Dani Tippmann's Elm Bark Baskets

Abstract

Myaamia artisan Dani Tippmann makes baskets out of elm bark. Making bark baskets was once common throughout the Great Lakes region. A member of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma, Dani is a descendant of Chief Richardville. The style of basket she makes was commonly used to store maple sugar. Dani began making these bark baskets after seeing a 1910 photograph of Kiilhsoohkwa (the granddaughter of famed Miami leader Little Turtle) with a basket made in this distinctive style.

Spring is the best time to remove the bark of the red elm tree because the cohesion between the bark and the sapwood is less than in other times. While the tree is still alive and standing, Dani uses a hatchet to chop a series of x-slits around its circumference near its base. Then she climbs a ladder and repeats the process as high as she can reach and still be below the elm tree’s branches. She then cuts a perpendicular slit connecting the two rings of x-cuts. Then, with a spud, a homemade tool flat on one side and rounded on the other, she carefully pries the bark loose from the sapwood. With pops and cracks, the bark peals away from the tree. Once removed, Dani carries the bark home to begin her craft, exposing the elm's trunk. The tree will die and will be cut for firewood in winter.

Back home in her garage, Dani lays the pliable bark flat and cuts a rectangular section that will be the basket's body. Using a drawknife, she scrapes the flaky outer bark away, revealing the red inner bark, and then with a knife, cuts three slits on two facing sides. Carefully folding the sides up and locking the slits together, the bark bends into a four-sided box, which she holds together with clamps. Then Dani uses an auger to make two rows of holes that straddle the seams of the basket, cuts several narrow strips of bark, and proceeds to sew the basket together. Once stitched tight, Dani wraps the basket’s rim with split dogwood or green wood to protect the opening.