Opportunities

This week’s #mondaymaker is Tom Moy @tommoystudio – a furniture designer maker.

Tom crafts bespoke furniture, sculptures, and objects designed to forge meaningful, lasting connections with their owners – rooted in a profound respect for the natural world and inspired by its textures and forms. Working from rural Somerset, Tom combines contemporary design principles with traditional techniques, shaping pieces that are as functional as they are beautiful.

View Tom’s profile on our maker’s directory: https://www.heritagecrafts.org.uk/maker/tom-moy-studio/

#heritagecrafts #mondaymaker #furnituremaking

Over eight days we are profiling the recipients of our recent round of Endangered Crafts Fund grants.

James Allen @cotmarshtannery from Wiltshire has been funded to buy a lime tank for the production of traceable vegetable-tanned leather from cattle hides.

James’ grant is funded by an anonymous donation to the Endangered Crafts Fund.

James said:
“Setting up an educational micro veg tannery has been a huge undertaking, and it wouldn’t have been possible without the support of organisations like Heritage Crafts. The lime tank that I will be able to buy with the grant from the Endangered Craft Fund is one of the key components of the tanning process and critical to the success of the tannery. Beyond the grant itself, the recognition and support from Heritage Crafts means a lot to me personally as it helps endorse my vision for the tannery and its objectives around education and supporting the tanning industry.”

Day one of @thefestivalofmaking done! Join us for day 2 in the beautiful @blackburncathedral.

This week’s #craftfocus is beadworking.

Beadworking is the craft of attaching beads to one another with thread or wire, or sewing them to cloth. Beads come in a variety of materials and sizes, and are used to create jewellery and can be incorporated into other forms of artwork and craft.

Beadwork techniques are broadly divided into loom and off-loom weaving, stringing, bead embroidery, bead crochet, bead knitting, and bead tatting.

Bead stringing involves adding beads to thread, cord, elastic, leather, beading wire or similar materials to create single, multiple or braided strands.

Off-loom beadweaving is the creation of an intricate chain or fabric of beads using a needle and thread and is often done with small beads called seed beads. Each stitch has its own unique thread path and many stitches have variations which can create either a flat strip of beadwork, a round tube, a spiral or a flat circular shape.

A bead loom is a device used to weave beads into a cloth-like beaded fabric, and can be used to create strips of flat beadwork or larger sized panels for incorporating into pieces such as purses or artwork. While faster than off-loom beading, it requires additional steps to set up the loom first

Bead embroidery is another form of beadwork where beads are stitched or sewn onto a fabric or backing. With many different embroidery stitches, this type can be used by itself or in combination with other crafts such as cross-stitch or quilting.

Beadworking is listed as viable on our crafts list; however, threats include a lack of comprehensive and widely accessible training opportunities. The advent of shops selling cheap and mass produced beadwork has also impacted the craft, alongside being more labour and cost intensive compared to mass manufacturing methods.

Quality materials are restricted as many bead shops have closed and bead fairs have a decreasing number of exhibitors largely due to the availability of materials on the internet.

Images: Chloe Menage @pinkhot_uk

#heritagecrafts #craftfocus #beadworking

Be craft curious with us and become a member of Heritage Crafts.

Join here: https://www.heritagecrafts.org.uk/join-us/

🌾Straw work made by Heritage Crafts Member: @pennymaltbymaker

#endangeredcrafts #craft #maker #heritagecrafts #strawplaiting #strawwork #craftcurious

The man, the myth, the legend @nick_hand hosting the first of our Bristol Community Catalyst volunteering meetings at @centrespacestudios, where we discussed how we can supercharge local appreciation of the value of craft skill. If you’d like to get involved in the next one contact [email protected].

📷 @bramblecarpentry