T's Tote
Workshop | Registration opens 12/2/2025 10:00 AM CST
Learn the craft of basket weaving with Billy Owens, a second-generation basket maker. You will construct a tote bag with leather handles using hand split white oak prepared by hand, using heirloom homemade tools. The tote bags are on a herringbone bottom; you will weave them on a mold and add long leather handles suitable to carry over the shoulder. You will learn how timber is selected and stripped to build this beautiful piece of Ozark Tradition.
Billy Owens
Billy (Jenkins, MO) is a second-generation White Oak basket maker from the Ozark mountains of Southern Missouri. He travels the country teaching and sharing this tradition since 1999. Billy was recently honored at the Smithsonian "Folk Life Festival" in Washington, DC. He displays baskets at the Missouri Botanical Gardens in St. Louis.