Crafts of Olden Days – with Giveaway By Donna Schlachter

Neolithic Gold Bead by Mark Cartwright

Crafting is a creative process that has occupied humans for many years. Depending on the social and financial situation of the crafter, they might produce an item solely for use, such as knitted socks, a clay jar to carry water, or a wooden tool or implement such as a wheelbarrow or a chisel. When societies had solved most of their day-to-day problems such as gathering or producing enough food and water, or providing sufficient clothing and shelter, they might turn their attention to producing items used more for decoration or demonstration of status, such as embroidery, decorative wood carving, and jewelry.

The earliest stage of crafting began with early man as every object needed had to be made by hand. Without automation, this could often be tedious and labor-intensive. Consider that to knit socks, they first had to raise sheep or have access to the wool. Then somebody had to spin it, perhaps dye the wool, before the knitter actually sat with needles and a pattern in hand.

Oh, wait. No patterns. At least, nothing officially published, at least not until the early 19th century. Before that, patterns were passed along and passed down by word of mouth or perhaps on scraps of papyrus or eventually paper. 

AdobeStock_337225572

 

Decorative and household items have been found as early as 6500 BC, and each culture had its own unique style and process, using raw materials readily available, such as types of clay, gemstones, wood types, and metals. By far, gold is the most widely used metal, and as metallurgy advanced, bronze (the mixing of copper and tin) became widespread.

As sea travel advanced, sailors often returned home with samples from other people groups, spreading the styles and processes all over the world. Around 1000 BC, the Phonecians brought crafts from the English isles back to the Mediterranean, while sharing their own processes with the Brits and Celts.

During the Renaissance period, crafting moved from necessity to decoration. Folks specialized in particular crafts, including metal work, jewelry-making, clay work, needlework, and the like. The wealthy often employed craftsmen and craftswomen whose sole job was to do what they were best at. Unions and groups formed that regulated what the craftspeople could do, often testing them to determine their level of skill. It is here we see apprenticeships and journeymen and master designations important in controlling the craftspeople and setting appropriate prices.

 AdobeStock_304644039

In the Industrial Revolution, machines were designed to replicate the manual skills in areas such as weaving, carving, woodworking, beadwork, in response to the increased population’s demand for products.

As mentioned before, in the early 1800s, patterns were published for common products such as knitted items, dresses, and needlework. Near the 1900s, manuals and instruction books became popular as most families no longer employed craftspeople, and producing craft items became indicative of leisure and free time.

Regardless of the reason—to produce something useful or beautiful or both—creativity is a trait we share with our ancestors, which shouldn’t surprise us, since we are made in the image of a creative God.

Giveaway: leave a comment, and I will randomly draw one winner of a tin-punch kit. Include your email in this format: email AT server DOT extension. For example, donna AT historythrutheages DOT com

About Donna:

Donna writes historical suspense under her own name, and contemporary suspense under her alter ego of Leeann Betts, and has been published more than 30 times in novellas, full-length novels, and non-fiction books. She is a member of ACFW, Writers on the Rock, SinC, Pikes Peak Writers, Capitol Christian Writers Fellowship, Christian Women Writers, and Christian Authors Network; facilitates a critique group; teaches writing classes; ghostwrites; edits; blogs regularly for Heroes, Heroines, and History; and judges in writing contests. www.HiStoryThruTheAges.com





Resources:

https://www.ancient.eu/crafts/

https://www.marthastewart.com/7839594/historical-origin-of-craft-techniques

https://www.pinterest.com/dmtamari/pioneer-crafts/

Fishscale art and Hair

Cara Grandle here.

When it comes to historical fiction, most of the heroines are cameoed doing some sort of domestic fine art. Depending on the time period and the level of income, the crafts they did changed.

How often have you read about a lady in a drawing room doing needlepoint, watercolor or playing the piano forte? Or if your favorite book is set on the frontier, the lady of the house would’ve been candle-making, darning a sock, or making soap.

These sorts of hobbies and crafts are traditional and normal, but have you ever heard of a heroine sitting around doing fishscale art?

Here is what it looks like:

The ladies or their servants harvested the scales off of certain kinds of fish, cleaned them, dried them and sometimes dyed them, before they poke two fine holes at the base of the scale and then added it to their stitch work.

And now we have the original sequin.

And how about this? Have you seen samples of hair art in Museums or in old photos?

Women would gather the hair that they naturally shed or brushed out and they would twirl it around the tip of their index finger and place it in this little jar to be used as thread for a craft called hair art.

They would give their work to their friends and family as engagements, weddings, births, or bereavements gifts as keepsakes for any kind of special occasion.

Both hobbies should get the “Most Impressive” award for upcycling.

The one heart-warming detail about hair art, for me, is I can remember my Great Grandmother’s habit of twirling a loose hair or thread around her finger in just such a way, and now I know why.

As much as I find these two crafts interesting, I equally find them a little eeeewww! I wonder if the fishscale art smelled and I can’t help think about the hair as dead cells.

I’m assuming this is my bizarre reaction, but I figured I’d ask. What do you think of these handcrafts? Would you want fishscale on the hem of your dress or on the side of your purse? And how about hair art? Would you hang one proudly on your wall?

CaraGrandle is a Historical Romance Novelist who prefers to write about the early settlers of the Pacific Northwest. She is represented by the Steve Laube Agency. Cara leads the author4TheAuthor writers group on Facebook, home to 190 writers. Together they're pressing back on busy and making a space for their dreams. Cara hosts a Writers Encouragement show weekly on Periscope. The show is on Tuesday mornings at 9:00am PST. Cara's Periscope show includes live, interactive author-interviews with leading Christian fiction novelists, editors, publicist and agents under the handle @CaraGrandle.

Cara is currently out on submission. Follower her journey on her Facebook author page.