Folk Craft Revival

 #038. -- The ability to shape wood with a knife is one of the most elemental skills to have, and plays at least a minor role in the vast majority of other crafts. Sadly, knife skills in general seem to be in decline. . . Though that's something we encourage around here!

Brian, from the Carving is Fun channel on Youtube, helps educate and get folks involved in carving and came on the podcast to chat about carving, whittling, tips, techniques, and suggestions.  I found this interesting because I've never attempted to whittle small 3D objects (what I classically think of when I think of whittling). Hope you learn something from our conversation! 

Links resources mentioned in this episode can be found over at:
folkcraftrevival.com/38  

  #037. -- In the craft world of the modern age, bone seems to be a rather neglected raw material that is rarely used for much of anything. But that was not always so, and fortunately Dave was willing to come on the podcast and share a little bit of his experience and insight on the craft of working with bones and antlers.

Dave is a re-enactor of the early medieval period and a bone crafter who specializes in replicating artifacts of that time period. We chat about the history, archaeology, artifacts, methodology, and manufacture of bone implements. Overall, I found this to be a very fascinating and informative conversation, hopefully you enjoy it as much as I did!

I also hope we can change our perspective on how bone was used historically, and garner some ideas on what we can make with it now!

Links resources mentioned in this episode can be found over at:
folkcraftrevival.com/37  

 #036. -- How many of you have ever knitted your own garments from wool you processed and spun yourself? Just the thought intimidates me.... and also draws me in wanting to learn more!

In one of Josefin Waltin's Youtube videos she shows just that - and since her channel and website showcase a variety of other wool processing and spinning content I reached out to see if she would be willing to talk to us about spinning. We cover a bit about processing wool, the time involved in spinning, necessary tools and how this can be done just about anywhere, experiments with flax and other plant fibers, choosing interesting raw materials over easy to spin fleeces, and more.

Something I've been dwelling on was her comments about intentionally using the least mechanized process for her craft and how she thinks that's the easiest way to learn. Agree? Disagree? I would love to hear your thoughts about this!

Links to Josefin's website, channel, and resources mentioned can be found over at:
folkcraftrevival.com/36 

#035. The Folk Craft Revival podcast is back!!!!

If you can't tell, I'm excited! I've really missed putting together this podcast -- chatting with guests and getting to know some individuals involved in heritage skills and retaining and reviving the knowledge that was once fairly common. Hopefully you've missed it as much as I have! While I'm looking forward to where things are going moving forward I also wanted to give a little bit of an explanation into why I shut the podcast down for the last year.

..... that took about 3 minutes and then you get to put up with me rambling and updating ya'll with some of the projects I've been up to in the last couple months. :)

Shoot me an email if you know of anyone who would be interesting to talk with so we can keep this thing going strong!

Episode webpage will be:
folkcraftrevival.com/35

#034. -- Scott Sutton (aka The Pigment Hunter) joins us to chat about the art of finding color on our local landscape. We discuss how he got involved with making paints and sourcing pigments, his philosophy on sourcing materials and minimizing his personal environmental impact, some of the base methods and tools used to source pigments and process them for paints, and where beginners like you and I should start. 

Big thanks to Janey Chang for suggesting I chat with Scott!

Links to resources mentioned can be found over at:
folkcraftrevival.com/34

#033. This week I’m chatting with Jesscy Dean (aka The Wild Homesteader) about foraging, food preservation, sourcing your own food, and old skills like that in general! Food seems to be the theme of this conversation, and why not? It is THE fundamental skill set that!

While a lot of our conversation revolves around food, Jesscy is involved in a number of other crafts and we talk about her felting, hide tanning, and general ethos of self reliance as well.

Links to resources mentioned can be found at:

folkcraftrevival.com/33

#032. -- Dea Sasso, a Resident Artist from the John C. Campbell Folk School joins us to chat all about the school, it's history, types of classes it offers, how it has changed her life, and much more! Our conversation centers around learning about the school for those who have never heard of it.
The folk school has been a fixture of the local area for almost a century, and in addition to providing hand-on learning to the nearby communities, it has also been actively involved in preserving and recording the heritage of the local area. I love seeing the robust craft ethos that is maintained there, and hope to be able to make a trip to take a class in the near future! 

Links to the school and any resources mentioned can be found at:

folkcraftrevival.com/32

#031. -- Are you paying attention to the landscape around you? Can you explain the differences and changes you observe? Although it may seem foreign to many of us in the modern world, people around the globe have navigated for centuries using the clues found on the natural landscape around them.
In this episode I chat with Tristan Gooley who has made it his work learning and teaching how to interpret the signs we see. Or indeed, the signs we don't see, but are there if we learn to pay attention. We discuss good starting places for getting involved, why natural navigation (and nature awareness in general) opens you up to a deeper connection and fulfilling experience during your time outdoors, and how Tristan continues to practice and learn. 

Links to resources mentioned can be found at:

folkcraftrevival.com/31

#030. Rebecca Oaks, author of the book Making Charcoal and Biochar, joins us to discuss charcoal, it's history and uses, traditional methods of making it, what it looks like from a small scale charcoal burners perspective, and suggestions for making some at home. I will be undoubtedly making a few batches this summer-- for use in the garden and the grill if nothing else!
In the quest to learn to make things from the ground up, charcoal making is arguably one of those fundamental skills that many folks never realize they needed to know. These days the average person most likely only consciously uses charcoal for grilling food at a summer bbq, but at one point it was a substance that fueled much of the technological advancement that occurred. Metal ores were smelted using copious amounts of charcoal, gunpowder is mostly ground up charcoal, and charcoal is still used in a vast array of industrial applications. Lets learn about making some for ourselves!

Resources mentioned in this episode can be found at:

folkcraftrevival.com/30

#029. Sammy and I chat about his introduction to primitive/survival skills, what draws him to them, woodworking, traditional southern Appalachian crafts (banjos in particular), ocarinas and more. For Sammy, nature connection is the primary reason behind practicing survival skills, and we chat a bit about that and some of the teaching he has been involved with.

Links to resources mentioned in the episode can be found at:

folkcraftrevival.com/29