ABSTRACT
Plaiting denotes a sub-class of basket weaves in which all elements are active. Single elements or sets of elements, called strips, pass over and under each other at a more or less fixed angle (about ninety degrees), without any other form of engagement. For this reason, plaited basketry is technically unsewn. Generally, all the elements in a given specimen are the same composition and possess the same degree of flexibility. In some instances, however, two sets with widely divergent degrees of flexibility may be employed. Plaiting with notably rigid elements is sometimes called wickerware, but that term has also been applied to many different types of rigid twining, making it imprecise and taxonomically useless.
