be Rushes or Sedges, I particularly like to use the long fronds of Hard Rush or Pendulous Sedge. Pine needles, reeds and many types of grass can also be excellent. Whatever you choose, if the material is freshly cut from growing plants it's best to thoroughly dry it first. Organic materials shrink a lot the first time they dry out, so a basket made from fresh material will become all loose and poor in quality when it dries out later. For the binding material (which is used to bind the layers of coils together) you could use flexible bark fibres such as that from Elm, Willow and Lime; Modern string is perfectly good too.