Small Carrot Rattle Basket - by Pam outdusis Cunningham: Penobscot

Description

These great little Native American made carrot baskets are also rattles, - by Pam Outdusis Cunningham, master Penobscot basketmaker.
These are handmade so there is variation.  They are between 6.25" - 6.75" long.  The orange carrot is about 1/2" diameter and about 3" - 3.25" long.  The green leaves are about 3.25"-3.75" long.  Some leaves flare out more than others... - at top the leaves are between 1.25"-2.25" in diameter.
Woven of brown ash splints, the traditional basketry material of Wabanaki basketmakers -  Wabanaki Confederacy includes Abenaki, Maliseet, MicMac ("Mi'kmaq" Canadian spelling), Passamaquoddy and Penobscot...  5 tribes living in what is now Vermont, Maine and Eastern Canada.
Carrot rattle baskets can be tied onto the ribbon of a wrapped present, used as part of a personally made baby mobile, as part of a Thanksgiving cornucopia, hung on your Christmas tree, used for Easter decorations -  or just displayed alone or with your basketry collection
Pam Outdusis Cunningham makes many basket forms - these are among her smallest and most affordable.  Pam has placed actual dried corn kernels inside the carrots to product the rattle.
Made of entirely of brown ash, the traditional material of Maine and Eastern Canadian basketmakers.
There are more of Pam's beloved basket styles in this ebay store  - blueberries, pinecones, mini-corn, small corn, pumpkins, prayer baskets, sewing baskets, a gorgeous sea urchin basket and more....... (AND - a few "corn rattles" similar to these carrot rattles are available - look for them in this store)
Second to last photo is of Pam snowshoeing next to her beloved Penobscot River, across from her home.  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.