The need for a traditional crafts organisation

For many years I have felt we need an organisation to support traditional crafts in the UK. I have lobbied and campaigned in the hopes of getting a government organisation but finally realised that it will be better if it comes from the craftspeople ourselves.

The last few weeks I have been in correspondence with many folk in the traditional craft world and we hope to create an organisation that can help preserve and promote some of our wonderful heritage of craft skills.

Today I met with Brian Crosby of the Basketmakers Association to discuss the way forward and together we visited the last sieve or riddle maker hand weaving garden riddles.

Here is Brian on the right and Mike Turnock the sieve maker on the left. Mike buys in 4" slabs of beech and saws them into thin strips that are steam bent to make the sieve rims.

Cutting wire mesh to fit a rim.

and making another hoop to hold the mesh in place. The anvil is an old axle from the 19th century Dove Holes Tramway.

Fitting the sieve together if everything is cut correctly it is a tight fit.


Next Mike showed us how he weaves specialists riddles. First drilling the holes, note how the holes are not evenly spaced around the rim in order to get even wire spacing inside.

The drill bit is a cut down masonry nail, Mike prefers to use this as by pushing it in different distances he can make holes to suit different thicknesses of wire without changing the bit.


Starting to weave. By using a special "crook" Mike lifts one wire and lowers the next.

Then threads the wire through.


He then pulls it tight, cuts it off, bends it down, turns the point in and hammers it into the side wall.


Mike makes sieves and riddles in all sorts of sizes and some specialist ones. The one he is holding here is for shrimp and the pile in the background for grading cockles.

Mike is 63. He works very hard and can make a living at his trade. He can not afford to work part time because of the workshop overheads and he can't afford to take anyone on. He says he will work past 65 but how long this trade will carry on for is uncertain.

another traditional Sheffield craft

Well not green wood tools but I visited this place on Thursday along with knifemaker Grace Horne and it was great.


Eric Grinding


Ian glasing, that is using a hard felt buffing wheel with abrasive


Cliff working his magic on a nearly finished pair


Notice the slope on the hammer head so it comes down flat on the stiddy with his wrist at a comfortable angle.


Nice old hammers with handles worn thin with use. How many years do they take to wear out like that? "Oh they are not old I have worn through loads over the years"


To be fair I don't think either Grace or I had much interest in scissors before yesterday but these guys enthusiasm was infectious, looking through old catalogs at the weird and wonderful stuff they used to make doesn't sound that interesting but really it was fascinating.


Packing area, have you noticed yet that they are all grinning all the time.


and a few samples

traditional crafts skills research

I don't think I have posted anything on the blog yet about my wife Nicola's research. here is a video overview.



So whilst many of our friends know Nicola as a spooncarver by daytime she is Dr Nicola Wood of Sheffield Hallam University and conducts research into how craft skills and tacit knowledge are handed on. She is particularly interested in finding ways to preserve and share craft knowledge using multimedia, the web, video etc. Her most recent project has involved working with some of the last traditional folding knife makers in Sheffield.

This is her website http://www.nicolawood.net/