I think there might be a mistake in your text. Instead of calco, it could read salci (from salice = willow for basket making) or at least that is what this very similar sentence says:
"Infatti, di fronte al caminetto venivano svolti piccoli lavori agricoli, come la pulitura dei salci, e la creazione di cestini per le damigiane, ecc."
If you are really convinced it has to be calco the only thing I can think of is moulds for cheese-making but that wouldn't connect as well to the cestini part of the sentence.
Good luck!