By creating useful and beautiful things, we make the world and ourselves better. Recently, I wrote about the many benefits of learning traditional crafts such as woodworking, pottery, basket weaving, gardening, bread making, and embroidery. Traditional handicrafts bring us closer to the material world, the past, and our own bodies.
When we work with raw materials and unlock their potential, such as turning rough wood into elegant chairs, we refine them. We gain a deeper understanding of these materials and through them, a deeper understanding of the world. By creating useful and beautiful things, we improve our world, even if only in small ways.
The term “traditional crafts” reflects their connection to the past. Practicing such crafts helps us understand what traditional life was like, what our ancestors were like, their daily lives, and how they worked and entertained themselves. Many of these arts have remained unchanged over the past few centuries, perhaps even thousands of years.
Lastly, learning a craft can help us improve the use of our bodies by developing new muscle memory, coordination, and strength. We understand the weight of real things, real materials, their behavior, and their inherent properties. We must focus attentively and work diligently to bear fruit in our craft. Handicrafts benefit both the body and the mind.
Traditionally, skills and crafts were learned through apprenticeship. Young workers – usually starting in their teens, but sometimes even younger – lived with a master craftsman, assisting him and learning from him. They were not paid, but in return, they received food, lodging, clothing, and most importantly, the opportunity to learn directly from an expert day in and day out.
Such opportunities are rare today, as few of us would live with someone solely for the sake of a hobby. However, when starting to learn a new craft, finding a friend or mentor who can provide some guidance can make a difference between success and failure. It was hard for me to grasp the basics of fly fishing and fly tying just by reading books. It wasn’t until I observed a professional’s actions and imitated them that I truly began to understand. Hands-on learning and observation are irreplaceable.
Ask around. One of your friends may already have the skill you want to learn or may know someone who does.
Folk schools can provide experts to teach you, but they are not free. Folk schools are a treasure trove of old-fashioned knowledge rooted in local or regional communities. A folk school in my area offers a variety of courses for the public to choose from, including leatherworking, medieval bookbinding, soap making, metalwork, spinning, foraging, mushroom cultivation, tanning, herbalism, butchery, cheese making, windmill construction, timber framing, and playing the dulcimer, among others.
Course prices range from $80 to $1,250. A more established school a few hours’ drive away, North House Folk School, offers a wider range of courses including woodcarving, blacksmithing, boat building, sailing, and beekeeping, with course prices ranging from around $180 to $5,000.
A simple internet search will show you folk schools in your area.
There is at least one book for every traditional craft where you can learn it. This is a good place to start learning a craft, though hands-on demonstrations always trump book learning. Even if no one shows you how to do something, sometimes a combination of books and trial and error in the real world is enough to teach you what you need to know.
The internet provides a wealth of resources for learning new skills, with the added benefit of video content, which is the next best thing to in-person demonstrations. Never before in human history has so much information been so easily accessible. Arcane knowledge is finally at your fingertips.
Despite its various flaws, the internet has replaced oral traditions that have largely disappeared at the local level. Skills and information can be passed from one person to another – just like in more tightly knit traditional communities of the past – only now your coach might be from the other side of the globe.
Websites and YouTube channels dedicated to teaching and learning handicrafts, such as the online courses from John C. Campbell Folk School, Craft Courses, and the Northmen YouTube channel and website, are available.
Quoting G.K. Chesterton, “Don’t ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up.”
Let us consider this viewpoint when discussing traditional crafts. We should not abolish or let them die out simply because we no longer see their practical value, or think that we have more efficient ways to accomplish the same tasks. The ways in which our ancestors did things were wise, and these “old ways” unrelated to speed and efficiency may have their own benefits and rewards. While we can certainly harness the power of machines when we focus on quickly producing end products, some things are worth doing slowly and thoughtfully for their own sake. Traditional crafts are one of them.