Beautiful work Jack and and interesting subject that is dear to my heart.
I have heard folks joking about others majoring in basket weaving in college and just shake my head. Preparing materials and weaving quality baskets is a skill that few ever master.
Our ancestors used hand made baskets made from materials that were available in their area for a variety of tasks. I still have one of my Mother's split white oak baskets that she used to gather eggs and vegetables from the garden and fruit from the orchard. The wooden handle broke and she fashioned a new handle using baling wire. Our first hay bailer used wire, not twine.
Most hand made baskets made now are more of an art form than utilitarian. My ex and I taught basket weaving classes using mostly imported rattan but I did split white oak for the handles which made our offering unique. We offered a variety of shapes, sizes and colors and at the end of the one day class, every student had a completed basket. We kept the methods as simple as possible but some students needed lots of help to complete the project.
I eventually carried it a step further and used white oak for the weavers as well as the handles and we taught a few classes where the students helped prep the material. Our oak baskets were somewhere closer to utilitarian than true works of art.
Someone mentioned pine needle baskets in GA from long leaf pine and long leaf pine is also used in NC. SC has sweetgrass baskets an in the Northeast, ash is a commonly used material and Nantucket the predominant style. Basket making is not as simple as lots of folks think it is.
Here is a few of my oak baskets and a miniature draw knife and froe. The basket on the right in the first pic is a herringbone weave and is one of the solid oak baskets that we taught. The small rectangular basket on the left behind the miniature froe is another oak basket that we taught.
These next two, I bought from a couple as I do not have the patience or skill to produce such exquisite quality. The oblong is about 4" long and the round or egg shape is about 3" in diameter. They alternated the use of heart wood and live wood to create the color bands in the weave. Museum quality baskets woven on oak staves with oak weavers about the thickness of a piece of notebook paper. The detail is incredible!