Wood carving
Wood carving is a form of working wood by means of a cutting tool (knife) in one hand or
a chisel by two hands or with one hand on a chisel and one hand on a mallet, resulting in a
wooden figure or figurine, or in the sculptural ornamentation of a wooden object. The
phrase may also refer to the finished product, from individual sculptures, to hand-worked
mouldings composing part of a tracery.
The History of wood carving has from the remotest ages the decoration of wood as a
foremost art. The tendency of human nature has always been to ornament every article in
use.[ The North American Indian carves his wooden fish-hook or his pipe stem just as
the Polynesian works patterns on his paddle. The native of Guyana decorates his cavassa
grater with a well-conceived scheme of incised scrolls, while the native of Loango
Bay distorts his spoon with a design of perhaps figures standing up in full relief carrying a
hammock.
Pottery
Pottery is the ceramic material which makes up potterywares, of which major types
include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is
also called a pottery (plural "potteries"). Pottery also refers to the art or craft of a potter or
the manufacture of pottery.
The definition of pottery used by ASTM is "all fired ceramic wares that contain clay when
formed, except technical, structural, and refractory products." Some archaeologists use a
different understanding of this definition by excluding ceramic objects such as figurines
which are made by similar processes, materials and the same people but are not vessels.
Pottery originates during the Neolithic period. Ceramic objects like
the Gravettian culture Venus of Dolní Věstonice figurine discovered in the Czech Republic
date back to 29,000–25,000 BCE, and pottery vessels discovered in Jiangxi, China date back
to 20,000 BP. Early Neolithic pottery has also been found in JomonJapan (10,500 BCE), the
Russian Far East (14,000 BCE), Sub-Saharan Africa and South America.
Jewelry
Jewellery or jewelry is small decorative items worn for personal adornment, such
as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, and bracelets. Jewellery may be attached to the
body or the clothes, and the term is restricted to durable ornaments, excluding flowers for
example. For many centuries metal, often combined with gemstones, has been the normal
material for jewellery, but other materials such as shells and other plant materials may be
used. It is one of the oldest type of archaeological artefact – with 100,000-year-old beads
made from Nassarius shells thought to be the oldest known jewellery.
The first signs of jewellery came from the people in Africa. Perforated beads
suggesting shell jewellery made from sea snail shells have been found dating to 75,000
years ago at Blombos Cave. In Kenya, atEnkapune Ya Muto, beads made from
perforated ostrich egg shells have been dated to more than 40,000 years ago.
PAPER CRAFT
Paper models, also called card models or papercraft, are models constructed mainly from
sheets of heavy paper, paperboard, or card stock.
Printed card models became common in magazines in the early part of the 20th century.
The popularity of card modeling boomed during World War II, when paper was one of the
few items whose use and production was not heavily regulated.
Micromodels, designed and published in England from 1941 were very popular with 100
different models, including architecture, ships, and aircraft. But as plastic model kits
became more commonly available, interest in paper decreased.
Weaving
Weaving is a method of fabric production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are
interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. The other methods areknitting, lace
making, felting, and braiding or plaiting. The longitudinal threads are called the warp and
the lateral threads are the weft or filling. (Weft or woof is an oldEnglish word meaning
"that which is woven".The method in which these threads are inter woven affects the
characteristics of the cloth.
There are some indications that weaving was already known in the Paleolithic era. An
indistinct textile impression has been found at Pavlov[Moravia. Neolithic textiles are well
known from finds from the advanced civilisation preserved in the pile dwellings in
Switzerland. One extant fragment from the Neolithic was found in Fayum, at a site dated to
about 5000 BCE. This fragment is woven at about 12 threads by 9 threads per cm in a plain
weave. Flax was the predominant fibre in Egypt at this time (3600 BCE) and continued
popularity in the Nile Valley, though wool became the primary fibre used in other cultures
around 2000 BCE.
