What, When, Where, How, Who?
Handicraft
Introduction, Important Definitions and Related Concepts:
Handicraft, also known as craftwork or simply craft, is a type of work where useful and decorative devices are made completely by hand or using only simple tools. Usually the term is applied to traditional means of making goods. The individual artisanship of the items is a paramount criterion, such items often have cultural and/or religious significance. Items made by mass production or machines are not handicrafts. Usually, what distinguishes the term handicraft from the frequently used category arts and crafts is a matter of intent: handicraft items are intended to be used, worn, et cetera, having a purpose beyond simple decoration. Handicrafts are generally considered more traditional work, created as a necessary part of daily life, while arts and crafts implies more of a hobby pursuit and a demonstration/perfection of a creative technique. In practical terms, the categories have a great deal of overlap. A craft is a skill, especially involving practical arts. It may refer to a trade or particular art. The term is often used as part of a longer word (and also in the plural). For example, a craft-brother is a fellow worker in a particular trade and a craft-guild is, historically, a guild of workers in the same trade. See some further examples below. The term is often used to describe the family of artistic practices within the decorative arts that traditionally are defined by their relationship to functional or utilitarian products (such as sculptural forms in the vessel tradition) or by their use of such natural media as wood, clay, glass, textiles, and metal. Crafts practiced by independent artists working alone or in small groups are often referred to as studio craft. Studio craft includes studio pottery, metal work, weaving, wood turning and other forms of wood working, glass blowing, and glass art. A craft fair is an organized event to display crafts by a number of exhibitors. Folk art follows craft traditions, in contrast to fine art or "high art". Both Freemasonry and Wicca are alternatively know as 'The Craft' by their adherents.
ar·ti·san
(är t -z n,
-sn)
n.
A skilled manual worker; a craftsperson.
[Probably French, from Italian artigiano,
from Vulgar Latin *artiti
 nus,
from Latin art tus,
skilled in the arts, past participle
of artre,
to instruct in the arts, from ars,
art-, art; see ar- in
Indo-European roots.]
ar
ti·san·al
(ärt-z-nl,
-s-,
är t-z nl)
adj. arti·san·ship
n. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2003. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Mass is a fundamental concept in physics, roughly corresponding to the intuitive idea of how much matter there is in an object. Mass is a central concept of classical mechanics and related subjects, and there are several definitions of mass within the framework of relativistic kinematics (see mass in special relativity and mass in General Relativity). In the theory of relativity, the quantity invariant mass, which in concept is close to the classical idea of mass, does not vary between single observers in different reference frames. In everyday usage, mass is more commonly referred to as weight, but in physics and engineering, weight means the strength of the gravitational pull on the object; that is, how heavy it is, measured in units of force. In everyday situations, the weight of an object is proportional to its mass, which usually makes it unproblematic to use the same word for both concepts. However, the distinction between mass and weight becomes important for measurements with a precision better than a few percent (due to slight differences in the strength of the Earth's gravitational field at different places), and for places far from the surface of the Earth, such as in space or on other planets. The gross domestic product (GDP) or gross domestic income (GDI) is one of the measures of national income and output for a given country's economy. GDP is defined as the total market value of all final goods and services produced within the country in a given period of time (usually a calendar year). It is also considered the sum of value added at every stage of production (the intermediate stages) of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period of time, and it is given a money value. The most common approach to measuring and understanding GDP is the expenditure method:
- GDP = consumption + gross investment + government spending + (exports − imports), or, GDP = C + I + G + (X-M)
"Gross" means depreciation of capital stock is not subtracted. If net investment (which is gross investment minus depreciation) is substituted for gross investment in the equation above, then the formula for net domestic product is obtained. Consumption and investment in this equation are expenditure on final goods and services. The exports-minus-imports part of the equation (often called net exports) adjusts this by subtracting the part of this expenditure not produced domestically (the imports), and adding back in domestic area (the exports). Economists (since Keynes) have preferred to split the general consumption term into two parts; private consumption, and public sector (or government) spending. Two advantages of dividing total consumption this way in theoretical macroeconomics are:
- Private consumption is a central concern
of
welfare economics. The private investment and
trade portions of the economy are ultimately
directed (in mainstream economic models) to
increases in long-term private consumption. If
separated from
endogenous private consumption, government
consumption can be treated as
exogenous,[citation
needed] so that different
government spending levels can be considered within
a meaningful macroeconomic framework.
The arts is a
broad subdivision of
culture, composed of many expressive
disciplines. In modern usage, it is a term
broader than "art",
which usually means the
visual arts (comprising both
fine art,
decorative art, and
crafts). The arts encompasses
visual arts,
performing arts,
language arts,
culinary arts, and
physical arts.[citation
needed] Many artistic
disciplines involve aspects of the various arts, so
the definitions of these terms overlap to some
degree. A hobby is a
spare-time
recreational pursuit. A skill is the
learnt capacity or talent to carry out
pre-determined results often with the minimum
outlay of time, energy, or both. Skills can
often be divided into
domain-general and domain-specific
skills. For example, in the domain of work, some
general skills would include
time management,
teamwork and
leadership,
self motivation and others, whereas
domain-specific skills would be useful only for a
certain job. Skill often depends on numerous
variables.
Trade is the voluntary exchange of goods, services, or both. Trade is also called commerce. A mechanism that allows trade is called a market. The original form of trade was barter, the direct exchange of goods and services. Modern traders instead generally negotiate through a medium of exchange, such as money. As a result, buying can be separated from selling, or earning. The invention of money (and later credit, paper money and non-physical money) greatly simplified and promoted trade. Trade between two traders is called bilateral trade, while trade between more than two traders is called multilateral trade. Trade exists for many reasons. Due to specialisation and division of labor, most people concentrate on a small aspect of production, trading for other products. Trade exists between regions because different regions have a comparative advantage in the production of some tradable commodity, or because different regions' size allows for the benefits of mass production. As such, trade at market prices between locations benefits both locations. Trading can also refer to the action performed by traders and other market agents in the financial markets. A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade. The earliest guilds were formed as confraternities of workers. The decorative arts are traditionally defined as ornamental and functional works in ceramic, wood, glass, metal, or textile. The field includes ceramics, furniture, furnishings, interior design, and architecture. The decorative arts are often categorized in opposition to the "fine arts", namely, painting, drawing, photography, and large-scale sculpture. Some distinguish between decorative and fine art based on functionality, intended purpose, importance, status as a unique creation, or single-artist production. Decorative arts, or furnishings, may be fixed (for example, wallpaper), or moveable (for example, lamps).
sculptural - relating to or consisting of sculpture; "sculptural embellishments" 2. sculptural - resembling sculpture; "her finely modeled features"; "rendered with...vivid sculptural effect"; "the sculpturesque beauty of the athletes' bodies" modeled, sculpturesque, sculptured shapely - having a well-proportioned and pleasing shape; "a slim waist and shapely legs"Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2008 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.Wood is hard, fibrous, lignified structural tissue produced as secondary xylem in the stems of woody plants, notably trees but also shrubs. It conducts water to the leaves and other growing tissues and acts as a support function, enabling plants to reach large sizes. Wood may also refer to other plant materials and tissues with comparable properties. Wood is a heterogeneous, hygroscopic, cellular and anisotropic material. It is composed of fibers of cellulose (40% – 50%) and hemicellulose (15% – 25%) impregnated with lignin (15% – 30%).[1]
Wood has been used for millennia for many purposes. One of its primary uses is as fuel. It is also used as for making artworks, furniture, tools and weapons, and as a construction material.
Wood has been an important construction material since humans began building shelters, houses and boats. Nearly all boats were made out of wood till the late 1800s, and wood remains in common use today in boat construction. New domestic housing in many parts of the world today is commonly made from timber-framed construction. In buildings made of other materials, wood will still be found as a supporting material, especially in roof construction, in interior doors and their frames, and as exterior cladding. Wood to be used for construction work is commonly known as lumber in North America. Elsewhere, lumber usually refers to felled trees, and the word for sawn planks ready for use is timber.
Wood unsuitable for construction in its native form may be broken down mechanically (into fibres or chips) or chemically (into cellulose) and used as a raw material for other building materials such as chipboard, engineered wood, hardboard, medium-density fiberboard (MDF), oriented strand board (OSB). Such wood derivatives are widely used: wood fibers are an important component of most paper, and cellulose is used as a component of some synthetic materials. Wood derivatives can also be used for kinds of flooring, for example laminate flooring. Wood is also used for cutlery, such as chopsticks, toothpicks, and other utensils, like the wooden spoon.
