A small group of students gathered at the Olde Southworth Library on Saturday were there to learn a functional art practiced more than a century ago by sailors around Nantucket: basket-weaving.

The class, taught by Weaver Trisha Brown-Medeiros of D.E.L.S. Nantuckets, was part of the South Coast Spring Arts Festival.

Brown-Medeiros had students start with something simple: creating their own woven wood bracelets.

“It’s a fairly easy class,” she said. “The goal is to have something they can make and leave with. When you get into baskets, it’s a little more tedious and something you can’t finish in just a couple of hours.” 

Students began by choosing the width of their bracelet followed by what colored staves — strips of wood — they wanted to use, along with some wrist measurements to make sure the finished product would fit.

Once sizes were determined, crafters placed the staves over a mold as they wove the cane bark around it. Since most students had half-inch bracelets, they wove in an over-under pattern.

Those who opted for the quarter-inch bracelets only had to use one stave, and instead wrapped the weaver around it.

“It’s a little hard on your fingers,” Dartmouth resident Erin McHugh said.

Once fully woven, Brown-Medeiros coated the bracelets with polyurethane to make them more durable and completed them with acrylic end caps.

New Yorkers Jasmin Kirk and Demisha Nesbitt said they plan to gift their crafts to their boyfriends. Although Nesbitt thinks hers is “probably never going to wear it.”

With the glue dried on her double-staved brace, McHugh said she immediately wanted to wear it out.

“I love these bracelets,” she said, adding that she and friend Debbie Brooke love an excuse to safely be back at the Olde Southworth Library. “This is the key to happiness here.”

Brown-Mediros said the workshop will hopefully inspire the students to learn more about the regional craft and maybe move on to more advanced crafts like baskets.

Dartmouth resident Lisa Carney said that at first, “no one really knew what to do at all,” but once the class got into a groove, “it was way easier” than anyone thought. 

“I didn’t think we’d actually leave with anything,” Carney laughed, adding that she’ll “definitely be coming back for the next one” on June 5.