Choose your favorite one from these Four Bean Jar Baskets by Pam Cunningham, master Penobscot basketmaker. - While at "check-out "choose send seller a message" ... from the left ...( Green HAS BEEN SOLD!), Choose from - Maroon, Blue or Purple.
This basket has been woven by Pam over a B&M baked bean jar... This very essence of Maine company made baked beans on the Portland Maine waterfront for over 150 years, processing the beans in a large brick oven and packing them in the traditional round brown glass jars. In August 2021 B&M announced the closing of their iconic processing building and business. No more B&M baked beans or the wonderful old-style B&M jars. -
Throughout her basketmaking career every so often Pam would "cook up/ weave" a bunch of her bean jar baskets... The jars are heavy glass and these baskets make great vases - I use a similar basket jar made by Pam in 1997 to store pens & pencils on my desk. While Pam has made several of her bean jar baskets in different styles and colors - these may be among her last as the jars have already become "collectable" on there own as they will no longer be available.
Bean Jar Baskets are 5" high, 4" widest diameter (shoulder of jar/basket), 3.25" diameter at bottom, 3.5" diameter at top rim and 2.5" diameter at opening. Pam has extended the basket over the jar top to make a wider rim at the top. The rim is of tidal sweetgrass secured with a V shape rim binding of ash splints. Made of brown ash, the traditional material of Maine and Eastern Canadian basketmakers, the basket woven over the jar has plain tidal sweetgrass wrapping the rim of the basket and used as the weavers in the shoulder area of the basket. Most of the basket is woven with brown ash splints and foundation is all brown ash splints.
There are more of Pam's beloved basket styles in this ebay store - you might find strawberries, pinecones, pumpkins, pinecones, mini-corn, small corn, blueberries, prayer baskets, sewing baskets, spectacular sea urchin baskets. ....
Third to last photo in the slideshow is a B&M Bean Jar.... Second to last photo is of Pam dancing the Shawl Dance at the 2019 Penobscot Nation Community Day Festival. Last photo is a pic of Pam's great-grandmother, ssipsis, selling her baskets about 1920. To make some of her basket forms Pam uses some of her ssipsis's basket making tools - gauges, crooked knives and wooden molds. Be sure to view some of Pam's other baskets in this ebay store - you might find pumpkins, corn, strawberry baskets or prayer baskets.