fan birds are a wonderful traditional craft of eastern Europe. I first became aware of them when my friend Del Stubbs in the US wrote to me about them in the mid 1990’s he carves very fine ones. I saw lots of them when I visited Russia in 1998 including some huge ones in the Ethnographic museum in St Petersburg,…
Well I never knew that Tonbridge was famous for the making of cricket balls. This is a craft process involving a lot of hand skill. I had little idea what was inside a cricket ball, a lump of compressed cork, a tightly wound ball of string….this lovely old Pate news clip shows the process CRICKET BALLS In the 1960’s there…
Can you imagine what it must feel like peeling the bark from a tree and making it into these. These gorgeous containers are the work of Jarrod Stone Dahl, they are a traditional basket design made by native Americans around the great lakes. I have admired Jarrod’s work for a while everything he makes from birch bark canoes, to snowshoes,…
I am no expert on pottery in Stoke but was just horrified to learn that Wedgwood has moved production to Jakata, Indonesia. Here is a short youtube of the Wedgwood factory “Made in England” 2007[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkhkMXLjNwc] and a longer one of a guy demonstrating throwing.[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYyhppVl_10] Now listen to BBC Radio Stoke doing a 3 minute feature from the Wedgwood factory in…
This is a gorgeous hand forged Austrian scythe. And here is my friend Steve Tomlin and his Austrian partner Christiane Lechner, they are visiting Edale this week en route to the West Country scythe festival next weekend where Christiane will be teaching a masterclass. I have been fancying getting into scything for a while and Steve showed me the…
I thought I would share some inspirational pictures of wooden spoons. These are my favourites from the kitchens at the Swedish national folk craft school Saterglantan. This one (above and below) is by Wille Sundqvist After picking out my favourites to photograph I found they nearly all had the same makers mark, at a glance it looks like a fish…
I just watched this new DVD and thoroughly enjoyed it. Peter makes joined furniture from green wood mostly oak in the 17th century style at Plimoth Plantation Museum in the US. He has seriously studied the craft learning much from original pieces and recreating exactly the techniques, toolmarks and spirit of the work. This chair is currently available on his…
From The Times online “IN A SMALL room overlooking a quiet North London street, Jost Haas sits in a white coat at a cluttered table, delicately blowing into a glass tube until a ball bubbles out from the end. Using skills unchanged for 170 years, he is making an artificial eye such as those that stare unseeing from a wooden…
We have now booked our final speaker for the Heritage Crafts Association spring conference and I am delighted to have Mark Henderson chair of the Savile Row Bespoke association giving the opening speech. Savile Row tailoring is renowned the world over as something of quality and heritage along with a certain restrained and timeless style, way out of the budget…
Stewart Linford is a bit of a legend in furniture making circles. He started making Windsor chairs in High Wycombe home of the English furniture trade 35 years ago when there were 40 other businesses employing over a thousand makers. Whilst that trade has declined drastically in the face of cheap imports Stewart has built a world wide reputation and…
