A gift in your will

This week’s #mondaymaker is Jenny Beattie @jenny_beattie_millinery – milliner.

Jenny uses traditional millinery techniques to make innovative, bespoke headpieces for individuals, fashion and theatre. She uses tools and techniques ‘borrowed’ from different craft disciplines to produce uniqueness, and prides herself on having a high level of technique and skill.

With fine art and millinery training, she has a materials-led practice with a unique aesthetic. She has a reputation as someone with an interest in transforming rubbish or leftovers into ‘Trash Hats’, in which eccentric fabrics such as cat food pouches or used teabags are transformed into stunning headpieces.

She says that craft has always been enormously important to her, as well as the cross pollination from other disciplines.

View Jenny’s full profile on our Makers’ Directory: https://heritagecrafts.org.uk/maker/jennybeattie/

#craft #millinery #heritagecrafts #mondaymaker

This week’s #craftfocus is cut crystal glass making.

British cut crystal glass, known for its brilliance and intricate designs, has become a hallmark of craftsmanship. In 1674, George Ravenscroft, a glassmaker based in London, patented a new method for producing glass with lead oxide, making it easier to work with, heavier and more brilliant, giving it a high level of clarity and sparkle due to its increased refraction of light. This lead crystal became highly suitable for cutting, as it could be deeply engraved and polished, giving rise to intricate designs and brilliant finishes.

During the 19th century, the British crystal industry reached its height. Crystal glass was highly sought-after, and many of the cutting patterns that we associate with traditional crystal glassware today were developed. From the mid-20th century onwards, British glassmakers shifted focus from mass production to preserving the artisanal quality and heritage of glass cutting.

The glass is cut using various diamond or carborundum grinding wheels. The wheels cut grooves into the glass with straight, sharp angles to increase the sparkle of the glass by adding more light-reflecting surfaces. Surfaces can then be cut a second time, a process known as smoothing, to create a finer finish. Few people do the second cut anymore as it adds considerable time to production.

Cut crystal glass making is classified as critically endangered on our Red List of Endangered Crafts. Recruitment has become very challenging due to a lack of training provision. High setup costs and lack of specialist equipment hinder training, and insufficient job security prevents guaranteed employment after training.

https://heritagecrafts.org.uk/craft/cut-crystal-glass-making/

Images: @cumbriacrystal

#heritagecrafts #craftfocus #cutcrystalglassmaking #crystalglass

This week’s #mondaymaker is @laurawilkesdesigns – hand-printed wallpaper and textile maker.

Laura is a New Forest based artist and maker whose work grows directly from the landscape around her. Working from a small workshop on the edge of the forest, she creates handmade wallpaper inspired by the quiet textures, shifting light and wild botanicals of the forest and coast she calls home.

A self-taught artist and single mum, Laura has shaped her business through determination, patience, and a deep respect for nature. Each wallpaper design begins as a pencil study, before being transferred onto large sheets of lino which she slowly and carefully handcarves. Her work carries the marks of the maker – subtle variations, tiny imperfections, and the warmth of something crafted with intention.

Today, Laura continues to create from her workshop, balancing motherhood, making and a growing list of collectors, interior designers, and independent retailers who are drawn to the honesty and earthiness of her work. Her wallpapers are not just surfaces – they are stories of nature, life and the quiet beauty found in handmade craft.

View Laura’s full profile on our Makers’ Directory: https://heritagecrafts.org.uk/maker/laura-wilkes/

#heritagecrafts #mondaymaker #wallpapermaking #textileprinting

This week’s #craftfocus is split cane rod making.

Split cane rods were developed in the USA in the 1870s. Until this time rods had been made from whole cane or solid wood, and the split cane rod was a big improvement due to its lightness and flexibility (the ‘carbon fibre of its day’). Despite the introduction of fibreglass and carbon fibre, split cane can be just as good. Today, split cane rods are a luxury good, but they still need to have all the performance that split cane rods had in their heyday.

Split cane rods are specifically made with tonkin bamboo grown in a small area of southern China. It is a very sustainable crop harvested every few years and is one of the quickest growing plants on the planet. Only a tiny fraction is used to make rods – the rest used as scaffolding and furniture.

The cane is split out from two inch diameter culms which are straightened and flattened before heat treating and planning to shape each of the six equilateral strips that make up a hexagonal section. The work is very precise with sections accurate to a thousand of an inch. Planed sections are glued and bound before finishing and adding handles, ferrules and guides.

Split cane rod making is classified as endangered on our Red List of Endangered Crafts. Bamboo rods still have many benefits over carbon, and yet there is a mindset, instilled by the carbon rod manufacturers, that cane is heavy and weak. This could not be further than the truth, especially for the traditional realm of streams, where cane rods are the unsurpassed ruler.

https://heritagecrafts.org.uk/craft/split-cane-rod-making/

Images: Edward Barder @barder_rod

#heritagecrafts #craftfocus #splitcanerodmaking #fishingrodmaking