The steel thingy is rigid and solid. So it stops all the signal that falls on it and reflects it back. When you use wooden basket, because of the holes in that half of the signal will pass through it. You will get only half reflected back. Hope now you got your answer. Only you can imagine these choppy choppy questions.
Yes you can. But you need to use only dull and dark colors. Avoid white and bright colors. Because bright colors reflect sunlight and heat which will cause sunburns to lnb and also interfere with the signal reception. Also you need to use a non glossy paint to avoid reflection of sun light. A non ionizing, non glossy, dull finish paint is preferred.
Damn. Sorry, I really thought you were joking. I have also seen those images with wooden baskets but that was just for trolls. You actually need a reflective surface to reflect the signals back to lnb.