Craft Research - Volume 11, Issue 1, 2020

Traditional methods of prosthetics fabrication are slow, messy, inaccessible and prohibitively expensive, particularly in developing nations and conflict areas. The development of 3D printing technology allows for prosthetics to be made cost-effectively with an added degree of customization and personalization not previously utilized. 3D printing is quickly expanding in the field of prosthetics, but has rarely been implemented in developing nations or countries in armed conflict, despite these areas having the largest number of amputees and the greatest shortage of prosthetics. Resource-poor areas can use 3D printing as a means of providing prosthetic care for local amputees, as this technology is uniquely suited to help amputees acquire high-quality, affordable, comfortable prosthetics. The use of 3D printing can fulfil the critically unmet need for culturally appropriate prosthetic technology and alleviate many of the psychosocial effects suffered by amputees worldwide, but only if such programmes are implemented properly. This synthesized literature review provides information on the process of, usage for and benefits of utilizing 3D printing for prosthetic limbs.

This chapter explores the relationship between craft and well-being through a close examination of the relationship between craftwork, specifically basketry, and cognition. The author argues that the exploratory, gestural and embodied skills manifest in basketry-in-action enhance creative thinking and spatial understanding of a person's environment. This enhanced understanding arises through the physical and neurological developments which grow during becoming skilful. This attribute of crafts such as basketwork to enhance cognition is equally valuable for people with memory loss, and also for those who have experience acquired bran injury or stroke. Here, new learning can both provide resonance with former skills, and also enable new neural pathways to become established, often enabling a degree of recovery to take place.

This article reflects upon a pilot project crafting textile samples/prototypes for people who are visually impaired. It explores the role that sensorial empathy and further understanding of the language of touch play in the textile crafting process for makers working with people who are visually impaired, and that aesthetic and experiential textiles (while important to all) are especially important to people who are visually impaired. The project undertakes craft research in an area that is generally overlooked by textile designers. The makers/participants were sighted second-year undergraduate textile design students at Nottingham Trent University and the end users, who acted as informants, were service users at My Sight Nottinghamshire (a charity in the United Kingdom addressing visual impairment). The project is situated within human-centred design, with a focus on physically intuitive designs crafted for people with visual impairments. The application and usage of the samples/prototypes are aimed at inclusivity, with engagement centred primarily around haptic touch, and so looking at the textiles may not reveal their potential application, which becomes more apparent through physical engagement. The project was inspired by work within sensory studies, including the concept of sensorial empathy, and research relating to the language of touch through tactile encounters with art objects from a visually impaired perspective. The methods used in the project drew upon empathic design processes, which were informed by sensory ethnography – particularly 'emplacement' and the holistic consideration of mind, body and place – and selected aspects of social haptics, particularly 'environmental description'. Recommendations include further development of the language of touch to support textile craft when working with people who are visually impaired and further consideration of 'grounding' as a concept regularly described by the informants.

The primary aim of this article is to exemplify and evaluate the application of a grounded theory approach to studying craft participants, including the introduction of social theory in the analysis process. This is done by describing a qualitative research project that explored why women today knit. An increased interest in knitting and other crafts has been noted, particularly amongst women participants. The article sets out how a grounded theory approach was employed to offer new ways to understand this topic. The secondary aim of this article is to share the findings of this research. It is suggested that what participants said about their relationship with knitting could be understood in terms of Stebbins' notions of creating routines for engaging in this leisure activity, fulfilling a sense of obligation to undertake the activity, and a sense of pride and autonomy. This helped frame knitting as an activity that requires hard work and perseverance but results in fulfilment. Furthermore, it was found that knitting deviates from Stebbins' conception of serious leisure activities as the categories of hobbyists, amateurs and professionals may need reworking, given that knitters (classed by Stebbins' as hobbyists without professional counterparts) are partly professionalized and therefore seem more appropriately classed as amateurs.

Arts and crafts are widely considered to be psychologically beneficial. Letterpress, as a traditional method of printing, was made redundant by computers in the later twentieth century but has enjoyed a 'rebirth' in recent years. There are a growing number of independent presses, and universities who are recognizing its potential as a pedagogical tool. As a printing method, it is no longer a necessity, so what is its role going forward? The techniques are not lost, but their value has changed. As a craft, letterpress has several distinctive qualities, particularly when compared to digital alternatives. When working with letterpress, students are no longer alone at their desks. Rather, the letterpress workshop is a social, communal space. In this article we reflect on the resurgence of letterpress as a celebration of culture and heritage: a coming together of like-minded individuals in a community of action. What is the value of enabling students to immerse themselves in letterpress, and what are the effects of this immersion on the practitioner and their well-being? There is a shift in focus of letterpress from output – mass-produced printed media – to process. We analyse the unique qualities of this process – its physicality, the restrictions it imposes and the latitude it allows – and explore links to mental and physical health and well-being. This position paper explores the practical, conceptual and emotional dimensions of letterpress as a craft. It draws upon personal reflection, observation and anecdotal accounts collected over years of teaching (V. S.), while offering psychological perspectives on the links between letterpress, craft and well-being (S. R. H.).

Unearthing the development of my craft practice and my physicality, this critical self-portrait exposes my embodied experiences, material processes and the humanistic and scientific research entangled within my artistic investigations. By examining linkages between body, material and language, my practice concerns itself with vulnerability and the interrelations of the self and other. Initially using porcelain to explore ecocritical matters, the responsive material soon revealed potential for personal and physiological abstraction; exposing this journey, I later develop correlations with silk. Throughout this article I explain how close material relationships open space for the training and moulding of my body, ethically and for reasons of recovery and resistance.