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Even though my garage is still too cold to use for long, I have the well-heated community shop, which will do in a pinch. I made up a batch of mini baskets, using adaptations of larger patterns, just to have some fun. They were more time-consuming that they look, but were a nice break from regular stuff. The coin is a quarter. I don't know if I can make them nickel-sized without using the Hegner, but it might be fun to try.

Please read the instructions

The current Holiday supplement that Scroll Saw Woodworking & Crafts magazine sends with a 2-year subscription (and is also available separately) contains plans for a collapsible basket similar to the one pictured. I wanted to make the entire basket from a single 8" x 8" piece of wood, and used scrap left over from the main cutting for the base strips. So far, so good.

What I didn't anticipate is that people would not read Step 2 all the way through, to the part that says to save the scraps for the base strips. If you don't do that, then it will appear that no wood is provided for them. If I knew this was likely to be a problem, I would have highlighted that part in boldface or italics, but who knew?

So, if you've tried to make the basket and are wondering where to get the wood for the strips, just check back to Step 2.

It's a really neat project, and a great way to use up scraps. It also works well when made from a single piece of wood.