Handmade History

4d ago

A quick reminder: if you'd like to join us for the Wild Pansy Stumpwork Stitch Along with MCreativeJ in March, please pre-order your kit or pattern today! You'll get everything you need (pattern, supplies, and a great Handmade History article) to make a beautiful hand-embroidered 3-D pansy & learn to do stumpwork! Get 15% off the kit or PDF pattern before 12/31/25. Want to share the Stitch Along as a gift? Just put a note in your order and we will send a cute e-card to your giftee to let them know they are in, and their kit/pattern is on the way! Visit https://www.patreon.com/posts/142281475 for more details. The art and craft of papercutting is as old as paper-- and in this episode, we cover both! Listen in to learn about the history of paper and paper-like materials such as papyrus and tapa. Then, follow us around the globe as we explore traditions of papercutting in several countries. We cover Chinese papercutting, Mexican papel picado, Indonesian shadow puppets, the tradition of Jewish papercutting, and scherenschnitte in Switzerland and the US--among others! We also talk about the variety of tools and supplies used by papercutters in different traditions, and the wide range of motifs that papercutters create. Finally, we profile two papercut artists from the early 1800s, Adele Schopenhauer and Martha Ann Honeywell. This is by no means a comprehensive survey of papercutting--but it's a great start! We will take a break for the holidays and be back in January with more Handmade History. Happy holidays, everyone! Shownotes and sources here: https://tinyurl.com/4jf5xncd Have a question, comment, or idea for a future episode? Email us at handmadehistoryhosts@gmail.com . Sign up for our free posts on our Patreon page at patreon.com/handmadehistorypodcast. Visit our website at handmadehistorypodcast.com for more information. Listen in your favorite player, or in your browser at https://handmadehistorypodcast.com/#listen Quick note: If you'd like to join us for the Wild Pansy Stumpwork Stitch Along, grab your kit or pattern here ! Pre-order before December 31 and get 15% off!

Dec 1

This episode is brought to you by Sculpey. Are you curious to try out polymer clay? Are you a polymer clay artist or enthusiast? We have a special offer for you from Sculpey, the original polymer clay company. Use code HANDMADE25 to get 25% off your entire purchase on Sculpey.com . If you aren't sure where to begin, Sculpey III clay is the perfect polymer clay for beginners. It comes in almost fifty colors and is easy to mold and shape into fun creations. You can also buy a multipack of Sculpey III clay, including sets of the Classic colors, Brights, Pastels, and Naturals. These sets are an easy way to get all the colors you need to get started. If you are an experienced polymer clay maker, then you know the variety of products Sculpey has to offer, from Liquid Sculpey to Sculpey Souffle, to all the tools you need to make beads, jewelry, sculptures, frames, dishes, and more. Visit Sculpey.com use code HANDMADE25 for 25% off your entire order. Sculpey – Where creativity takes shape. Thank you, Sculpey! If you were a child of the nineties (like one of us was!), you probably came across polymer clay. This brightly colored clay that bakes in the oven can be made into beads, miniatures, and so much more. In this episode, we share the story of the invention of polymer clay from an oil-production by-product (in Germany) and a failed attempt to make a material for electrical transformers (in the US). We tell the story of Sophie Rehbinder-Kruse, who eventually made the first successful polymer clay in the 1940s called FIMOIK. We also tell the story of how Sculpey started in the US in the 60s with white clay and demonstrations at art shops and craft fairs. We share some of the wide range of techniques that people use to create with polymer clay, from caning to conditioning with a pasta machine (thank you, Marie Segal!). And we finish by profiling two very different but very cool polymer clay artists, Ford/Forlano and Yuka Morii. Join us and relive your time at the kitchen table making beads, buttons, and miniature versions of food for your dolls! Show notes and sources here: https://tinyurl.com/373kwc5u Have a question, comment, or idea for a future episode? Email us at handmadehistoryhosts@gmail.com . Sign up for our free posts on our Patreon page at patreon.com/handmadehistorypodcast. Visit our website at handmadehistorypodcast.com for more information.

Nov 17

We're doing a giveaway! To celebrate our collaboration kit & pattern with Melissa Galbraith of MCreativeJ, we are giving away one of Melissa's books, DIY Embroidered Shoes . If you would like to enter the giveaway, visit Handmade History Podcast on Instagram . You'll see the giveaway post pinned right at the top and you can comment and enter there. If you're not on Instagram, no worries! Just send us an email with your name and let us know that you'd like to enter the giveaway. You can email us at handmadehistoryhosts@gmail.com . This giveaway closes on December 1, 2025. This week, we are talking about blackwork, a type of counted embroidery that typically uses a special stitch called the Holbein stitch. Tradition holds that Queen Katherine of Aragon brought blackwork to England from Spain when she married Henry VIII, and that the Holbein stitch was named after Tudor court painter Hans Holbein the younger. But blackwork was around for hundreds of years before the Tudors reigned. Mamluk embroidery is a type of embroidery that looks just like blackwork--and it originated in Egypt in the 1200s. We explore the fascinating history of how this group of enslaved Turks and Central Asians rose to power, and how they made Egypt the center of the Arab world. We go back even further in time to explore an Indian tradition, kasuti embroidery, which has all of the characteristics of modern blackwork. And it's still going strong today! Join us on a journey around the world and across time as we explore the origins of blackwork! Show notes and sources here: https://tinyurl.com/w3mmva9k Have a question, comment, or idea for a future episode? Email us at handmadehistoryhosts@gmail.com . Sign up for our free posts on our Patreon page at patreon.com/handmadehistorypodcast. Visit our website at handmadehistorypodcast.com for more information.

Nov 3

This episode is brought to you by our Patreon page: visit patreon.com/handmadehistorypodcast and sign up to get our free posts! You'll be the first to know when an episode is live. Explore more on each topic with videos, photos, and links to research rabbit holes. This week also marks the launch of our first collaboration: the Wild Pansy Stumpwork Stitch Along! Pre-order your kit to make a beautiful stumpwork pansy designed by Melissa Galbraith of MCreativeJ. A PDF pattern is also available. Both include an exclusive history article from Handmade History. Then, join us for a stitch along in March. Visit MCreativeJ to pre-order your Wild Pansy Stumpwork Kit or PDF pattern today! This week, we are talking about the mimeograph and other defunct print technology, including spirit duplicators, hectographs, and of course, the Gocco. Did you know that an embroidery transfer method called pouncing inspired Thomas Edison to invent the first-ever copy machine, a flatbed mimeograph? Or that Allied airmen who plotted the Great Escape used food tins and gelatin from Red Cross rations to create a hectograph to copy maps and forged papers? Learn all this and more in this episode. You'll find out how the mimeograph, a favorite tool of 1930s zinesters, evolved, and how to make a master for a spirit duplicator. You'll hear gems from a 1960s secretary training course, too. Plus, relive the glory days of early craft blogging as we chronicle the attempt to Save Gocco! Show notes and sources here: https://tinyurl.com/4s3fktuw Have a question, comment, or idea for a future episode? Email us at handmadehistoryhosts@gmail.com . Sign up for our free posts on our Patreon page at patreon.com/handmadehistorypodcast . Visit our website at handmadehistorypodcast.com for more information.

Oct 20

Sponsored by Folkwear Patterns. Folkwear – Where history meets your hands. Visit Folkwear.com and use code HANDMADE20 for 20% off your purchase. Code is good through the end of 2025! Cosplay might make you think of shiny spandex and elaborate makeup--but did you know it got its start in 1939? Morojo (pronounced mo-roy-oh) was the first ever sci-fi fan to create a costume for a con: a dress that converted into a cape and romper. This "costume of the future" inspired other fans to start making their own costumes, and soon the masquerade or costume contest was a fixture at cons around the country. Join us as we follow cosplay through the decades: in the 60s, when the pilot of Star Trek debuted at a con in Ohio; in the 70s, when cosplayer Wendy Pini surprised a talk show host on TV; the 80s, when the term "cosplay" was invented by a Japanese journalist; and the 90s, when cosplay was still fringe but growing thanks to Sailor Moon. Learn about how cosplay became a multi-billion dollar industry in the early 2000s and 2010s, and how cosplayers like Yaya Han made it possible for cosplay to be a career. Show notes and sources here: https://tinyurl.com/3jkku7s9 Have a question, comment, or idea for a future episode? Email us at handmadehistoryhosts@gmail.com . Visit our website at handmadehistorypodcast.com for more information.

Oct 6

Sponsored by Folkwear Patterns. Folkwear – Where history meets your hands. Visit Folkwear.com and use code HANDMADE20 for 20% off your purchase. Code is good through the end of 2025! "Hairwork" probably makes you think of intricate Victorian mourning jewelry and silky sculpted hair under glass. We take a broad view of this craft and talk about hairwork from ancient times (such as false beards made of metal) to modern day (the fabulous wigs Queen Charlotte wears in Bridgerton). We also share the varieties of hairwork that were made in the US from pre-colonial times (hair cord used to hang canteens in the cliffs of the Southwest) through the Victorian era (those silky sculptures, and so much more). Join us for a deep dive into what is considered a macabre craft that is actually fascinating, diverse, and occasionally very sweet. Show notes and sources here: https://tinyurl.com/4b9bsekd Have a question, comment, or idea for a future episode? Email us at handmadehistoryhosts@gmail.com . Visit our website at handmadehistorypodcast.com for more information.

Sep 22

Sponsored by MCreativeJ: Visit mcreativej.com today and raise your embroidery to new heights! Esther Inglis was a skilled book artist, calligrapher and embroiderer who lived at the same time as Shakespeare. She created roughly 60 miniature handwritten copies of printed books and gifted them to nobles and royals (including Queen Elizabeth) to gain political and economic favors. Join us as we discuss her life, her books, and the complex patronage system that she worked in. The child of French Huguenot emigrants to England and then Scotland, Inglis was educated in calligraphy by her mother and French by her father. Though she married a clerk, she wrote under her own name for almost all of her manuscripts. Her books, some as small as 1.75 inches tall, were handwritten copies of printed religious texts, including books of the Bible and collections of poetry. She also drew several self-portraits–she was the first British woman to include a self-portrait in a book. Inglis used her books to further her political and religious goals (she was a Protestant, and she may have helped get James I onto the English throne) as well as earn money for her family. And, she handbound and embroidered the covers of several of her books. Listen in to hear how modern needlework historians recreated one of her 400-year-old covers, using velvet, tiny pearls, and gold thread. We also share the mystery of one of her earliest manuscripts–did she write it herself? Show notes and sources here: https://tinyurl.com/494m4y3n Have a question, comment, or idea for a future episode? Email us at handmadehistoryhosts@gmail.com . Visit our website at handmadehistorypodcast.com for more information.

Sep 8

Sponsored by Folkwear Patterns. Folkwear – Where history meets your hands. Visit Folkwear.com and use code HANDMADE20 for 20% off your purchase. Code is good through the end of 2025! Up until relatively recently, when factory-manufactured fabric became readily available, many garments around the world were naturally low and zero-waste. People who spent days (or months!) creating fabric (or processing animal skin) did not typically throw away pieces of it. Many cultures developed clever techniques to use up all of the material they created, to provide ease and comfort to the wearer, and to make precious fabric fashion. Join us as we explore garments like the Tarkhan dress (the oldest woven dress), the sari, the kimono, and various garments discovered on bog bodies, among others. Learn about the relationship between material and garment design, find out some of the interesting construction techniques people used, and follow us down deep dives into a variety of practices, from traditional weaving in Japan's Ainu culture to how Egyptians made pleats without an iron. Show notes and sources here: https://tinyurl.com/54asn73s Have a question, comment, or idea for a future episode? Email us at handmadehistoryhosts@gmail.com . Visit our website at handmadehistorypodcast.com for more information. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts!