What tools did Elizabeth Hickox use?

Answer 1

A large darning needle used to split the madenhair fern, a regular sewing needle at the end of the basket and the end of the lid with string to secure the weaving. The thread is the same color of the weaving so it is difficult to see even 100 years later the thread matches perfectly. She also used an iron ring to place on to of the lid to force it down while the baskets were drying to shape them and flatten the lid. While not actually a tool, she also used beans to shape the wet baskets. Traditionally the Native American Indians used wet sand to shape the nearly finished baskets but Elizabeth Hickox did not want to get the baskets dirty from the sand and beans were a great substitute.