Hand-Made

Do you know how a gramophone acts? (Image from NYPL Digital Gallery)

Last Thursday, instead of making myself squirm through the vice-presidential debate as it unfolded live, I went to a concert. The musician Andrew Bird played the Tarrytown Music Hall, and his haunting, looping violin (combined with glockenspiel, guitar, voice, and whistling) filled the room with mesmerizing and sweeping sounds. The performance was unforgettable; I've never seen such an impressive and complex one-man show.

But even before the musician took the stage, I was rapt, because standing in readiness on the stage were four luminous sculptural forms that appeared to be a marriage between gramophones and human-sized flowers. What could they be? Luckily, Mr. Bird anticipated audience curiosity and introduced them to us. These one-of-a-kind custom creations are speakers created by Ian Schneller, who makes musical instruments by hand at his studio, Specimen Products. Schneller's work is featured in Hand Made, Hand Played: The Art & Craft of Contemporary Guitars by Robert Shaw, whose previous books include America's Traditional Crafts.

Schneller's speakers filled the hall with sound, while their glowing and undulating surfaces also contributed to the atmosphere of the Hall. You can view these stunning speakers in action here. And here, you can see the extra-large horn speaker as it is created, step by step.

The croq I'm talking about is from the Pacific Northwest, NOT the Nile! (Image from NYPL Digital Gallery)

NYPL has been collecting zines for a number of years, and these homegrown periodicals powerfully document both popular culture and literary trends. In the world of the handmade, Croq is a zine worth close reading. As explained on its website, Croq's "focus is the DIY crafty community with a craftivism edge," and editor Heather Mann strives to provide an ambitious but welcoming mix of how-to articles, critical commentary, interviews, guidance, and book/zine reviews. I am very happy to announce that NYPL has a complete run of all of the issues so far (and that we will continue to purchase issues as they come out). So come on in and immerse yourself in the world of Croq and the rest of the zine collection at NYPL!

A kimono from 1910. (Image from NYPL Digital Gallery)

A few months ago I spent some holiday time among the rows of lovely and unusual fabrics at H. Kimura, an unassuming little fabric shop with an overwhelming selection in Kealakekua, Hawaii (my thanks to my sister for taking me there!). This shop was well stocked with Japanese cotton prints like the chrysanthemum cotton print in the detail below, which I made into a Walkaway Dress (Butterick 6015).

I've been fond of Japanese patterns for many years, and I am grateful that there are sources closer to home than H. Kimura where I can easily get at them. One shop in New York is City Quilter, and a spot online with plenty of irresistible Japanese offerings is Reprodepot.

But if you want to read up on the art and the history of Japanese fabrics and textile design, I'd recommend turning to the Library. NYPL's Humanities & Social Sciences Research Library has dozens of illustrated books and exhibition catalogs to browse through. And don't forget about the Digital Gallery, with its many samples of Japanese textiles digitized and ready for browsing online.

(Image from NYPL Digital Gallery)

I've just begun reading Nancy Mitford's essay collection The Water Beetle and have learned that this author's name can be added to the list of notable needlewomen who contributed to the World War I effort.

In "Blor," the first essay in this collection, she recollects how she crocheted for the cause:
"I was soon sitting like a tricoteuse, on the balcony of Grandfather Redesdale's house in Kensy High Street, crocheting an endless purple scarf while the troops marched by on their way to France. (There was no khaki wool to be had so early in the war--you took what you could get.)"

Soon after, she apparently obtained a supply of khaki yarn:
"I fell in love with Captain Platt in my father's regiment, an important General of the next war, and crocheted endless pairs of khaki mittens for him--I am not sure that they were inflicted on him. In any chase, all this crocheting was the nearest I ever got to killing an enemy, a fact which I am still regretting."

In 1914, Nancy Mitford would have turned just ten years old. To learn more about the life of Nancy Mitford, you can read books about her that the Library has at the Humanities & Social Sciences Research Library or those available for checkout at the branches.

A view of San Quentin. (Image from NYPL Digital Gallery)

I've been reading World War I-era newspapers lately (using America's Historical Newspapers, a full-text database available at NYPL), in a search of mention of famous knitters on the home front whose flying fingers supported the war effort. And yesterday I found a small article from the Daily Alaska Dispatch that painted a vivid picture of such efforts. A report from San Francisco published Dec. 7, 1917, begins: "Knitting needles are flying in the cells and workshops at the San Quentin and Folsom state penitentiaries, and a big assortment of socks, sweaters and other sartorial comforts are being turned out for the American troops in France and in the domestic service." As the article goes on to explain, both men and women inmates knit their bit, via programs administered by the Red Cross.

I'll continue reading and with luck will report on other knitters of note in the future.

Wishing they knew how to keep their tea warmer, no doubt. (Image from NYPL Digital Gallery)

After reading a recent article in Australia's Age about the demand for unique handcrafted tea cosies made by volunteers in Pascoe Vale, Australia, I became curious about the past and present status of the cosy.

According to Richard Rutt in A History of Hand Knitting, the first documented use of a tea cosy was in 1867. Tea cosies flourished during the Victorian era, a period in which homemakers were obsessed with the decoration or covering of any and all available objects.

Tea cosies had their heyday on this side of the Atlantic as well, as the newspapers of the late nineteenth century reveal. An Oct. 20, 1892 article in the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that "cosies are enjoying a sudden and unexpected rise in public favor" among women who hosted afternoon teas in their reception rooms. In Boston, a town with quite a reputation when it comes to tea parties, an issue of the Boston Journal (Nov. 25, 1879) included in its women's advice column an explanation of just what a tea cosy is--"simply a wadded covering for your teapot"-- and hints on making one: "Some very handsome ones are made of remnants of heavy brocade, but linen is generally used, embroidered or not, according to taste, as these covers are washable. Make the covering large enough for your teapot and provide a ring at the top to lift it off with." I read these articles in America's Historical Newspapers, an excellent database which enables you to find what you want fast in old American newspapers--it's available at all Library locations.

What is happening in the world of contemporary tea cosies? Teapotmania: The Story of the British Craft Teapot and Teacosy provides some answers. This exhibition catalog for a 1995 show at the Norfolk Museums and Archeology Service on contemporary British artists' and artisans' embrace of the teapot and teacosy as artistic forms provides both historical context as well as plenty of illustrations of the objects included in this exhibition. Artists of both pottery and needlework will find inspiration in the work of the artists represented here. Additionally, this museum's teapot collection now numbers almost three thousand teapots that can be browsed at their website. And if etsy is any guide, then there is both an interest and a market for handmade cosies today--search tea cozy AND tea cosy to be sure that you don't miss out.

It turns out that you need not drink tea in a cold drafty home to appreciate a fine cosy, after all.

Just one of dozens of inspiring textile designs available for browsing on NYPL Digital Gallery. Search for textile design to see more!

In last week's Handmade Then and Now* class, I met some very creative people and we exchanged plenty of good ideas for learning, obtaining materials, and finding new creative outlets. Here are three sites we discussed in class, for those who wish to follow up:

Spoonflower
While still in beta (which means, among other things, that you have to put yourself on a waiting list to have a chance to use it), this service is worth watching and waiting for. It allows you to design your own fabric—Spoonflower then prints as much of it as you want and sends it to you!

Materials for the Arts
Run by NYC’s Department of Cultural Affairs, this organization supports active re-use of objects with arts and crafts potential. They collect and then distribute arts supplies of all kinds to community projects, schools, and arts programs.

Material Connexion Library
This library, maintained by Material Connexion, provides access to innovative materials of all kinds. Their resources can help designers to select innovative, sustainable, or cradle-to-cradle materials that work best with their creations.

My thanks, once again, for the great conversation, suggestions, and questions. It's always such a treat to connect with enthusiastic handmakers.

*Taught at NYPL, this class provides ideas for the craft-curious on how the Library can inform and inspire one's handmade creations. If you’d like to attend a future Handmade Then and Now class, just keep an eye on the calendar. I’ll teach it again this fall!

This giant could learn a thing or two about dapper dressing from Mr. Awesome. (Image from NYPL Digital Gallery.)

Awesome is the title of the newest book by Jack Pendarvis, which has just been published. It is Mr. Pendarvis's first novel, and, as I was reading it this past weekend, I began to suspect that the author might have craft sympathies. Why, you ask? Because handmade habits crop up again and again throughout this riotous tall tale of a self-involved giant who embarks on a cross-country quest for love. The resulting story is bawdy and unsentimental, filled with cannily precise humor that begs to be read aloud, to be performed.

The following handmade bits make appearances in Awesome:
The giant protagonist (giant in stature and ego) plans a visit to "a hub of recreational sewing" in search for a needle in a haystack. He also meets an artisanal cheesemaker who sells craft supplies to "sewing aficionados" on eBay. And throughout, he makes robots, fashions a "mighty wagon" to transport his collection of treasures, and designs his own car. Beekeeping, mosaic repair, "underground knitting culture," homemade zines, and a pair of giant trousers fashioned from some circus tents all have cameo roles in this novel as well.

Mr. Pendarvis's two earlier books, both collections of short stories, are available for borrowing. The Library doesn't yet have Awesome, but I'm confident that we will soon.

To learn more about Jack Pendarvis, visit his blog.

Nineteenth Century French Bottlemakers (Image from NYPL Digital Gallery)

Bastille Day is just around the corner, and its arrival has led me to think more about the Paris depicted in a book that I recently read. Nancy Mitford's Don't Tell Alfred is set in mid-20th century Paris. This tale follows the misadventures of an unseasoned English ambassadress and her awful and entertaining relatives--from her Teddy Boy sons to her swooning niece/secretary, and from her mother (known as The Bolter) to her uncle Davey (a voracious consumer of medical treatments).

Now, there's a craft angle coming, I promise. Chapter 14 opens with Davey's arrival in Paris. He invites his niece (our intrepid ambassadress) to join him on an errand that will introduce her to a corner of Paris she'd not been before.

"I want to see if the man in the rue de Saintonge who used to blow glass is still there. I last saw him forty years ago -- Paris being what it is I'm quite sure we shall find him.
'Where is the rue de Saintonge?'
'I'll take you. It's a beautiful walk from here.'
It was indeed a beautiful walk. . . .

Have "modish travelling-costume," will travel! (Image from NYPL Digital Gallery)

Connecting with enthusiastic craft-loving people is a big part of why I enjoy teaching my Handmade Then and Now class at the Library. And this weekend I will have the good fortune of talking with even more yarn devotees at Knitty City, where I've been invited to teach knitters and crocheters how to get the most out of the Library's collections. I'm more than glad to take my little Handmade show on the road.

Knitty City is a bright and cozy shop on the Upper West Side. It is brimming with books, yarns, hooks, needles, patterns, and friendly staff. The staff is knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and very welcoming. They know their fiber arts and have given me great advice and encouragement on sock making and yarn choice. In my class I will provide helpful hints on navigating New York Public Library as a whole, I'll share tips on searching for patterns (both new and vintage), and I'll bring along some examples to share. And if I've gotten far at all in my first attempt at socks (I'm following Cookie A's Hedera pattern, I'll bring my work along to share with you all. So please bring your own knitting too, and join us!

Saturday, June 21, 1:00pm
Knitty City
208 West 79th (between Broadway and Amsterdam)

Father's Day is just hours away. Have you ever offered to make dear old dad a handmade sweater, one sure to become a treasured part of your father's wardrobe? If you were contemplating making such a sweater in 1904, you might have chosen this pattern, from Stitches, a handicraft periodical that you can find at the Library.

After all, as the introductory paragraph explains, what man doesn't yearn for "a knitted house jacket, snug and warm, to be donned in the evening after dinner, when an armchair and a pipe and a blazing fire in the hearth are the acme of happiness? Or what more welcome at the office on chill days?"

Of course, Father's Day didn't even exist in 1904*, so you'd not have felt the pressure for that particular holiday. If any of you brave knitters out there tackle this pattern, I'd love to receive reports back on it. Enjoy! Stay tuned for more patterns from a century ago.

*Britannica Online reports that the first Father's Day celebration was held in 1910.

Staten Island's Halloran General Hospital, home of crafty recovering soldiers during World War II. (Image from NYPL Digital Gallery).

A few weeks ago at a Handmade Then and Now class (I'll teach this class next on July 16th at 2:15pm), I met a number of creative people, including a knitter named Maxine Levinson. Maxine works at the Child Life and Creative Arts Therapy Department of the Kravis Children's Hospital at Mount Sinai, where she teaches young patients and their families how to knit. I learned from Maxine how knitting, like other creative arts therapies, can reduce anxieties and provide a sense of security during sometimes long and stressful hospital stays. Maxine told me, "I am very fortunate to be able to share my love of crafts in such a unique way."

Before Colgate and other companies like it set up industrial shop, soapmaking was a home industry--and for some DIY entrepreneurs today, it still is. (Image from NYPL Digital Gallery)

Soap making is a thriving indie business. A recent quick search on Etsy led me to over 13,000 handmade soaps from which to choose, and the creative varieties are outstanding--from bars with city maps to bone-shaped soaps for dogs, you are bound to find the perfect concoction for you. Clearly you won't have to get your own hands dirty making soap unless that's what you're into (and if it IS, take a look at the latest issue of Bust--it offers a soap-making tutorial.)

For many centuries, however, soap making was a routine household chore, done in small batches using materials collected around the house. In Susan Strasser's eye-opening social history of trash, Waste and Want, she discusses how "spare fat" and drippings, as well as ashes (used in making the lye needed to create soap) could be collected and used to make soap at home. But even as commercial soap makers appeared on the American scene, the industry remained a "small, local enterprise before the Civil War." Strasser's study of the economics of American trash is well worth reading for much more than just the soapy bits, however. It provides a startling reminder of how radically our ideas of value and re-use have changed, and how old habits of recycling lost their place in industrial America.

To learn more about soap, and about the Western world's long-held suspicion of hot sudsy baths, I recommend Katherine Ashenburg's The Dirt on Clean. This memorable book considers the rise of soap (made at home using animal fats, but also later produced as a luxury item using gentle and attractive plant oils) and how its role shifted from that of a perfumed cosmetic to become the cleansing necessity it is for us today.

Mark your calendars for May's round of classes! (Image from NYPL Digital Gallery)

I was just browsing the Library's May events schedule and am happy to report that Library branches across the city will be offering lots of craft classes for a variety of ages this month. Search the calendar for these keywords--knitting, needlecraft, craft, origami, jewelry, crochet--and you'll find knitting circles, children's needlecraft lessons, my own HandMade Then and Now, origami classes, jewelry making instruction, and more. So come to the Library and join our community of handmakers.

Quakers gather to quilt. (Image from NYPL Digital Gallery)

While standing in line waiting for the doors to open for the Craftacular last Sunday morning, I overheard this snippet of conversation:

Lady A: Where are ---? Weren't they coming?
Lady B: They're at church. They'll come here after and meet us.
Lady A: Church? This IS my church!

And Lady A has, indeed, hit upon a truth. Creative acts have a role in spirituality that goes far beyond singing in church choirs. Anyone who knows of the meditative nature of knitting, or the way that focusing one's physical and mental energies on a single creative process can bring calm, will perhaps agree with Lady A.

In his book All In Sync: How Music and Art Are Revitalizing American Religion (available at NYPL's Humanities & Social Sciences Library), scholar Robert Wuthnow reports on how creating something--be it music, painting, sculpture, knitting, and more--is a spiritually soothing and community-building act. His work was striking to me because it reveals the great variety of ways that art and craft find homes in religious traditions and spirituality in this country today.

But the theme of spirituality-meets-craft isn't found just in Shaker communities or within the programming of traditional religions. The Church of Craft places the creative act center stage. I attended my first Church of Craft event as part of a DIY Salon night at the Museum of Arts and Design earlier this spring. The evening featured crafters from the New York Church of Craft who led us through lessons in the art of shrinky sheets, embroidery, button making, and more. The Church of Craft encourages people to gather and share the creative process within a community of individuals who value the spiritual elements of the handmade. There are pockets of Church of Craft all over, and the community is welcoming. They will surely welcome you too. They regularly announce their meetings in the Nonsense NYC mailing list, and you can subscribe here.

Yes, a slice of pie will sustain him nicely during his upcoming shopping and socializing at the Spring Fling! (Image from NYPL Digital Gallery.)

Come one, come all, to the latest addition to the city's calendar of craft events: the Bust Magazine Spring Fling Craftacular! It's this Sunday, April 27th, from 11:00am to 9:00pm at The Warsaw (261 Driggs Avenue in Williamsburg). The event promises photobooth fun, handmade crafts aplenty, food and drink, and dance as well.

This event is organized by Bust, a mag that has long encouraged its readers' latent crafty and DIY tendencies with regular features on making great stuff. Its latest issue (available at the Library in Room 108, the DeWitt Wallace Periodical Room), includes a sweater pattern, a tutorial on making your own flocked wallpaper, and details on how to subscribe to the Pie of the Month Club (created by an artist and pie lover who designs and sends out recipe cards each month). Really, what's not to like about pie recipes delivered to your mailbox?

The Library has years and years of back issues of Bust, so come in anytime to take a trip down alternative women's magazine memory lane.

From Shôchan no bôken, published in 1923. (Image from NYPL Digital Gallery.)

This weekend I attended New York Comic Con, an intense gathering of lovers of comics, gaming, and costumes. I went dressed as a librarian, in search of information on libraries' role in collecting, preserving, and making comics available to readers. Thanks to some great panels, I came away informed. And --no surprise here--I also came away inspired by the enthusiasm of readers and fans for this definition-defying genre.

In addition to wanting to learn about the role of comics in libraries, I was also on the hunt for publications that might combine comics and crafts. My favorite find is a series of books created by the team Aranzi Aronzo. From The Cute Book to The Bad Book, each of their books contains stories featuring a cast of quirky creatures, along with detailed patterns and directions on how to make your own little stuffed sewn versions of these strange characters. Brilliant!

Originally published in Japanese and now made available in English editions by Vertical, Inc., Aranzi Aronzo books are in dozens of NYPL branch libraries. So check them out (they are listed in LEO) and get started making your own handmade versions of the good, the bad, and the cute. If you are a fan of other comics-meets-crafts books, let me know your favorites!

Ahh, school days. (Image from NYPL Digital Gallery.)

As you might imagine, I am always on the hunt for interesting Library resources both old and new to share with the great wide world of the handmade. And next week I'll be giving a free one-hour class on how you too can use the Library's resources to satisfy your own crafty curiosities.

On Wednesday the 16th, at 2:15pm, please join me at the New York Public Library's Celeste Bartos Education Center at South Court. I will talk about how the Library's books, magazines, and databases can both inform and inspire you in your own handmade work. I'll bring along samples of pattern books and magazines, histories, and wonderful old craft books to share too. There's no need to register--just come on in and join me for this crafty show-and-tell.

Here are the details:
Wednesday April 16th, 2:15-3:15pm (classroom will open at 2:05pm)
First Floor, South Court Classrooms
New York Public Library
Fifth Avenue & 42nd Street

One last note: I'll teach this class two more times (at 2:15pm on May 21st, and at 2:15pm on July 16th), so please mark your calendars for one of these dates if you are interested but can't come next week.

A flea market from New York City's past. (NYPL Digital Gallery)

This past weekend saw the launch of The Flea, a new indie market set in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Fort Greene that will take place each Sunday this spring and summer. If the inaugural weekend is any indication, this Flea's going to be a monster success. I went with a friend who was visiting from Philadelphia (a town known for its own massive flea markets), and we were overwhelmed by the crowds of enthusiastic junk and craft seekers.
What I like so much about the Flea is that it incorporates indie crafters' wares into the mix of flea market finds, antiques, and foods. Two vendors I was especially thrilled to visit were Greenjeans, whose handmade items are super and whose blog on sustainability and DIY is a source worth visiting, and Lotta Jansdotter , with her appealing screenprinted fabric creations I love. And Etsy, of course, was there as well, connecting makers with buyers.
Speaking of buyers, if YOU have been considering turning your hobby into your livelihood, the Library can help. And since April 21-25 is National Small Business Week, now might be a good time to get busy. There are books such as Start and Run a Craft Business and many others at NYPL's Science, Industry, and Business Library. But also be sure to take advantage of the information and services available through the Small Business Resource Center and SCORE, Counselors to America's Small Business, a volunteer, non-profit association dedicated to providing guidance to those interested in starting a business.

Worldchanging offers greener ways to imagine a future changed world. (Image from the NYPL Digital Gallery.)

The latest issue of ReadyMade arrived in the mail last week, and I was happy to find within it an interview with Alex Steffen, one of the forces behind Worldchanging, an organization committed to promoting and supporting efforts to build truly sustainable ways to live. In the interview, Steffen states:

"I'm really excited about a movement that doesn't have a name yet. I see a common cause out there. There's this culture-wide movement amongst smart, usually young people to know what's behind the systems that you're dealing with. It includes anything from the whole new crafting-DIY aesthetic to people who are messing around with their local food supply and starting local farmers' market and CSAs; people doing biodiesel cooperatives or sustainable design. This movement of people is defying the fundamental expectation that marketers place on Americans."

Current interest in the handmade is indeed tied as often to an individual's commitment to redefining one's relationship to what he or she consumes as it is simply linked to a creative urge or a certain style. And Steffen's organization Worldchanging is a go-to source for education and inspiration when it comes to rethinking the stuff in one's life. So if your handmade tendencies sprout from an interest in upcycling, recycling, and stepping outside common consumption habits, check out Worldchanging online and also take a look at Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century. NYPL has copies at the Science, Industry, and Business Library as well as in its branches. You might be surprised at how closely your crafty habits can be aligned with the green movement.