Morning Star Traders
520-881-2112
PO Box 43370
Tucson, AZ 85733
  • Home
  • Shop
    • Antique Jewelry >
      • Bracelets
      • Earrings
      • Necklaces & Bolos
      • Belt Buckles
      • Concho Belts
      • Pins & Pendants
      • Rings
      • Vintage Fred Harvey
      • Vintage Mexican
      • Misc. Native American Made
    • Fetishes
    • Pottery
    • Baskets
    • Rugs & Blankets
    • Decorative Arts >
      • Cowboys and Indians
      • Religious Art
      • Kachina's and More
      • Mexican Decorative Arts
      • All Decorative Arts
    • Antique Furniture >
      • Antique Furniture
      • New Mexico/WPA
      • Lighting
    • Paintings
    • Books
  • Featured Artists
    • Wilson Jim
    • Anderson Koinva
    • Vintage Patania
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Special Events

Indian Basket Making

Baskets made by Indians of the Southwest tell a great deal about their way of life. They made baskets out of many different materials, in many shapes, and for many uses. The main materials were always the grasses and plants from the area were they lived. There were enormous baskets for storing nuts and grain, large burden baskets which were slung on their backs to carry heavy loads, flat baskets for serving food, a variety of bowl shapes to hold corn, pollen or beads, deep basket bowls to cook food, and  bottle-shaped baskets to hold small seeds or, with a coating of pitch, to carry water. 

Morning Star Traders stocks an extensive collection of Old Apache, Tohono O'Odham, Pima, Hopi, Seri, and other baskets in our Tucson store.  Shop online for baskets here.


A way of life
They were made with a variety of techniques and decorated with designs and colors that transformed many of them into decorative works of art. Baskets have always been hand crafted, without the use of any mechanical conveniences.  Since early times, a knife or other cutting implement and a simple awl were all that was needed to make most kinds of baskets, but the most important tools have always been the weavers hands, used along with their teeth and fingernails.

The essential ingredients in basketry continue to be the ingenuity and manual skills of the weavers. Making baskets is a time-consuming and arduous task. The survival of the craft through thousands of years is surely an indication of the usefulness of baskets and the satisfactions they provide both their makers and users.

Today in the Southwest, some tribes still make small quantities of baskets while others make almost none. In recent years modern manufactured goods have supplanted baskets in daily use, but some native people continue to make baskets for ritual and ceremonial purposes, and to sell to the tourist trade. Knowledge and training are required to make good baskets. Besides a thorough grounding in technique, weavers must have a broad understanding of native plant materials, where they can be procured, and how to prepare them for weaving.



Morning Star Traders

Retail Store
​2029 E. 14th St.
Tucson, AZ 85719
Mailing Address
PO Box 43370
​Tucson, AZ 85733
Email Us
Terms & Conditions
Join Our Mailing List
Sitemap
Instagram
© COPYRIGHT 2022 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Antique Jewelry | Bracelets | Earrings | Necklaces & Bolos | Belts & Buckles | Pins & Pendants | Rings | Native American Pottery | Native American Baskets
Navajo Rugs & Blankets | Zuni Fetishes | Mexican Decorative Arts | Religious Art | Miscellaneous Decorative Arts | Antique New Mexico/WPA Furniture
Antique Spanish and Spanish Colonial Furniture | Antique Spanish Colonial Style Furniture | Paintings | Books | Wilson Jim Jewelry
Anderson Koinva Jewelry | Vintage Fred Harvey Jewelry | Vintage Patania Jewelry | About Us | Special Events