Or, a fess Sable
Craft
Step by step: ink, gold, wood, iron and bread.
Everything under this shield
Craft
Making oak-gall ink at home
The ink of Magna Carta and most medieval books is made from wasp-stung oak galls, rusty iron and gum. You can make a bottle this weekend.
Isolde Marr
Craft
Sharpening like a Victorian joiner
A Victorian apprentice spent his first month sharpening other men’s tools. Here is the routine he learned, and why it still works on a Sunday.
Hal Denby
Craft
Gilding with gesso and bole
Raised gold in a manuscript is not paint. It is a cushion of gesso, a breath, a leaf of gold and a dog’s tooth to burnish it. Here is how.
Isolde Marr
No posts under this shield yet. The first one is being written.
¶ The five categories
Five ways in
Every post belongs to one of five categories, and each has its own coat of arms. Pick a shield and read everything under it.
Essays
Azure, a chevron Or
Long arguments for slow, well-made things.
Chronicles
Gules, a bend Or
History, told through the hands that made it.
Craft
Or, a fess Sable
Step by step: ink, gold, wood, iron and bread.
Field notes
Vert, a pale Or
Walks, workshops and the places still working.
Conversations
Purpure, a saltire Or
Long interviews with people who make things.
¶ The Thursday letter
One letter, every Thursday.
The week’s long read, one thing worth making, and a note from the margins. Free, no tracking pixels, and you can leave in one click.
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