Made not Manufactured

     I've been busy making ready for winter. The past few weeks we have seen some near record weather and snow on the ground for a few day. It has since warmed up a bit so I've been finishing up some work on the "lathe house" with a small shed roof off the back with a semi-enclosed area for forging hook tools for turning. I'm almost done. This building houses my spring pole lathe and nothing else, save for a wood stove. I will be spending plenty of time in it soon enough and I'm quite excited about it.

     Although I have been carving spoons ever week, some nice ones I might add with plenty of chip carving on them, I've had to put off the big goal of 150 spoons until after the few holiday boutiques we attend. These shows make the $ for the first part of the year, it's very important to have a good supply of bowls and spoons but also birch boxes and some woven birch bark baskets as well. I'll post a few times in coming weeks on some of the stuff I've been making, but also things I'd like to share and explore a bit more.

     There's that art and craft issue that seems to always been in my mind and I have another perspective and opinions to blather about on that. I also got a request from from a friend to blog about what I'm learning while trying to take my work or business to another level, in other words I'm tired of being poor financially.

    The title of this post is the title of British photographer Steve Kenward's photo documentary work on crafts folk in England. This is good stuff. I wonder if this type of work has been done in the states? While in England this year and last, I met two of the folks highlighted in this project.

Please check it out Made not Manufactured

Here are a few birch bark baskets that I just made, not manufactured.......