Pacific Kelp Baskets

Shellac treatment available for water protection

Pacific Kelp Basket Weaver, David Gillingham lives in Seattle, Washington. He collects kelp basket raw materials from beaches along the Pacific Coast of North America from Southern California to Washington State. David is a Marine Biologist with a BS degree in Marine Resources from Western Washington University. His career includes diving as a biologist in the kelp beds of Southern California, cultivating kelp as an Aquaculturalist in Puget Sound, in Washington State, and as a biologist on environmental consulting projects around the US.

Ebey’s Landing on Whidbey Island Washington

About Pacific Kelp
Kelp is a brown algae that grows in colder coastal marine habitats around the world. Kelp is an extremely important keystone marine plant that provides habitat, refuge, substrate, and nutrition for myriad marine fish, mammals and invertebrates. Many brown algal plants, or kelp, are highly nutritious for humans, providing important vitamins, minerals and beneficial fiber.

Several kelp species attach to rocks or hard substrates in deeper near shore marine waters along the Pacific coast. The stipes, or stems, can grow up to 10 to 80 feet long as the plants reach for light at the water’s surface. Bull kelp (Nereocystis) occurs from Alaska to near Santa Barbara California, Elk kelp (Pelagophycus) occurs from the Channel Islands near Santa Barbara California to San Benito in Baja California, Giant Kelp (Macrocystis) occurs as the very large kelp beds observed along the southern California kelp beds from near San Francisco into central Baja California. The kelp material used to make kelp baskets is the fibrous cell wall material of the stipes. It is obtained from the plants that have broken free of their holdfast substrate during rough seas at the end of its life cycle and has been cast up onto the shore where it begins to naturally decompose. Color variations in the baskets result from the amount of time the material has been exposed to the sun on the shore before being collected.

The baskets maintain their rigid composition when all the water is dried out of the kelp. The basket material is water soluble and will absorb moisture if exposed to water or moist high humidity environments. Thus, the kelp baskets should be stored or displayed indoors in a dry, heated room or building, such as a standard residential house or office environment.

Edible Kelp Products.
Many kelp species are edible and nutritious. To learn more about edible kelp products, visit Canadian Kelp Resources (www.canadiankelp.com). CKR has a line of sea vegetables (Barkley Sound Kelp). To purchase edible kelp from Canadian Kelp Resources click here

Kelp Restoration.
Puget Sound Restoration Fund (PSRF) works to restore abundant marine resources and our connections to them through a diverse portfolio of in-the-water projects throughout Puget Sound. The focus of their restoration is living marine habitats and species. Bull kelp beds are an example of a living marine habitat that supports species throughout the food web and benefits the ecosystem as a whole. To learn more about kelp conservation in Puget Sound, visit the Puget Sound Restoration Fund here.

Pacific Kelp Basket Products – Available now for purchase:

XL Large Baskets are 10 inches in diameter by 5 inches high $110

Large baskets are 7 inches in diameter by 4 inches high $95

Medium baskets are 5 inches in diameter by 3.5 inches high $75

Smaller baskets are 4 inches in diameter by 3 inches high $55

Plus 10% Washington State Sales Tax and Shipping

I recently sold out of Kelp Baskets at Renegade Kraft Fair in Seattle, held December 9-10, 2023. I am now working to replace inventory with new baskets that are shown below. I am sorry to be down so low on stock. I hope to rebuild stock during the coming year.

Shellac Treatment:

I have added a shellac finish to several baskets to see how it looks. Some customers prefer the natural look and others like the shiny finish. The shellac treatment adds a finished look, enhances the color, provides moisture protection, and gives the basket some added stability. Below is a comparison of a basket left natural and the same basket following the shellac treatment. I can add a shellac finish to natural baskets before shipping if requested.

Natural Finish: