Jenalee Frazier does her best work between midnight and 3 a.m.
It was about that time she thought of the Christmas tree ornament she would make for the White House."An angel playing a saxophone just came to me," the 43-year-old weaver said. "I first thought of a harp, but when I visualized her I saw a saxophone. Maybe it will make President Clinton laugh."
Frazier's sax-toting angel is among 70 ornaments by artists nationwide hanging from the White House Christmas tree on display in the mansion's Blue Room.
The Fruit Heights resident is not quite sure why she was asked to contribute.
"I have a basket on display in a museum in Kentucky and the curator there may have told the curator at the Smithsonian," Frazier said. "I was just at the right place at the right time."
But Frazier didn't have a lot of time to submit her ornament. The invitation to participate was forwarded from Kentucky, where she used to live, to her Davis County home last October, giving her just three weeks to complete the project.
The White House had asked for angels no taller than 18 inches and no heavier than 12 ounces. Selected craftspeople from around the country were invited to contribute in commemoration of 1993 being the "Year of American Craft: A Celebration of the Creative Works of the Hand."
Frazier said she spent about 18 hours weaving the angel's body, arms and wings from brown ash wood, the head from reeds and the hair from wood shavings. The blue and natural ornament was colored with natural dyes, she said. The decorations will be kept at the Smithsonian, so Frazier made a copy of different materials for her own collection.
Frazier, who hails from Utah but only recently returned after 23 years away, learned her weaving craft with natural fibers in the Appalachian Mountain region of North Carolina and Kentucky.
She said weaving is a popular cultural art in the rural South. The weaving process begins with cutting down the right trees - young and straight - then carefully peeling off thin, straight layers of bark. Dyes to color the wood are also hand-gathered natural materials.
"It's a lot of work," she said, noting baskets handmade in America can go for hundreds of dollars.
But an abundance of cheap, mass-produced baskets made outside the United States has removed popular demand for the fine-crafted weaving.
The interest in weaving is growing, however, also in Utah, said Frazier, who is an instructor for the national weaving organization based in North Carolina.
By word of mouth and from setting up a booth at the Swiss Days celebration in Midway, she has attracted 75 local students.
By Matt Brown, Deseret News staff writer.