Editorial: Craft and the Handmade: Making the intangible visible

In November 2014, the Department of Fashion and Textiles at the University of Huddersfield hosted the conference Transition: Re-thinking Textiles and Surfaces. The conference sought to scrutinize current and future developments in textile research and its applications within the wider context of the creative industries. With keynote presentations from Professor Becky Earley, Professor Jane Harris, Dr Subramanian Senthilkannan Muthu, publisher David Shah and Trend Union forecaster Philip Fimmano, this two day event brought together a myriad of theoretical perspectives and material approaches through four distinct tracks: Science and Technology, Sustainable Futures, Craft and the Handmade and Enterprise/Industry/Business. This guest edited issue of Craft Research focuses on Craft and the Handmade and features articles that were first delivered as papers within this track

Peningkatan Kuantitas, Kualitas dan Kontinuitas Industri Kertas Handmade

Permasalahan industri kecil kertas handmade bersumber dari belum optimalnya kuantitas dan kualitas produk yang pada akhirnya berdampak pada kontinuitas. Produksi kertas ini dipengaruhi cuaca, keterbatasan bahan dan teknik pembuatan kertas handmade yang pada akhirnya mempengaruhi kontinuitas produk. Konsumen kertas handmade yang umumnya pengrajin juga menghendaki kertas yang bervariasi dalam pembuatan produk berbahan kertas. Tujuan kegiatan adalah meningkatkan kemampuan industri kecil untuk meningkatkan kuantitas dan kualitas kertas handmade serta produk berbahan kertas handmade. Implementasi ipteks dalam pembuatan kertas handmade menghasilkan 6 varian kertas yang dibuat dari bahan baku tunggal maupun campuran dari mendong, rumput, limbah kertas dan debog pisang dengan pewarnaan sintetis maupun alami dan corak menggunakan berbagai bentuk daun. Pemanfaatan alat potong yang bervariasi dan tajam juga telah menghasilkan 6 jenis paper box berbahan kertas handmade, termasuk bentuk yang cukup sulit dibuat seperti bulat, oval atau bentuk jantung. Pembuatan produk untuk jumlah tertentu telah dikuasai sehingga industri kecil mampu menerima pesanan dalam waktu relatif cepat sesuai kebutuhan konsumen

Plants, Fiber, Paper: Handmade Papermaking Workshop

Learn to make handmade papers using pulp and plant fibers for personal and educational use. During this workshop, participants will explore the history of Western and Asian papermaking techniques with artisans from the Morgan Papermaking Conservatory and Education Foundation, make their own handmade paper sheets, and consider classroom applications for their handmade products. Handmade papermaking can be used for teaching collage and other art forms, for literary and literacy purposes, making handmade books and journals, for scientific exploration about environmental and sustainability issues, or for plant and fiber activities related to school gardening

Handmade films and artist-run labs. The chemical sites of film’s counterculture

This article addresses handmade films and especially artist-run labs as sites of hands-on film culture that reactivate moments and materials from media history. Drawing on existing research, discourses and discussions with contemporary experimental filmmakers affiliated with labs or practicing their work in relation to film lab infrastructure, we focus on these sites of creation, preservation and circulation of technical knowledge about analog film. But instead of reinforcing the binary of analog vs. digital, we argue that the various material practices from self-made apparatuses to photochemistry and film emulsions are ways of understanding the multiple materials and layered histories that define post-digital culture of film. This focus links our discussion with some themes in media archaeology (experimental media archaeology as a practice) and to current discussions about labs as arts and humanities infrastructure for collective project and practice-based methods

Craft in unexpected places

Within the shifting territories of craft practice, the handmade has become a relational form of contemporary activity that transforms our understanding of place through a hands-on, minds-on process of collective-making. The conceptual significance of craft is activated through a chance encounter with the handmade in daily life. During the article we aim to explore the confluence between crafting, social engagement, volunteering and the realms of education and creative practice that we have both experienced first hand. What will be revealed will be the voices of practitioners collectively exploring cloth’s potential as a metaphor for consciousness, carrier of narrative and catalyst for community empathy and cohesion. This will be informed by an enquiry into historical forms of communal crafting drawn from archival research at the Imperial War Museum London and Foundling Hospital Collection housed at the Foundling Museum in London and a primary case study of the workshop ‘Desconocida – Unknown – Ukjent’. We employ a method used in object-based research: a value system that can be applied to the consideration of cloth as an object of study – namely, the locational, iconographical, archival, aesthetic and transferral. Focusing particularly on the transferral and locational, we will examine the significance of the handmade gesture in particular artistic, political and social contexts. These visual and textual narratives will inform our perception of ‘Craft in unexpected places’ and bring visibility to a selection of craft interventions by making links between the wide-reaching possibilities for craft-based practices and their expressive potential within the social and political landscapes they inhabit

Archaeological excavation : site of Collyhurst Old Hall

Salford Archaeology (SA) was commissioned by the Manchester Communications academy to undertake a community archaeological excavation on Collyhurst playing fields, Collyhurst, Manchester. The purpose of the excavation was to uncover, record and interpret the possibility of remains of Collyhurst Old Hall. This work included mapping and assessing the extent, function, phasing and relative significance of the buried remains. The aim of the works was to raise awareness of and engage the community in the discovery and preservation of their local heritage. The Collyhurst Old Hall study area is located on the corner of Rochdale Road and Collyhurst Street. The history of Collyhurst Old Hall is remarkably sporadic, however, there was a hall recorded on the site from at least 1649 along with several outbuildings, extensive gardens and a watercourse. The Ryder Estate Map of 1830 suggests a later Georgian-style Hall was built over Collyhurst Old Hall. By the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1848 this building had been demolished and by the end of the 19th century the site was occupied by several rows of back to back houses which included Collyhurst Street, Laverack Street and Ryder Street along with St James C of E Primary School on Teignmouth Street. These structures were demolished before 1970 and the site has remained vacant since, serving as playing fields for the Collyhurst Nursery School and Children’s Centre adjacent to the site. The community excavation took place in July 2015 and involved the opening of four evaluation trenches within the south east part of the playing fields at Collyhurst. The trench location was informed by a test pit evaluation which had occurred during March 2015. The trenches revealed the remains of the later phases of occupation of the site, particularly the remains of St James C of E Primary School, and back to back housing of Collyhurst Street, Ryder Street and Laverick Street. The excavation provided an opportunity to compare the physical remains of St James Primary School, Collyhurst St, Laverick St and Ryder St, with the 1966 mapping. Furthermore, the excavation gave a clear indication of the use of this land since the demolition of these features

Waste recycling being Biomassa and high economic potency handmade to solve the waste problematic and to solve the poverty

Waste recycle has done for TPA Winong Boyolali at Winong Village. Organic waste was recycled being biomassa and the anorganic waste (plastic) was recycled to be unique bags handmade. Some of waste were made into products which has high economic in order to increase the income for Winong village society. Methodology of the program has 3 steps, First, socialization ofdisadvantages of waste and the economics potency. Second, biomassa and bags handmade training. Third, supervising for the production and then the marketing penetration indeed. The products from the program were lifeskills making biomassa and bags handmade. Biomassa center have made the biomassa 35 kg per week succesfully, and trashion center (bags handmade) have made 10 kinds of bags i.e. sandals, small bags and medium bags. The products were sold by consignment system in the stores. Keywords: recycle, waste, handmade, biomassa, winon

Handmade Flowers

The making of flowers is an art but it is an art which can be acquired. A corsage of silk or velvet flowers may give the necessary touch to an afternoon or evening dress to make it distinctive. The woman who likes to express her individuality appreciates this. Fancy ribbon creations are suitable for bedroom decorations such as lamp or candle shades, pillows, bags, or fancy boxes. Pink satin or chiffon flowers are used with pleasing effect for caps of negligees. Sprays or bunches of flowers may be made to trim hats. They may be made of the same material as the hat, or contrasting. For the high school girl who is going to her first “dress up” party lovely bandeaux can easily be made

Handmade Dolls

Girl with her handmade dollshttps://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/ua-photo-collection/8277/thumbnail.jp