How to Stain, Wax, Varnish Baskets

The wood stains that can be used for basketry are similar in action to the basic dyes, and most of the directions on the bottles or cans in which they are marketed call for alcohol as a thinning agent. A stain without varnish is better. Those with varnish dry unpleasantly shiny, and are more difficult to apply.

Wood-stain colors cannot be mixed with entire surety of success. Sometimes mud is the result of mixing. However, they do not, as a rule, need it. Most of them are pleasing. The mahogany, however, is usually too red to give that brown-red the Japanese get in their bamboo baskets, so a very little green stain and a more generous addition of oak must be mixed with it. The "forest green" or the most brilliant green among those in the color samples, is the kind to use for this mixing. If a number of baskets are to be stained different colors, a pint or a half-pint each of dark mahogany, forest green, and dark-oak stain is a selection that will give the greatest variety with the least initial outlay of colors.

A surface finish will improve a basket, whether it is dyed or stained. White floor wax that can be bought under the name of prepared wax will give the surface a dull gloss and is easily applied. When the basket is dry rub a thin coat of wax into the fiber with a stiff brush. A cheap clothes-brush is best for the purpose, because the bristles are fine and close-set, but a small scrubbing-brush will do. Only a very thin waxing is necessary, and no particles must remain lodged in the crevices of the weaving. It should be allowed to dry at least one hour before attempting to polish the surface; in fact, overnight drying is better because the wax will then have plenty of time to soak into the fiber. Polishing can be done with the waxing-brush, and the friction will not only bring out a dull gloss, but will rub off many of the loose surface fibers. Reed gets particularly fuzzy when it is water-dyed. If the surface of a basket is very rough and shredded, a singeing before the wax is applied will improve it. This is done over a flame in the same way that a fowl is singed.

Flat-drying varnish may be used instead of wax. It does not, however, bring out the grain of the material as wax does. Quite the contrary, it fills it in, and so for a dyed or stained basket it is not so satisfactory. But for one with a painted surface varnish is best. Be sure to get the flat-drying kind, or too much shine will be the result. White shellac is also good, though more expensive.

Continue: Painting Baskets.