About

We have been making Nantucket Lightship baskets for about twenty years. While living in Northern Virginia, we occasionally displayed and sold baskets at local craft shows, and in an Artisans gallery. In 1996, the year we won our first award, we were invited to travel to Novgorod, Russia, to demonstrate Nantucket Basket techniques, and to participate in an International Cultural Festival. That same year, we were invited to teach Nantucket baskets in three different locations in Australia, Lorraine’s home country. Since moving to Florida, we have won numerous awards for our work, the most prestigious being the Award of Excellence at the 2007 Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival.

Gene does all the preparation work on the baskets, turning bases, lids and pedestals; cutting, sanding and shaping ribs; setting up molds; and forming rims. After setting up the ribs (staves) on the molds, Lorraine weaves the body of the basket, then turns it back to Gene for rimming. Once Lorraine has laced the rime, Gene then does all the finishing. This entails final sanding of the wood, adding several coats of oil, and finally, each basket is lacquered using a gloss polyurethane. We offer a wide variety of designs and sizes, including miniatures.

We regularly hold classes, give demonstrations and make presentations on the history and evolution of the Nantucket Lightship basket.