Actually I glue one ring at a time, let dry for about half an hour, clean up any squeeze out, and glue the next ring. The tricky part is making sure the ring lines up when gluing.
This is a Steve Good pattern that I enlarged by 35%. I used 1/4" Red Oak plywood. The approximate size is 8" in diameter and 2 3/4" high. I used FD UR #3 blades and finished with spray Shellac. This was one fun basket to make. Very easy to cut. Placement of each ring had to be exact to get the spiral effect. Comments welcome.
Dan, those look great. Now for the little birds. Diana modified the pattern for the birds. Use the same bit used to drill the hole for the dowel and drill a hole half in and half out of the bird. This allows for greater glue coverage and holds the bird in place.