When Mary Fraser walked into Karen Collins’ weaving workshop in Forres, Scotland, nearly a decade ago, she knew it was where she was meant to be.
“It was a visceral reaction of, ‘I have to do that,’” she recalled.
Fraser, now 29, and a professional weaver in Montague, was traveling around the United Kingdom when she met Collins through a friend. Though she had no experience at the time with weaving, she knew immediately that she wanted to pursue it. Fraser was particularly caught by the willow coffins in Collins’ workshop.
“I got into weaving because I wanted to make these,” Fraser said, motioning to the woven coffins in her workshop on 3rd Street in Turners Falls. “I didn’t know woven coffins were a thing at all [before meeting Collins].”
Not long after that initial trip to Scotland, Fraser returned for another three months as Collins’ apprentice, where she first learned the craft of weaving baskets. Eventually, with her mentor’s help, she made two coffins.
“Willow is really hard to work with,” said Fraser. “It’s hard to … learn its limits as a material.”
Still, Fraser picked up the skill quickly. Now at her own workshop in Montague, it takes the Deerfield native between 30 and 40 hours to weave a coffin. She also makes baskets and urns.
When Fraser isn’t in the workshop, she’s teaching music and running basket-weaving workshops. She said her love of crafting and using her hands made the craft of weaving the perfect fit for her.
“It’s an old craft — people have been doing this for thousands of years,” she added. “I really love that about it. It spoke to me.”
Fraser said she has always been comfortable thinking and talking about death.
“It made sense that I would do death work,” she said. “When [the opportunity] came up, it clicked into place.”
That comfort, she said, has given her a greater appreciation for life and a reminder “to enjoy my time.” She hopes to also help more people feel more comfortable talking about death.
Fraser said she has worked with customers who have wanted to participate in part of the weaving process for their own coffin. Others, meanwhile, have had coffins made ahead of time that they fashioned into a sweater basket or a bookshelf.
“I tell people it’s just a basket until you put a body in it,” she said.
Fraser said that in the 8½ years she has worked in Montague, she’s seen interest in and support for green burials grow.
“[The attitude] has shifted a lot,” Fraser said of green burials. “In the last two or three years, it’s become a hot topic.”
Willow trees grow fast and are entirely compostable, making them one of the most environmentally conscious options for burial. In addition to her own small patch of willows she hopes to one day harvest locally, Fraser sources willow from family farms in Virginia, Maine and upstate New York.
Her coffins are lined with cotton muslin and the ropes, which are used as handles, are cotton. While she focuses on serving the local community, Fraser is willing to ship items out-of-state by way of freight trains.
In her first five years in the trade, Fraser sold two coffins. Last year, she said she sold 10. The year prior, six. She prices them on a sliding scale, between $2,000 and $4,500, but in general, she tries to meet customers where they’re at.
“I’d rather serve the community and be accessible than make money,” she said.
More information can be found online at fraserbaskets.com
Reporter Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter: @MaryEByrne.