Introduction to Ply-Split Braiding
With Annetta Kraayeveld
This program is part of Handwork 2026, presented by Craft in America
This is a wonderful opportunity to add a new technique to your fiber art adventure – ply-split braiding.
What is Ply- Split Braiding? A technique that originated in northwest India, it has been traditionally used in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan to weave camel girths. In the 1980’s after traveling to India, Peter Collingwood introduced Ply-Split Braiding to the UK, Europe and North America.
This fiber technique continues to be used to make traditional bands and mats; contemporary fiber artists also use the technique to make sculptural and vessel forms.
Working with cords spun by the instructor, students will make a small fiber vessel using one of the main ply-splitting techniques: Single-Course Oblique Twining (SCOT) method. Instructor will demonstrate other ply-split techniques, and finishing techniques.
Students will receive a fid ply split tool, a printed how-to pattern and the materials to make 2 small baskets/vessels- one will be made in class, one at home. Students will have many color choices.
Students will also have the option to purchase additional cords and the instructor’s book, Ply-Split Braiding: Basics and Beyond.
- Skill level All
- Age appropriate 16+ (minors must have a parent on site)
- Materials $60
- Students should bring A small pair of sharp scissors (embroidery scissors); A pair of sharp fabric scissors; note-taking materials; a lunch, and a drink.
Instructor
Annetta KraayeveldIt’s hard for Annetta to remember a time when she was not making something, she is a maker.
In the early 1990’s, she discovered basket weaving after stumbling upon a book and begging for a lesson; she quickly began making baskets, experimenting, and teaching basketry. She has been teaching at fiber arts and basketry gatherings across North America since 2000.
Over the years, Annetta’s work has won several awards and been included in several national exhibits. She currently has work in several exhibits, including Art Evolved: Intertwined (Studio Art Quilt Associates and National Basketry Organization), both the 2024 and 2025 Small Expressions (Handweavers Guild of America) and International Fiber Arts XII (Sebastopol Center for the Arts and Surface Design Association).
Annetta served as the National Basketry Organization Board president in 2022 and 2023. She participated in the World Wicker and Weaving Festival in Poznan, Poland in 2023.
Baskets. What started as a hobby soon became her life’s work. As a teacher, she focuses on mastery, basketry techniques and stretching perceived limits. As a maker, her work is somewhere between traditional and contemporary. Annetta was born and raised on the prairies in Alberta, Canada. After living among the trees in Wisconsin for many years, she is happy to weave and live surrounded by mountains in Helena, Montana.
www.annettakraayeveld.com
www.prairiewoodbasketry.com
