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The process begins by choosing a design or standard pattern including shape and size. Materials are also gathered or purchased, and the necessary tools for working those materials are assembled. If the fibers are such that they need to be soaked, then soaking is done in advance of basket making, depending on the nature of the fiber. Fibers are also dyed in advance of weaving or coiling. If the design calls for a wood base, the base is shaped, and holes are bored in the wood to accommodate the spokes forming the sides of the basket. A basket is built from the ground up. Its base or bottom is made first. For a round basket with a flat bottom (as an example of any of hundreds of types of baskets that may be manufactured), the base is made by laying out a series of spokes that are stiff and work like rods to support more flexible woven material. Other rods called weavers are woven in and out among the spokes; the weavers are lighter, thinner, and more flexible, so that they can...
