Heritage Crafts

I blogged a few weeks ago about how excited I was to see the first episode of "Mastercrafts", a BBC series all about traditional British crafts. I've continued to enjoy this series as it's progressed and I really hope they make a second series!

Have you been watching it? Did you have a favourite episode? I found the episodes on stonemasonry and stained glass particularly fascinating as I used to work in a Cathedral. But as someone who works with textiles my favourite was (predictably) the weaving episode, not least because it's given me so much respect for weavers!

With traditional crafts on the brain, I was delighted to discover the Disappearing Acts series over on The Guardian. It's a series of articles and audio slideshows (slideshows with a voiceover reading the relevant article) featuring traditional trades which are nowadays rarely practised and in some cases are in serious risk of dying out.

The articles themselves are really interesting and some of the images are just wonderful. I'm really looking forward to working through them all during many tea breaks. If you want some serious jaw-dropping crafty eye candy start with this slideshow about stucco.

If you want to read more about British heritage crafts and how to support them, the Heritage Crafts Association is a great place to start.