Folk Craft Revival
Join host Daniel Howell as he explores making and learning traditional skills and crafts with topic experts. From foraging to blacksmithing, weaving to hide tanning, each episode contains guidance and tips for learning to make or do it yourself. Inspired by the survival, homesteading and handmade communities this podcast covers a variety of traditional knowledge for the person that is interested in practical self-reliance, rural skills and artisan craftsmanship. Operating on the belief that knowing how to 'do things' is one of the most underrated skills in modern life and that the joy of craftsmanship and providing for yourself is rapidly becoming lost, each topic is presented in a way to provide you with the necessary information needed to get started now and make something useful in your life! Learn to make what you need, understand how things work, and imbue your life with the self satisfaction that comes from working with your hands! Homesteading, self-sufficiency, primitive technology, traditional knowledge, ancestral skills. . . Folk crafts. These are my passions, lets share them together.
Episodes
38 episodes
Carving and Whittling with Brian Carver
#038. -- The ability to shape wood with a knife is one of the most elemental skills to have, and plays at least a minor role in the vast majority of other crafts. Sadly, knife skills in general seem to be in decline. . . Though that's som...
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Episode 38
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47:29
Bone: Understanding the Material, it's Uses and History with David Constantine
#037. -- In the craft world of the modern age, bone seems to be a rather neglected raw material that is rarely used for much of anything. But that was not always so, and fortunately Dave was willing to come on the podcast and share a lit...
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Episode 37
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1:29:54
Wool & Spinning with Josefin Waltin
#036. -- How many of you have ever knitted your own garments from wool you processed and spun yourself? Just the thought intimidates me.... and also draws me in wanting to learn more! In one of Josefin Waltin's Youtube videos she ...
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Episode 36
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1:00:54
Explanation (& Ramblings....)
#035. The Folk Craft Revival podcast is back!!!!If you can't tell, I'm excited! I've really missed putting together this podcast -- chatting with guests and getting to know some individuals involved in heritage skills and retaini...
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Episode 35
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23:59
Finding Color on Your Local Landscape with Scott Sutton (The Pigment Hunter)
#034. -- Scott Sutton (aka The Pigment Hunter) joins us to chat about the art of finding color on our local landscape. We discuss how he got involved with making paints and sourcing pigments, his philosophy on sourcing materials and minimizing ...
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Episode 34
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1:31:22
Foraging, Homesteading and Self Reliance with Jesscy Dean
#033. This week I’m chatting with Jesscy Dean (aka The Wild Homesteader) about foraging, food preservation, sourcing your own food, and old skills like that in general! Food seems to be the theme of this conversation, and why not? It is THE fun...
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Episode 33
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1:11:48
The John C. Campbell Folk School with Dea Sasso
#032. -- Dea Sasso, a Resident Artist from the John C. Campbell Folk School joins us to chat all about the school, it's history, types of classes it offers, how it has changed her life, and much more! Our conversation centers around learning ab...
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Episode 32
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1:09:35
Getting Started with Natural Navigation with Tristan Gooley
#031. -- Are you paying attention to the landscape around you? Can you explain the differences and changes you observe? Although it may seem foreign to many of us in the modern world, people around the globe have navigated for centuries using t...
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Episode 31
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54:01
Making Charcoal and Biochar with Rebecca Oaks
#030. Rebecca Oaks, author of the book Making Charcoal and Biochar, joins us to discuss charcoal, it's history and uses, traditional methods of making it, what it looks like from a small scale charcoal burners perspective, and suggestions for m...
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Episode 30
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1:25:08
Primitive Skills and Nature Connection with Sammy Kells
#029. Sammy and I chat about his introduction to primitive/survival skills, what draws him to them, woodworking, traditional southern Appalachian crafts (banjos in particular), ocarinas and more. For Sammy, nature connection is the primary reas...
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Episode 29
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1:02:57
Blacksmithing, Apprenticeships, Pushing your Limits and Becoming Better at your Craft with Sam Ritter
#028. -- In this episode I chat with professional blacksmith Sam Ritter about his journey as a craftsman. We chat about how he got introduced to blacksmithing, what his path was to going full time, why it was important for him to be around and ...
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Episode 28
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1:10:16
Fish Leather and Ancestral Skills with Janey Chang
#027. Janey joins us to do a quick dive into how to tan fish leather using tea leaves (or other tannin sources). We also chat about her introduction to fish skin tanning and ancestral skills in general, why she loves ancestral skills, oil tanne...
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Episode 27
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1:28:04
Fleece Rugs, Sheep, Heritage, and the Shetland Islands with Helen Hart
#026. -- In this episode I chat with Helen about some of the traditional crafts she's involved with, how she became involved in them, and what draws her to them. We talk about keeping sheep, natural dyes, fair isle knitting, burning peat,...
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Episode 26
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1:29:29
Home Butchery and Using the Unusual Bits with Jake Levin
#025. Do you raise and butcher your own livestock? Process the game animals you hunt?Regardless, this time of year would have been the traditional butchering season in northern latitudes and just about every rural family would have been...
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Episode 25
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1:38:29
Blacksmithing with Vern Barker
#024. In this conversation we discuss getting started in blacksmithing, what you'll need, where to find tools, what to look for before buying, general guidelines for smithing, etc. We also cover some suggested resources and Vern's experiences t...
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Episode 24
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1:01:45
An Overview of Flintknapping with Mike Cook
#023. This week we're talking flintknapping-- learning about making and using stone arrowheads and knives. We discuss the knapping from a high level perspective, with a little bit of how-to and the principles involved, a bit of considerations f...
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Episode 23
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1:32:15
Exploring the History, Archaeology, and Construction of Throwing Sticks with Michael Frank
#022. In this episode we delve into throwing sticks (rabbit sticks, boomerangs, whatever you wish to call them) and how to make and use them. Michael is also an archaeologist by education so we discuss some of the historical and archaeological ...
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Episode 22
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1:21:53
A Beginners Guide to Scrimshaw with Rich Williams
#021. -- In this episode we talk through the principles of scrimshaw and how it is done, from prepping your work piece to tools needed, techniques used, legality issues, and so much more. We also discuss the history of scrimshaw as a nautical a...
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Episode 21
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1:28:59
Building and Designing Rocket Stoves with Tom Mills
#020. -- Could you use a cooking source that heats up quickly, uses very little fuel that is easily gathered from your landscape, and is something you can build with a minimal amount of time, cost, or skill? A rocket stove just may be the answe...
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Episode 20
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1:18:59
Willow Chair Making with Justin Roberts
#019. -- You know those old-time rustic bent willow chairs? I think of them as being a product of the Great Depression, others think of them as being emblematic of gypsies. Regardless, they are one of the mostly forgotten folk crafts of our pas...
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Episode 19
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1:31:15
Yurt Building, Coppicing, and Green Woodworking with Alex Cole
#018. We talk about a variety of fun topics in this episode including yurt building (and touch on some other traditional/natural building techniques), managing a coppiced hardwood forest, English green woodworking, and traditional lime wash and...
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Episode 18
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1:34:17
Locating Wild Clay: Finding, Processing, and Testing Clay for Pottery with Andy Ward
#017- If you're interested in making your own pottery you first need to know how to find and process the clay that is local to your area. In this episode we're discussing how to find and identify local wild clays for making your own handmade po...
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Episode 17
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1:25:34
Rug Braiding (....& a bit of Rug Hooking) with Dianne Tobias
#016- Rug Braiding, that unique American craft developed as a way of turning scrap cloth into something useful. . . and gorgeous too! Learn about the craft of making traditional braided rugs as well as the art form it has evolved into. In this ...
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Episode 16
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1:22:41
Pole Lathes, Production Work, and What is "Craft"? with Jarrod Dahl
#015. We talk about the construction and use of pole lathes, compare them with modern electric lathes and discuss what drew Jarrod to pole lathes to begin with and why he chose to focus on turning rather than other traditional crafts. This was ...
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Episode 15
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1:16:43
Fundamentals of Wet Felting with Rosemary Wells
#014. Want to learn to felt? Have wool and need something to do with it? Consider trying felting! In this episode of the Folk Craft Revival podcast we discuss the basic method and theory behind wet felting wool as a way to create hats, boot...
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Episode 14
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1:20:15