HANDS:
hands
hands title:
§0. Foreword
hands date:
10 March 2022
hands text:
How can a heart expression find?
How should another know your mind?
Will he discern what quickens you?
A thought, once uttered, is untrue.
Dimmed is the fountainhead when stirred:
drink at the source and speak no word.
How should another know your mind?
Will he discern what quickens you?
A thought, once uttered, is untrue.
Dimmed is the fountainhead when stirred:
drink at the source and speak no word.
01
People who work with their hands and those who do “headwork” often seem to live on different planets.
02
There are many theories why this is so. The one I prefer is simpler: craftsmen rarely write, and when they do, they are rarely listened to; and when they are listened to, they are rarely understood.
03
Because some things cannot really be explained.
04
The idea that people reveal themselves through making and transforming things is too theoretical and distant. You can’t taste honey by reading about it. This is the limitation of language.
05
I am not trying to describe what it feels like to make things, nor to defend manual work intellectually. What interests me is workmanship itself: the ability to make things well, how it is learned, and how it changes the person who practises it.
06
I am referring to skilled work.
07
The distinction between “craftsmanship” and “workmanship” is not especially important here.
08
I number paragraphs to simplify cross-referencing.
09
If you wish to provide feedback, criticism, or contribute, please contact us at hands (at) clayandstone.co.uk.