Crafts / Craftsmen / craftswomen (craftspeople, I suppose)

Not a craftsman yet, but monday morning I'll start on my thatchers apprenticeship. Really looking forward to it.

Not a craftsman yet, but monday morning I'll start on my thatchers apprenticeship. Really looking forward to it.

Is that where you learn to fuck the country up its arse?

@Lucifer
My family were stonemasons for generations. My grandmother was conned out of the business by one of the employees back in the 60s. It pisses me off to see them claiming to be a family business since 1887 when it's not their fucking family.
If you ever do become a stone mason, buy E.F Mackie and fire everyone.

Nah, I think our current government is doing that just fine (I'm Danish btw). Couldn't do worse, even if I tried... I'll stick to throwing straw around.

one day I'd love to quit it all and build guitars - I'm doing a phd at the moment and want see how good I am as an academic first.

I'm quite addicted to this fellas blog

http://twitpic.com/photos/crimsonguitars

more on here http://www.crimsonguitars.com/workshop-diary/

amazing stuff, I built a few guitars when I was a teenager and loved it. I've got no time or workshop to do it at the moment, though still play at bodging things on the sitting room.

I'm a designer / modelmaker / cnc machinist / artist. I started working as a flash developer 6 years ago and luckily got sacked after a year and a half. A chance meeting between my uncle and one of his friends ended up with me being thrown in at the deepend as a 3 axis cnc operator. I haven't looked back and I consider myself very lucky to have a career that is also a passion.

Some things I've made.
http://www.marketec.co.uk
http://www.conanabel.co.uk

Sam - you're a boatbuilder?

Thats fucking amazing.

I'm currently getting cancer working in TV but i've spent the last few months trying to get a carpentry apprenticeship thing going. As i'm freelance i'm totally willing to work a few days a week for free....learn carpentry/joinery in whatever capacity and leave TV for good.

Where do you do this amazing boatbuilding stuff? Do you need free hands to help? I'd love to get some experience in this kinda field.

Basically; in 10 years time i wanna build a big fuck off house-cum-boat and go. just go.

To quote Nike: "Just do it"! Without any qualifications/experience, you may struggle to get paid work, but I'm sure you'd find somewhere to gain some experience, if you don't mind grafting for nothing.
I'm now in Suffolk at the IBTC, and loving it. Highly recommend the course to anyone who is interested in high-end joinery and boatbuilding.

one day I'd love to quit it all and build guitars - I'm doing a phd at the moment and want see how good I am as an academic first.

I'm quite addicted to this fellas blog

http://twitpic.com/photos/crimsonguitars

more on here http://www.crimsonguitars.com/workshop-diary/

amazing stuff, I built a few guitars when I was a teenager and loved it. I've got no time or workshop to do it at the moment, though still play at bodging things on the sitting room.

I have a friend who is a violin maker, and her boyfriend is a luthier (acoustic guitars). Really amazing; the amount of detail in the work they do. So impressive!

That's my current "fuck it all" option as well. You made any yet?

one day I'd love to quit it all and build guitars - I'm doing a phd at the moment and want see how good I am as an academic first.

I'm quite addicted to this fellas blog

http://twitpic.com/photos/crimsonguitars

more on here http://www.crimsonguitars.com/workshop-diary/

amazing stuff, I built a few guitars when I was a teenager and loved it. I've got no time or workshop to do it at the moment, though still play at bodging things on the sitting room.

One of my grandfathers was a successful tailor and the other made tapestry.
I've never had any skill really, as my parents being both from "intelligentsia" were pushing for me to do a degree and even in the college I had to stick to the general academic subjects (they squashed the idea of me going to the art college and/or doing diploma in electronics as I was in the science class already).
Thankfully I was a scout - the sailing type - and we'd do loads of stuff hands on, like restoring boats, repairing windsurfinngs, building stuff for the camp sides, cooking etc. This is how I survived my first couple of years in the Uk with a useless master degree and no real knowledge of the language.
I'm still seriously tempted to do C&G in bike maintenance through Digger once I find a spare grand.

I really respect craftsmen nowadays. I didn't use to much, beinng to far up my own arse during my uni years and after working in media/creative industry. I've only noticed the other side of the business when I had to actually build sets, hang the light on scaffolds and lay the cables by myself working for an AV company.

In this country it's a bit of a class thing I reckon, hands on stuff whether it's a trade or a craft tends to be looked down upon in this country. Or maybe it's the same in Poland too?

I wrote a very long post, but it disappeared.

Basically under a communist rule craftsmen were usually employed by co-ops. There was no work ethos which existed before the 2nd World War. At least we could have small business (which were nationalised in Soviet Russia and it's republics), but it was frown upon to run your business as something against the system

One of my grandfathers was a successful tailor

I've never had any skill really

Thankfully I was a scout - the sailing type

I'm still seriously tempted to do C&G in bike maintenance through Digger once I find a spare grand.

I really respect craftsmen nowadays. I didn't use to much, beinng to far up my own arse during my uni years and after working in media/creative industry.

+1

seems like we have a thing or two in common.

Maybe you should have sex?

or maybe we shouldn't

I'm really enjoying this thread (most recent couple of posts not withstanding). I love craft but I'm not a craftsman. Am really quite tempted to do the C&G bike maintenance as well, but it might be a little overkill and my parents would think it was weird (I live with them so that does matter). Always hoped to be able to bring craft into my day job one day, but I'm not sure it'll ever really happen. I'm mostly unemployed now so there isn't much to bring it into, but I do feel strongly about working with my hands and making things. I think the whole of society suffers when there isn't awareness of craft, I think it's connected to the thing that society misses when it no longer identifies with production/manufacturing, but that is a slightly different story (and not one I'm qualified to tell). I think a lot of people would be happier with their lives if they could be proud of things they had made.

Agreed. It's all about putting something (anything) into the world that wasn't there before, and saying - 'I did that'. That feels damn good.

i love practical skills based work. i remember when i was at school and told them i wasnt going to go to university as i wasnt much cut out for academia i was pretty much forgotten about. no support or advice at all compared to the uni crowd. its so weird that manual/practical jobs are so looked down upon. such a shame, because really they are important people doing important jobs, often making beautiful things.

i do a variety of jobs depending on who is employing me but they are all hands on skills based except for the shop work.. none really ii would say make me a crafts person, but this week ii am doing this....

splicing ropes into thimbles to make trapeze bars. tomorrow i'll be picking up the bars and doing the other end. fun fun.

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^ nice!

i'd love to make more rope stuff. need to get a boat for it though. Did some monkey fists a while ago, just for keyrings but still good to learn

I absolutely love rope work, got really into splicing and knots as a kid. This currently manifests itself as knitting, socks are awesome. Knitting is considerably less cool than what you are doing.

I like to paint - this one's quite large

I had a call yesterday from a carpenter/joiner based in Fulham who wants to meet with me.

Fingers crossed i'll get some sort of apprenticeship

:)

I trained as a carpenter. Couldn't find a decent job and got bored of the bullshit 'carpentry' for exhibitions.

I'm now a self employed Signwriter, been at it 2yrs and not missed a mortgage payment yet.

My mates in Stoke newington have a proper Carpenter's shed, fully equipped.
We tend to think we can do anything every time we're there. We've done fuck all.

I'm hoping to build a chair, chaise-longue.

I'm a designer / modelmaker / cnc machinist / artist. I started working as a flash developer 6 years ago and luckily got sacked after a year and a half. A chance meeting between my uncle and one of his friends ended up with me being thrown in at the deepend as a 3 axis cnc operator. I haven't looked back and I consider myself very lucky to have a career that is also a passion.

Some things I've made.
http://www.marketec.co.uk
http://www.conanabel.co.uk

Used to take apart and maintain BOP's similar to those made by bmxconan only slightly larger.

Day four of my thatchers apprentenceship: Fell through a roof from 1732, landed on my head and shoulder 6 metres down. Now stuck in a hospital for an early christmas holiday... Great way to start a new career

ouch :(

hope you make a full recovery, as speedy as possible...