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Sarah D

Local crafts

What local crafts belong to your area - are you aware of them? Have you tried any of them? Are there groups, etc to help keep them alive?

Here in Dorset we have Dorset buttons and Dorset feather stitchery. I've made some buttons, and the embroidery is on the agenda for some time in the near future.
Deedee

Don't know so much as local crafts but seeing as apparently in Sutton/Carshalton we had a huge lavender industry many years ago I am presuming a lot of things crafty and otherwise were made from this??It is currently being revived too so thats good to hear instead of more office blocks being built!
jema

I am not sure that we have any crafts that qualify as "local". I expect there are quite a few "craft groups" though. I expect I could find some home brew groups if I tried.

jema
mrutty

jema wrote:
I am not sure that we have any crafts that qualify as "local". I expect there are quite a few "craft groups" though. I expect I could find some home brew groups if I tried.

jema


Ham, Wool (from producing to weaving), Steam Trains and if we count Bath goldsmithing......Did you learn nothing at school Laughing
jema

mrutty wrote:
jema wrote:
I am not sure that we have any crafts that qualify as "local". I expect there are quite a few "craft groups" though. I expect I could find some home brew groups if I tried.

jema


Ham, Wool (from producing to weaving), Steam Trains and if we count Bath goldsmithing......Did you learn nothing at school Laughing


I was thinking more local to pig hill. Wiltshire is out there somewhere Laughing

jema
Mrs Fiddlesticks

part of Oxfordshire is on the edge of the old Cotswold woollen trade ( some of the churchyards have bale tombs to signify rolled up fleeces) so weaving and such like I think -Witney blankets you've probably heard off.

This village was more in to market gardening, there was a large strawberry growing farm in the days before pick your own, a tradition of growing hops and a famous rose breeder of his time had his nursery here too.
Becki

There is a rather nice craft shop in Old Town called Made by You. It also does workshops. I'm realling into stamping and papercrafting and made all my Christmas cards last year. I went to a workshop last night and it only cost £5 and I learnt loads and came away with 3 cards. Really enjoyed it.
Lloyd

Round here we have the Ironbridge Gorge, so there's loads of Industrial Revolution stuff, museums, etc: But I'm not aware that the old skills are still continued viz a viz crafs classes etc. If I find one I'll stick it on the events calendar.
jema

Er indoors wrote:
There is a rather nice craft shop in Old Town called Made by You. It also does workshops. I'm realling into stamping and papercrafting and made all my Christmas cards last year. I went to a workshop last night and it only cost £5 and I learnt loads and came away with 3 cards. Really enjoyed it.


Not seen that one? Whereabouts in old town?

jema
mochyn

Lloyd (or is that the dog?): I think coracles are still made around Ironbridge somewhere, and there's a good pork pie shop in Ironbridge, if you count that as a local craft!
Lloyd

Laughing Wow!..If so I'll get a coracle to alternate with my canoe...And possibly learn how to make coracles!...Brilliant!! Very Happy
Bugs

Country Living magazine had an interview with one...think they were implying the last full time/trained/something....coracle maker in Wales several years ago. It was very interesting but sadly I've thrown out all those mags. If I'd been on this site at the time I'd have swapshopped them! Laughing Very Happy
culpepper

There are still some papermakers here in kent.
There are also hopgrowers/brewers (think oast houses).
There used to be cherry orchards everywhere but sadly they are all gone:( our own road was built where an orchard had been in the 20's.
We have the museum of rural life just up the road from us with original hop pickers huts.
I did have a go at paper making with the kids a few years ago but it was a lot of work to go to for a rather messy bit of cardboard. Embarassed
Behemoth

Not quite local to may but in Yorkshire all the same....in the news this week

Jet industry dwindles in resort
By Jayne Elliott
BBC News in North Yorkshire

The number of professional Whitby jet carvers is falling in North Yorkshire, leading to concerns that the once thriving industry could die out. In the 19th Century, carving the black gemstone, found along just seven miles of Yorkshire's coastline, was Whitby's main industry.

More than 200 craftsmen worked in the industry, generating a turnover of £110,000 - or £3.25m in today's money.

The Whitby Jet Heritage Centre has opened to try to entice people back. The project has been funded by the Sustainable Tourism Project through the National Park Authority, and regional development agency Yorkshire Forward.

Hal Redvers-Jones, a Whitby jet carver, said there are now just a "handful" of professional carvers working in the resort.
The discovery of the workshop gave an insight into the industry
"It is so important to Whitby's history that people are more aware of jet and the industry.
"We also hope this could be the launch pad to a Whitby Jet Carvers Guild which all bona fide Whitby carvers would be invited to join.
"This would ensure skills are protected and passed-on."

An original workshop dating back to 1867 was unearthed in a derelict building in Burns Yard. Mr Redvers-Jones has relocated it to the heritage centre , on Church Street, to show people how the elaborate carvings were produced nearly 200 years ago.

He said the find was exciting and gave him a good insight into how jet was once carved.

"It was just as if the workers had got up and left at the end of the day, but as well as being interesting, it gave us a lot of information into how jet was worked in 1867."

Mr Redvers-Jones said the find showed how affluent the industry was as workers worked under gas lit stations which were considered an expensive commodity at the time.

The foreman would also wear a coat of velvet, which was again considered a luxury.

He added: "For more than 70 years the industry kept Whitby going. Hopefully the centre will help that continue."
Becki

Made by You is in the square, where there is a car park Studio is there which used to be Mission Night club. Behind Wood Street, but I can't think of the name of the car park. You need a ticket because the wardens there are gits.
jema

Er indoors wrote:
Made by You is in the square, where there is a car park Studio is there which used to be Mission Night club. Behind Wood Street, but I can't think of the name of the car park. You need a ticket because the wardens there are gits.


Cheers, will have a look next time I am up that way.

jema
Blacksmith

We live in the oldest village in England.( Thatcham, Tac 'ham).Well it was the oldest untill it became a town a few years ago....and it was a town in the middle ages...........Anyway, there was a grist mill, later a paper mill on the river for about 800 years, then an Austrian company bought it, ran it in to the ground, got rid of a few hundred jobs demolised it and sold the land ! Mad Progress !
Nearest town is Newbury, woolen trade, The Newbury coat is on display in the local museum, from shearing to spinning to weaving to making the coat in one day !
There was a fair ammout of engineering , but this has died off in the past few years, now home to the Vodaclones.
mochyn

Lloyd: there's a coracle regatta in Shrewsbury in the summer (July?) each year. Might there be a coracle-maker there?
Bugs

There are some nice things and information on the website of the jet carvers mentioned in Behemoth's quote - http://www.whitbyjet.co.uk/

And that's from someone who doesn't even like jewellery Very Happy

I do like the colour black though.
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