Well here we are! Day one!

Day one for you that is and you are most welcome.

I have been on the Made by Hands of Britain journey for some time now and what a journey it has been! It is a cliché, but it really does feel as if my whole life has been leading to this point. From being a young girl, I have always had a fascination for handcrafted things and have, throughout my life, tried with mixed success, to put my own hand to making anything from wooden toys, spoons and pottery to print making, mosaics, clothes and food of all descriptions. I think any maker, however skilful, will tell you that there is nothing more satisfying than toiling and tussling with a particular medium or material to create an item that is useful, beautiful or both. There is a definite relationship that builds up over a period of time between a maker and his chosen material and just like any relationship, there is a period of struggle where one, will attempt to enforce their will and nature upon the other, until a compromise and understanding is achieved, at which point something beautiful and almost irresistible emerges, for the maker and the eventual owner.

I am in awe of the skill, care and passion that the makers within this site and beyond, dedicate to their craft or art and have gained nothing but utter respect for them.

Controversial as it may be to some but for me there are no such people as artists or craftsmen, there are only makers. All that is made, without exception, has been conceived, designed and fashioned from the makers, chosen material to serve an aesthetic and functional use, whether that be spiritual or practical, whether if feeds the mind, the soul or indeed the stomach!

You will never be able to purchase (or make) something with more honesty, authenticity, integrity and meaning than that which has been made by hand with those very same sentiments woven into the very fabric of the work. You will never be saying or learning more about yourself as an individual, than when choosing to buy (or make), surround yourself and fill your home with items that have been made by hand. You will never be more connected to your fellow human beings (or yourself) than when purchasing (or making) something that has been conceived, designed and created by another human being (or yourself). You will never be able to grow to love your possessions more than when they have been made by hand.

In these troubled times you will not make a better purchase than to

"buy something once and buy it well, make something once and make it well!"

I hope, while you wonder around the site, that you too will see and marvel at the Handmade Producers and Service Providers and consider, having at least one of these things grace your home, or indeed be encouraged to put your hand to making something yourself and that as a result your life will somehow be richer for it.

ENJOY!

*please forgive me for not including any pictures just now, I need to dig through the Gilly archives to find evidence of all my past handmaking endeavours large and small, great and not so great, so watch this space!

 Yipeee! For the second year running I have won a prestigous prize at the Designer Bookbinders competition. This year it was for my binding of the competition’s set book ‘The Collected Stories of Nikolai Gogol’. The prize giving is on December 4th at the John Rylands Library in Manchester, after which my book will be exhibited there for a couple of months, along with a great collection of specially selected entries and prize winners in the competion.

This book took me around 9 months to complete. Bound in full leather decorated with acrylic, it has suede enpapers, leather doublures, acrylic painted edges, and is presented in a bespoke drop-back box with suede lining.

There are many things we can say about the failings and ills of our society, but the most worrying are
the apathy and abstinence from positive and proactive input from certain sectors. Many have
become spectators of life rather than participants; television for example, in the form of reality
shows creates confusion between fame and achievement and because of its accessible nature and
selective (edited) exposure of facts, gives the false impression that such things are easily gained
without the investment of learning, effort or struggle. As a result viewers, particularly but not
exclusively the young, find themselves disconnected and struggling to find a purpose in a world that
does not match their expectations.

What to do?

While there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution there are, in my opinion, things that can be done to
provide these people once more with a sense of doing, being and purpose; to feel that their
existence is justified just.

What better way to show evidence of our existence and identity (apart from creating children), than
to leave behind a tangible object created by hand?

Today the media is full to bursting, of programmes and articles dedicated to the tangible handmade
achievements of the past, such as the Antiques Road Show, Victorian/Edwardian Farm and most
recently, Handmade in Britain (to name but a few), where experts extol the virtues of craftsmen and
craftsmanship. They talk about the detail, the design, the skill, the workmanship and the fact that
many of these items are still in working use, literally hundreds of years later.

These antique objects and artefacts were as a result of ‘skilled manual labour’ the bi product of
which was being usefully occupied. There was a time when the term ‘manual labour’ meant and
(maybe in some eyes) still does mean today, demeaning, soulless work. However, we have forgotten
(or choose to ignore) that manual labour, although sometimes hard, was also associated with an
honest day’s work and more often than not there was something tangible to show for the efforts
expended at the end of the day. In that time, it is possible, even likely, that when such a person put
their head on the pillow at night, tired and aching, they did not realise the significance and
importance of their exertions and maybe would not have been aware that they were satisfying an
innate need to be manually as well as mentally occupied.

Today, not only is very little built to last but also few people expect things to last, in their constant search for ‘the next thing’, this ‘have it all and having it now’ approach has been of no help and indeed has caused the financial mess the planet now finds itself in.

Nevertheless, there are some who are fully aware of the significance of such noble exertions, which I
repeat; we celebrate on a regular basis. Manual occupation is still one of the best ways to satisfy this primeval need and that there is nothing wrong in going to bed tired and aching, knowing that the
day has been used to its full with something to show at the end of it. Some have become obsessed
with jumping the gun, to get to the destination without going on the journey, let alone enjoying it!
The concept of physical struggle is now perceived as bad, to the extent that we are desperately
trying to eliminate it (in the western world at least), to our cost. The advancement of human
knowledge and discovery has done much to improve the plight of humanity but it has also done
much to take away the privilege of physical occupation and endeavour. Many children, from
underprivileged and privileged backgrounds alike, with their parents’ blessing are very ready, to
replace hands-on experiences, with virtual ones; the gaming industry was worth $105 billion in
August 2010.

But physical exertion, endeavour, struggle even, is still to this day, necessary in every human life.
When that is not present, an emotional as well as physical vacuum is created, which as we all know,
must be filled. Are our lives any “easier” today? I doubt it. We’ve simply replaced physical struggle
with mental anxiety.

Art, Craft and Manual Production satisfy that need on every level.

When making, a process is gone-through, which uses pretty much all of our faculties:
Desire and/or need; concept; design; sourcing of materials; establishing the strengths and
weaknesses of both material and maker and then through trial, error and ingenuity working with or
around those attributes and limitations, to finally be confronted with something that is real, knowing
that so much of oneself has gone into the very fibre of the work.

But there are obstacles in the form of modern-day fears and insecurities that currently pervade
every aspect of modern life which is so readily passed on to our children. They are no longer allowed
or encouraged to go out, to discover the world around them, in order that they might take risks, to
discover how things work, how they themselves work and how the two work together. They no
longer have the opportunity or are encouraged (as previous generations were) to find discarded raw
materials such as pieces of wood or old bicycle parts, to transform into go-carts or wooden boats,
that really do work. Making is as much a way of discovering how they work as how the world around
them works. We need to restore this human right to them and making – structured or otherwise, can
do that.

Using our hands to create things of beauty, use or both; using the raw materials we find around us,
where a battle of wills ensues between maker and material, grappling and tussling with that
material, until a truce – a compromise and understanding is achieved and something beautiful
emerges. It is this struggle that helps define us as human beings and we need this affirmation, pretty
much on a daily basis, to keep us sane and healthy.

If we know this then why can making not become once more an integral part of our society and the
way we (parents and teachers) teach our children? What happened to Woodwork, Metalwork,
Needlework, Home Economics in the classroom? The old adage, “The only way to learn how to do
something is to do it” has never been more true. It is in the classroom and at home where we need
to start again, showing little children that those appendages called hands have a direct link to the
wellbeing of their mind and psyche as well as their sense of place and belonging. Today, a three year
old child has far more idea of what to do with a computer game controller than he does with
Plasticine, Playdoh, Lego or Crayons. I fear that the prophetic vision depicted in the (ironically)
computer-generated animation Wall-E, is much closer than we think!

If such a vision is to be believed, then we may be further down that path than is comfortable to
admit. I would argue that the recent inner city riots have been carried out by people who have come
to believe that there is no point in having a go at anything because it “won’t work” or at least they
have not been shown that it could. Some of us know it can work and that trying is part of the fun,
adventure and fulfilment. These unfortunate people are afraid to take the risk of discovering how to
do something that may or may not have a positive outcome, but from which they can learn and
improve. Instead they do something, which achieves instant gratification with the least effort and
ironically they feel more secure in doing because they are sure of the outcome. You throw a brick
through a window; you know what’s going to happen! But that is all that is ever going to happen- no
wonder frustration and violence are never far away. With making, there is always new territory to be
discovered, in the skill and in oneself.

If we could only pass onto others that sense of achievement and what it feels like to stare upon the
tangible and positive result of one’s own useful endeavours, then it will go at least some way to
improving the lot of individuals who currently have no hope.

Why are gates and railings the last consideration when it’s the first thing people see?

Gates and railings not only distinguish the entrance and perimeter to a property they create a first impression to all visitors and passers-by. We often ask ourselves us why house owners will spend freely on the interior design and furnishings in the hope of creating a good impression but totally overlook the front boundary. It is an important enhancement to any property and has traditionally been seen as part of the overall architectural concept. Gates and Railings are a symbol of good taste and status. Stately homes traditionally commissioned grand and lavish designs to grace a main entrance.

Today, gates and railings are a focal feature and increasingly a medium of expression, both personally and sculpturally; a piece of art combining beauty and function that everyone can appreciate. They add a feel good factor to a property, quality in the form of craftsmanship, using traditional techniques to recreate time-honoured designs. Ironwork is individual yet distinctive, combining traditional skills and designs that have stood the test of time.

Railings are functional boundaries defining a space, an attitude re-enforced by the fact that heritage grant aid has in many cases been used to reinstate period railings, removed in The Second World War for scrap, designs being copied from old photographs. These often reflect the design ethos of the time in terms of proportion, style and quality of manufacture, a tradition that continues to this day, although increasingly we are asked to develop new and more artistic ideas.

So why, are gates and railings so often one of the last items to be commissioned?  Budget constraints, over spend, lack of interest? Surely the front garden and driveway should not merely act as a thoroughfare to the sanctuary of the house, but rather announce to the world the dedication, care and love that has gone into making this home?

If nothing else, nicely designed Gates and Railings create a first impression that can make a real statement, showing the onlooker your understanding and appreciation of quality design and craftsmanship as well as giving your home a sense of grandeur and privacy.

It’s Voting time for the Craft and Design Awards 2012

I won the Silver Award last year, please help me make it a Gold this year by following the link and Voting for my jewellery!!

 http://www.craftmaker.co.uk/lucysylvester/

Thank you!!!