Wet to revitalize?
 

Is it true?, heard/read it somewhere....if you have woven baskets or even cane seated chairs, these should be wetted and dried at least once a year to keep them from drying out and breaking weave......just found a very unusual woven large carrier with cover at an estate sale and wonder if I should do this......was told this was purchased in India awhile back...that's all that is known........Or is there something else that can be used to keep woven things supple.....

I know cane seats last longer without a varnish on them but, haven't heard about wetting them. I know the straw basket that are sold at quilt shows are shipped flat, wetted and shaped. The couple that sells them at our show says to wet them once a year. They are made out of some type of straw.

I have heard that about baskets, makes sense for cane as well.

Baskets made from real reeds need water. I dip mine in water and let air dry about once a year. My grandmother had cane seat chairs for her kitchen table and she would use the water hose to spray the chairs every summer.

Yep! Give them a drink once a year. I made baskets for years and always had to soak the reeds in order to weave them.

Thanks for the positive answers to my ??....... I do have a cane seated old chair that I did have recaned a while back and I do give it a big drink of water each summer...so now I will add this lovely basket, and a few more I own......

"modern" baskets can be washed in mild soapy water ( garlicky butter spots) but DO NOT wet old (25+/-years) Native American baskets, a museum curator told me the molecules change and the plant material (cellulose) may dissolve
into mush!!!

Yes I also made baskets for a few years and sold them. I only used reed, not ash or oak, and they did need to be wet in order to weave them, otherwise they would break. It certainly wouldn't hurt to wet them once a year. I do it mainly to clean them and get rid of the dust.

The man who repairs my cane bottom chairs told me to wet the seat once a year to keep it from drying out.