Kishie Baskets And Their Making

 "A kishie is a traditional Shetland basket made from plant materials.  Up in Shetland there aren’t many willow trees that are so useful in basket-making. That meant, in the past, Shetlanders had to craft baskets and creels from other materials like oat straw, soft rushes, docken, marram grass and even heather. " ... Click here to go to source

From Woven Communities 
Basketmaking Communities in Scotland
http://wovencommunities.org/how-to-make/kishies/

"Kishie Materials There are basically only two functions required of kishie making materials:

• The first material must be suitable to twine into a rope that has a suitable combination of strength and durability whilst still retaining a pliable quality. The materials preferred for kishie simmens would be soft rush (juncus conglomeratus or effusus); cleaned straw (gloi) avena strigosa; or marram grass (bent). Other materials can no doubt be used but these are the ones commonly used and of known suitability. 
• The second material must be suitable to form the structure of the kishie these hjogs or een form the vertical stakes. The most common materials for use as hjogs are either gloi (cleaned Shetland Aet straw) or dock weed stalks. The Shetland Aet straw is both long and supple and preferable to modern “white” oat straw which is shorter and more brittle. Dock stalks are used dried hard after being cut in August/September and cleaned of leaves/seed heads. These need to be soaked preferably in salt water prior to use.

HOW TO MAKE A KISHIE: CLICK HERE