A bench brush, hand-bound in coloured nylon cord against a strip of oak bark tanned leather. A thin strip of woven oak is set into the handle as a quiet nod to Simon's other craft.
Tampico is a natural plant fibre drawn from Mexican Agave and Yucca species. It is stiff enough to lift dust and crumb from a workbench, a kitchen counter, a window ledge; softer than its arenga counterpart, which suits it to surfaces that don't want a scour.
The brush is made to hang. The leather strap is for the hook. The point of having one is to see it.
The oak strip ties this small brush back to oak swill, the basketry tradition Simon keeps alive: split, cleaved, dressed, woven by hand. Both crafts are rare.
Simon Cooper · The Bumbling BasketeerA bench brush, hand-bound in coloured nylon cord against a strip of oak bark tanned leather. A thin strip of woven oak is set into the handle as a quiet nod to Simon's other craft.
Tampico is a natural plant fibre drawn from Mexican Agave and Yucca species. It is stiff enough to lift dust and crumb from a workbench, a kitchen counter, a window ledge; softer than its arenga counterpart, which suits it to surfaces that don't want a scour.
The brush is made to hang. The leather strap is for the hook. The point of having one is to see it.
The oak strip ties this small brush back to oak swill, the basketry tradition Simon keeps alive: split, cleaved, dressed, woven by hand. Both crafts are rare.
Simon Cooper is the only oak swill basket maker left in Scotland. He works from a single room in Crieff, splitting coppiced oak with a cleaver, soaking the strips, weaving them while still wet, the same way the form has been built for four hundred years.
Simon Cooper is the only oak swill basket maker left in Scotland. He works from a single room in Crieff, splitting coppiced oak with a cleaver, soaking the strips, weaving them while still wet, the same way the form has been built for four hundred years.
