Flowing Water pattern 2

This rivercane tray was woven by Rowena Bradley in the double weave technique, making a tight basket. Double weave baskets are sometimes waterproof. Trays such as these were used to store dried foodstuffs or small possessions. The rivercane splints were dyed using walnut to achieve a brown color and bloodroot was used for the orange. Both plants are native the region and are traditionally used as dyes for baskets. The pattern in the basket is Flowing Water (or Flowing River) with intersecting diagonals on both the inside and outside of the basket. Born in 1922 in the Swimmer Branch Community of the Qualla Indian Boundary, as a child, Rowena Bradley learned to weave baskets by watching her mother. Later her mother taught her thte complex double weave technique. Bradley is a third-generation basket weaver, both her grandmother, Mary Dobson, and her mother, Nancy George Bradley, were accomplished basket weavers. Basketmaking was a family tradition; Bradley's father, Henry Bradley, gathered rivercane and dug roots for dye materials.