We’ve all seen wicker furniture, right?

And I’ve always been a bit of a fan of the woven stuff.

But just two weekends ago, I rolled on over to the Pierce College Flea Market and found the cutest little wicker chair.  For 15 dollars, y’all!! And besides the fact that I have 99 projects, I can’t help myself to one more like this!  My dear, where shall we put you?!?!

And it was funny as I was trying to tell my GF what I bought because I said, “You know wicker, or rattan or woven something or other!”  My brain just got all twisted up about the stuff.  So I kinda figured that maybe that may have happened to you too!

Wicker is like the mother category – it’s a piece, usually furniture or baskets,  woven from branches, roots, stalks, and now, plastics made to look like the plant stuff.  Pretty wide spread category, huh?!

(Wanna check out this nursery?  Here and SO fabulous!)

Anyway, so wicker has been around forever.  Seriously.  Since pharaoh times.

Here are some quick examples of different kinds of wicker; Reed, Bamboo, Rattan…

Rattan refers to a special category of palms that have thin stems.  The plant looks more like a vine than like an actual tree and it’s not hollow, like bamboo.  Is any of this important?  Probably not, but it’s cool to be smart.

Rattans are used to make furniture and that furniture is called wicker.  Phew!

So, what’s chair caning?  Well, that’s the physical skill of applying cane material to the backs or seats of chairs.  Confused yet?

Well, whatever it’s called I love the casual nature of wicker… and the limitless possibilities!  The texture it adds is pretty hard to beat.

Now I’m interested in a few wicker repair tips.  Got any?  One of  these days I’ll be fixing up my latest chair obsession find!!

Happy Creating!!  Jessica