Welcome to...
Dying Arts
In this Bonus Series, Eleanor talks us through the history of endangered heritage crafts and forgotten arts...
Episode 1: Weaving
Eleanor and Martin talk about the ancient craft of weaving...
They start off by discussing the Radcliffe Red List, then move onto what weaving is, find surprising links between goddesses like Athena and Frigg and Artificial Intelligence, and explore the 28,000-year history of a craft we all take for granted.
Episode 2: Parchment and Vellum Making
Eleanor and Martin talk about the dying art of vellum making.
To start, they discuss the differences between vellum and parchment, then describe the processes involved in turning animal skin into stationery...
Lastly, they show a little love to a critically endangered craft with only two professionals practitioners currently active in the UK today - despite it historically being the most reliable way of retaining writing, outside of carving words into stone...
Episode 3: Marionette Making
Eleanor and Martin talk about the dying art of marionette-making.
To begin with they discuss puppetry in general, including the history of the tradition across different cultures, then dig into the specific methods used by marionette-makers and marionettists - art forms which were once ubiquitous across Europe and Great Britain, but which are now only really extant in England at five specialist theatres...
Episode 4: Corn Dollies
Eleanor and Martin explore the dying art of corn dolly making.
They start by discussing the links between European beliefs around 'Harvest Maidens,' 'Corn Spirits,' and elaborately fashioned 'corn tokens,' including English regional variants such as the Worcester Crown and the Yorkshire Spiral.
Then they dig into traditions recorded by James Frazer in his book The Golden Bough as well as techniques, methodology, and recent famous examples of Corn Dollies, such as the stunning straw work figures exhibited by Fred Mizen at The Festival of Britain.
Episode 5: Traditional Christmas Crafts
Eleanor and Martin discuss traditional Christmas crafts.
They start of chatting about Midwinter, Yule Logs, and the Ashen Faggot, then discuss the history of the Christingle, old recipes for Christmas pudding, the tradition of the 'Kissing Ball' and 'Kissing Bough' as well as Christmas Trees, Advent Calendars, and Walnut Gilding.
As you might expect, there are digressions along the way, but still, scissors, ribbons, and glitter at the ready. Let's get crafting!
Episode 6: Fan Making
Eleanor and Martin explore the history of Fan Making, a critically-endangered craft.
They start off chatting about the 3,000 year-old legacy of fans from China, Japan, and Africa, then dig into the European craze for fans, including their religious uses, their styles, hidden compartments, and secret language.
After exploring the shifts the 19th century offered around fan culture, including their place in merchandising, make-up, and mass production, they also discuss how and where collections of fans might be seen today, and where to go if you want to learn how to make them using traditional methods...
Episode 7: Basket and Trug Making
Eleanor and Martin explore the history of Basket and Trug Making, which may just be the oldest crafts of all.
Part of the "Dying Arts" series, they start by discussing the basics, including what a basket really is, including ancient examples from Rome and Egypt.
After chatting about how basket and trug-making were crafts that managed to defy mass-scale industrialization right through until the 20th century, they venturing from Somerset's marshes to Sussex, where the modern trug was born, then rifle about amongst basket folklore, from Moses to Pearina and beyond, before speculating about whether the factories and plastic business have won, or if traditional basket-making can weave its way bank from the brink...
Episode 8: Pipe Making
Eleanor talks us through the history of clay and wooden pipe making.
We start by discussing the first recorded uses of smoking, including from Ancient Scythia and Aztec culture, and track the changes which took place from things like incense burning and Ancient Greek "Vapour Baths" through to Native American ceremonial pipes, tobacco deities, and the eventual impacts of recreational smoking on European life.
After chatting through the rise and fall of pipe smoking in particular, we then discuss various types of pipe, and the methods and materials used to make them, as well as some of the ways pipes have appeared in folk and popular culture - from Gandalf and the Hobbits honking away on 'Pipeweed' to Sherlock Holmes, as well as the strange connections between pipes and fairies, smoking tigers, and much more besides...
Episode 9: Glove Making
Eleanor talks us through the surprisingly saucy history of glove making!
We start by discussing where Eleanor's interest in the topic first arose, specifically in Renaissance drama, clothing and costume, before we then explore the truly ancient relationships humans have had with gloves, from Ice Age mittens to Tutankhamen's riding gloves, references to gloves in Classical texts and art, and the important positions gloves occupied in Northern European life, from medieval gauntlets to poisoned gloves, love tokens, and more.
After chatting through the processes involved in actually making a pair of gloves, much of which involves some very silly terminology, we then explore how gloves appear in literature and culture, from Beowulf to the novels of Samuel Richardson and beyond, before ending in our current era of mass produced gloves, where their purposes are still surprisingly specific - not least if you're a soldier at war in the Middle East...
Episode 10: Broom and Besom Making
Eleanor talks us through the history and folklore of brooms and besom-making - so flying ointment at the ready!
We start by discussing the difference between brooms and besoms, the neolithic strategies used to sweep, and how the Black Death ushered in new concepts of cleanliness and godliness.
After that, and a chat about the noble work of 'Broom Squires,' it's onto the dark side of brooms and besoms, including how non-conformist Christian sects became associated with flying on broomsticks, how this was conflated with witchcraft, and how the besom went from being a must-have item in every household to becoming something a little bit suspicious...
Episode 11: Corsetry and Staymaking
Eleanor trims her baleen into lengths, finds our natural waists, and loosens the laces of underwear history to explain the rich heritage of Corsetry and Stay Making!
We start by discussing the basics of what corsets and stays even are before we whisk back to Ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt to explore how ladies' underwear used to work, and how it has then changed and developed across the centuries.
From the Middle Ages into the Renaissance, the Romantic and Victorian eras through to the modern day, it's a story as much about how expectations around the female body and shifts in fashion changed underwear across time, including through some surprising feats of engineering, the use of materials ranging from whale keratin to steel, linen to silk, and the rather late development of the waist-constricting fashions so commonly associated with corsets today.
Encompassing some wild ideas, including the 'Pigeon Bras' worn by soldiers in World War 2 to the historic undergarments worn by ancient royal effigies, myths about measurements, examples of Victorian image manipulation and misleading portraiture designed to portray 'perfect' bodies, it's an episode filled with surprises, and one that explores how marriages of form and function have worked brilliantly for centuries - while certain innovations have prompted wide-scale protests, 'bra burnings', and a modern tendency to sideline clothing items deemed essential by generations of women from the dawn of recorded history...