Red List: Basketwork Furniture

Basket work furniture, simply, furniture constructed from basket making techniques, does not initially feel to be at risk. A walk around a garden centre indicates an appetite for basket work furniture for patios and conservatories. On a closer look, many of these are products are plastic based. Stores like IKEA include basket work into their …

Red List: Devon Stave Baskets

The Devon Stave basket is an assembled basket made from wooden splits attached to a wooden base. Originally made from elm, the baskets are now made from cleft or bent ash or pine. The basket is made on a jig in nine distinct sizes, corresponding to weights and measures. The largest Devon stave is called …

Red List: Kishie Basket Making

The kishie is an open backed basket made on the Shetland Islands. The basket is also  made in Caithness and the Orkneys, where it is called a caisie basket. These baskets were traditionally used to carry vegetables, fish, bait, manure and peat on the backs of both ponies and people. The kishie basket comes in …

Thirty Drawings in Thirty Days

Throughout April I included myself in a Thirty Drawings in Thirty Days online project, set up to engage artists in creating one work a day for 30 days, to coincide with the initial Coronavirus lockdown. The works were temporarily shared on a website and over 18,016 works were submitted from artists across the world. While …

Red List. Shinty Caman Making

Shinty is a team game that originated in Scotland.  It is played with a ball, comprising a cork core covered with two pieces of stitched leather, and a wooden stick called a caman, or shinty stick. It is the handmade caman stick that has become an endangered species.   Shinty is a team game, played …

Red List. Maille Making

When I first touched and handled a piece of chain mail I was surprised at its flexibility, its softness, and its weight. I was able to handle the chain mail when I was visiting a historic re-enactment scene, the participants only too happy to share their enthusiasm for the detail and authenticity of their costumes. …

Red List. Orrery Making

I had no idea what an orrery was until I discovered them on the Heritage Craft Association Red List of endangered crafts. An orrery is a mechanical model that is used as a teaching aid to describe the solar system. I had no idea that such a model, or models, could be so beautiful, and …

Red List. Damask Weaving

My first experiences of damask were as a child, my aunts and grandmother had tablecloths that were dark, heavy, shiny in places and almost touching the floor. They were a distinctive part of my early material world. Later, my grandmother kindly made me dolls clothes out of damask. They were regal, slightly awkward, and the …

Red List. Clay Pipe Making

The clay pipe, in all its iterations has a long provenance, alongside the use of tobacco it contributes not only to the history of smoking and all its materials and customs, but also reflects cultural histories, as designs on the bowl included local places and buildings, festivals and events, politicians, celebrities, royalty and regiments. A …

Bobbin Sewing School

Everyone arrived for the workshop, sharing trepidation, intent, and a box fresh sewing machine. Nearly everyone, like myself,  had given some time trying to get to know our new machines, and their instruction manuals, but had pined for a real person to teach and more importantly give us confidence. No matter how clear and authoritative, …