I thought, when my daughter was five years old, that I would make the school bag for my children myself. There's still a year to go, so I'll think of something. And in fact I had an idea: in fact, you must be able to weave such a thing, I thought to myself.
Braiding? My daughter was enthusiastic and we got started. That is, first we had to consider everything possible: where to get the beams? How thick and how long they have to be? How do they all stick together at the bottom? And how do they know that they must be much further apart at the top than at the bottom??
We cut the poles on the banks of the river main. Not too dark and as straight as possible they should be. Willow, hazelnut, everything was fine for us. We wondered how many we would need. We took about 20 sticks with us, freed them from branches and leaves and then picked them up in the garden.
"What to do?"
"What to do?", asked an employee of alexander schardt AG. Because if you want to weave, you need material and that is procured in michelau. "A school sausage, soso, dou langd des dunne dou." so quickly we were richer by a bundle of peddigree.
"Only peddig looks boring, mama", my daughter objected. So something else had to be made, something more colorful should decorate the bag – of course in the favorite colors. So we didn't give our knitting dolly any more peace and quiet, and hooked long, thick chains of air stitches.
Staken, peddig, wollketten, allmahlich our collection was complete. Now all that was missing was a roll of bast and a pizza box. Raffia to keep the bottom of the bag tight and holes in the box to keep the top of the bars in the shape of the school bag.
When this blank was finally finished, fixed at the bottom with raffia and at the top with cardboard, i wiped the sweat from my brow and started to buy a schoolmarm made of cardboard. But by then my daughter had already set to work.
Once started, finished in no time
As eagerly as patiently she wove her first and darkest chain of air stitches into the blank at the narrowest point. "Can you hold this?", she asked and held out the pizza box to me. Margherita, I smelled and twisted and squeezed and pulled a little tighter than a child's hands could manage.
A few air stitch chains and peddig thread soaked in water later the school tute held without margherita cardboard and scent. And finally my daughter beamed, because the school mare was rough enough, and
after some like hold actually the edge?-thoughts and thoughts ready.
And she was a hit on the first day of school. "It fits a lot more than mine", said the bench neighbor. "I did not know how to do it, said his mama. "You have to come up with an idea like that", said the teacher. And i wondered. Why shouldn't a child who starts school in the german wicker town of lichtenfels have a woven school mare?? Then my son plucked me by the arm. "Mom, i want to braid my school mare together with you too." so we started again two years later.
Basketry becomes a family tradition
And a few days ago it was time for the third time. My daughter and her brother wove the difficult beginning. She has just as much practice as I do – and definitely more talent. Then she showed him how it's done. I held on like i did at the top, printed and pulled a little and had the scent of margherita in my nose again.
My daughter collects souvenirs from every school year in her school bag. My rough son keeps his school mare on the window sill. "I always see them there", he says.
Today my third child is carrying his school bag across the market square to the elementary school on the market square. Passing the city workers who are just putting up the main stage where the new corbstadt queen will be crowned on saturday.
What's inside? Nothing at all. "I'm not blod and drag all this stuff to school", he says. "I look at what's in it beforehand and then leave it at home."