Upcoming Film Series on Sloyd, Handcraft, and Spoon Medicine
I wanted to share a film I’ve been working on daily for over a week. It’s the beginning of a new project that I’ve been planning since I started carving almost ten years ago. As you know I’ve been a photographer most of my life, and throughout that time I’ve made a handful of small films documenting various things, but mainly handcraft related themes. Four years ago after losing all of my gear and belongings in a house fire, this dream took a back seat.
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The first film in the series is about a talented spoon carver named Patrick Diette or as we know him here @klipnockywoods
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Here is a short trailer which is a couple minutes long, but a little taste of some “real talk” which is a nice change from the typical marketing you see on social media. It’s not an easy job, you won’t make a lot of money selling spoons, and the jet set life doesn’t exist if you live with an axe in your hand. Life is not perfect, it has it’s ups and downs. But a common thread with people who are daily practitioners of handcraft, enjoy making for it’s calming and medicinal benefits which I have been calling “Spoon Medicine” for a long time.
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I have a lot more to say but for the ones that do not want to read my typical long winded passages, you can skip to the film below. I’ll continue writing in the comments section and post this to my blog if reading on a tiny screen is a chore for the eyes.
Filming is quite the undertaking and costly.
I’m still playing catch up, trying to get my life back to a somewhat stable state. Most of my money goes towards survival, and every once in a while I replace some things I really need that burned up. I’m still not there replacing close to what I lost regarding my camera equipment, studio lighting, and other hardware. You’d cringe if you knew the amount of money I’ve spent just to get the basics back. The costs are beyond what my truck is worth, many times over.
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The other thing that doesn’t help matters is that I don’t have a normal job. I live off of my handcraft, and run my business 100% by myself. This includes carving, harvesting, shipping, web design, marketing, travel, driving, booking classes, etc. For me to make a ten minute film, I end up having to edit sometimes for 14 hours a day for at least a week to produce something to my liking. I also have to write my own film scores, since I am a musician as well. Keeping everything in-house keeps the costs down. That week away from my “job” if you want to call it that, disrupts and sets me back big time. But after years of encouraging people constantly coming back to remind me how much my old films helped them start their life in craft, and some even said it helped change their lives in a small way, I’m finally sacrificing some of my time and money to get the ball rolling again.
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I have no idea how often I can get new films finished up, and ready to view. But I’m hoping I can come up with a way to help me fund some of this whether it’s grants, or crowd funding. But I am fortunate enough that I travel so much for my work, and I have built very close relationships to other carvers, tool makers, artists, and beautiful individuals that I feel are very important to the world who are often unseen and unknown to most. The majority of the carving films out there are really for promotional use for that craftsperson or tool companies. But I’ve always been interested in sharing what I see, through my own eyes. Why do you choose to live this way? A film by a craftsperson of a craftsperson that speaks that language, with the focus on that person only. No motives, just putting them in the limelight that they deserve. Not only can this help us all as a community if you want to call it that, but it will help that person gain more attention which I hope will get them more customers and recognition that they deserve. There is a reason not many of us can live this lifestyle, but maybe I can help, even if that means I make less money. It’s worth it.
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It’s also worth noting that the majority of people living like this, and there aren’t many.. are very quiet and humble. They’re not the type of people that film themselves, or really can get comfortable enough to let someone else film them. It takes me a years of building a close friendship to be able to get in close with something that is very invasive (cameras and microphones) I have felt since I started carving almost a decade ago, that I should use some of my abilities to share what I’m doing with the world, but also I can use my talents as a photographer to share what other people are doing as well. “Together” is the word I think of.
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After spending time in some archives, I’m realizing that there aren’t many modern artifacts or pieces being submitted to archives at least in my field which is woodcarving. That’s not good! The films I am fond of are from the late 70s and older. Films by Alan Lomax to name one. When I talk to aging crafts people, that era is when they felt they were in their prime and at least in America, that was a golden age for woodcraft - post industrial revolution. So I’m interested in documenting those folks as well who are now in their retirement period 60-70 year olds. Not just focused on the hip young crowd that just started doing this. Some crafts people I have made close bonds with are in their 90s and are nearing the next journey in their existence.
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I hope I can find a way to fund some films, some better gear, have some money to actually hire some help as it’s very hard to juggle all my camera gear, lights, and audio recording equipment by myself. This film I actually had to drive seven hours each way to capture it, but little sacrifices go a long way.
- I hope you enjoy it, this is just a rough draft trailer if you will. The finished film will have a proper soundtrack, audio mastered, and visuals cleaned up. I’ve been listening to a lot of old folk music lately which seems to fit the rhythm of handcraft. I think they go hand in hand. One artist particular that I’ve had stuck in my head is Nick Drake and I recorded some off the cuff in his stylings
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Come sit down with Pat and I, and hear it from a full time maker, what it’s like, why he does it, and what he sees for the future of handcraft.