Flowing Water 3 pattern

This double weave storage basket was made by Eva Wolfe, a Cherokee basket weaver who received national honors later in her life. Storage baskets such as these were used to store foodstuffs and household goods. The double weave makes for a tight basket; some double weave baskets can even hold water. The double weave is a complex traditional technique mastered by only the most accomplished Cherokee basket weavers. This basket was woven from rivercane that was dyed using walnut for the brown color and bloodroot for the orange diagonal bands running across the outside of the basket. Rivercane, walnut, and bloodroot are native plants of the region. The pattern in this basket appears to be a unique adaptation of the Flowing Water (or Flowing River) design, with intersecting diagonals running along the inside and outside of the basket. Eva Wolfe was born in 1922 and lived in the Soco community on the Qualla Indian Boundary. She learned to make baskets from her mother and later learned the complex double weave technique.