Lost Arts are Found at the Library
By Rita Nauman, Library Associate
I’m sitting at the doctor’s office with my yarn and the appropriate paraphernalia. A pretty young woman walks in and gives me “that look.” I prepare myself for the inevitable, “What ARE you doing?” she asks.
I go into my now almost rehearsed spiel. “Well, I’m spinning yarn. This is a spindle, it’s like a spinning wheel, like from “Sleeping Beauty” only smaller and more portable.”
“Why would you want to spin yarn? It’s easier to buy it right? Do you own your own sheep too? What do you do with it when you’re done?” I’ve heard these question before too.
The questions are always the same, and I have finally figured out an answer that seems to satisfy most people. “Well,” I say, “I guess I was born 800 years too late. I like making things from start to finish. It’s fun knowing that the scarf I’m wearing is knitted with wool yarn that I made from wool from my best friend’s sheep.”
I was recently asked if there was anything that I had always wanted to do but hadn’t done yet, and I realized that I couldn’t think of anything. As early as I can remember, I have thought to myself, “I wish I could…” This was always followed by a discussion with my Dad and then a trip to the public library. Today, I just head for the card catalog and find information on whatever catches my fancy.
I am not a Renaissance woman…I am a pre-Renaissance Woman. I do natural dyeing and spinning and tablet weaving. I play at calligraphy and illumination. They are all what I call “the dying arts,” others call them “lost arts,” which are misnomers because lately there has been a huge resurgence in interest towards them. The crafting channels on TV have shows with teenager’s knitting. There are quilting guilds galore…and the library has a book for everything, and if they don’t, they’ll order one for you!
The Library offers books on a multitude of topics. If you’re interested in making your own wine, try Jeff Cox’s “From vines to wines : the complete guide to growing grapes and making your own wine”. Perhaps you’d like to know more about making your own paper. If so, then check out “Making paper : a look into the history of an ancient craft” by Bo Rudin. There are books on beekeeping, woodcarving, canning, furniture making, even how to make soap…the list goes on and on, and they’re right there on the bookshelf…unless someone arrived there first and checked it out.
Right now I’m looking at a very interesting book: “The Forgotten Arts and Crafts: Skills from Bygone Days” by John Seymour. This wonderful book has a whole section dedicated to the needle arts…I could get lost for hours.
I keep looking…Laurel Ulrich’s “The Age of Homespun,” a book about the textile industry in New England…I’ll have remember to find that later. And for those readers of Nordic ancestry, there are books on Hardanger Embroidery…I tried that once, I should pull that out for Christmas. I run out to the 745 area of the non-fiction section (my favorite part of the library) and find Caroline Green’s “Victorian Crafts Revived,” which is a fantastic book full of gorgeous ideas for Christmas and more.
There are some awesome books for kids, too. My daughter, who has suddenly developed an interest in my bizarre hobbies, would love what the Library’s youth area upstairs has to offer. I’ll have to show her Marian Broida’s “Projects about Colonial Life,”or ….Oooh…Jennifer Bonnel’s ”DIY Girl”…even better! It’s a step-by-step guide to making clothes, beauty products, fashion accessories, and decorative items for the home using household materials.
I guess I am perpetuating the cycle. My father taught me that everything you need to know--no matter how obscure--you can find at the library. He believed it. Today, I realize that librarians don’t know everything…they just know how to find it!
For more information about any of these books, or to see if the Rapid City Public Library has a book about a particular “Lost Art” you may be interested in, go to the Library’s website at: www.rapidcitylibrary.org. If you don’t see what you want, you can always request materials online too