shoes & peerage thoughts
I stopped off at Hersey's today after I was finished with work in Fitchburg so that I could have Steve measure my orthotics against the new lasts. He says it should be about 2 weeks before the dance sneakers Mark II will be ready. While there, I chitchatted with him about shoe construction. Specifically, I was curious about whether he sells/has access to low prices on the tools I'll need for making my 14th century turnshoes. Some important pieces of information came out of this conversation. 1. There is a Tandy Leather Store in Chelmsford (Drum Hill area) that carries all the tools I'll need. 2. He has a huge pile of leather in a variety of weights and colors that he acquired a while back from a leather company which is no longer in business in the USA. He's totally willing to sell me pieces of it. When I asked him how much he'd be asking per square foot, he hemmed and hawed in such a way that left me with the distinct impression that he'd be willing to accept any reasonable offer. We agreed that I'll dive into his collection when I come back in a couple of weeks. So, I may well wind up making more than one pair of shoes! That would be extremely nifty.
If I can get a good deal on the leather, I'm going to get some scraps and tools together so that I can teach a shoemaking class for Towers. I'm pretty sure (based on what Peter the Red has told me) that this is something that hasn't been done before now, and it's something in which people have interest.
Next subject:
Liam has been asking a lot of peerage-related questions today that have made me clarify my thoughts somewhat about Apprenticeship With Mirabel(TM).
I have three apprentices at the moment. I love them dearly. All three are currently fairly gafiated due to mundane Real Life Issues(TM). I also have an apprentice emeritus in South Africa who's now a laurel himself. Now, all three of my current apprentices are very free-form. They play at their own level, which at the moment is very low. Only one of them is in what I would consider to be an actual fealty relationship with me. I've been feeling for a while as if I've been failing these apprentices because even before they had Real Life(TM) take over, none of them were making much progress as artisans. They don't want to stop being my apprentices (I've asked), but neither are they actually DOING much of anything. I've been at a loss over what to do with them. Of course, nothing's going to happen right now due to their Real Life Issues(TM), but in the long run, I wonder whether keeping them as apprentices is actually doing them a disservice. I'm beginning to feel that it is. I'd also been starting to think in relationship to this that I'm not really sure I want to take apprentices anymore due to what's been happening (or more correctly, what's not been happening) with these three.
It occurred to me today while reading different people's responses to Liam's posts that I know what has been missing from these laurel-apprentice relationships. Structure. A curriculum. Of the four apprentices I have had, only one--my apprentice emeritus--specifically requested a curriculum (which I gladly and gleefully gave him). The truth of the matter, as I'm thinking about it, is that I'm at my best as a teacher when I have a student who embraces that structure, and who is driven to meet those goals as part of becoming the best artisan s/he is capable of being. Apprentices who are focused bring out the best in me--not only in terms of what I find to teach them, but also what they spur me to achieve as an artisan, too. We feed into one another. It's an awesome, amazing feeling when it works. And when it's not happening, well...the laurel-apprentice relationship is, by comparison, very flat, because of course, we feed into each other there as well.
This laurel-apprentice relationship philosophizing is not related in any way to people who want to learn from/with me in informal (or even formal) student relationships. I expect students to play at the level at which they are comfortable. And I'm willing to teach anyone and everyone (as pretty much everybody knows). But when someone wants to take their (informal or formal) student relationship to the next level, I think I need to create a framework for it. I have to assume that if someone really wants to be apprenticed to ME (as opposed to someone else), they are seeking to learn things they feel that only I can teach them, and they're seeking for it to come via my own personal teaching style. And of course, I must also assume that they want the best I can give them. That, faithful readers, means structure.
I'll worry about the details of said structure when/if I have another person ask to become my apprentice. But in the meantime, it helps to have a plan for building Bigger, Stronger Apprentices(TM).
If I can get a good deal on the leather, I'm going to get some scraps and tools together so that I can teach a shoemaking class for Towers. I'm pretty sure (based on what Peter the Red has told me) that this is something that hasn't been done before now, and it's something in which people have interest.
Next subject:
Liam has been asking a lot of peerage-related questions today that have made me clarify my thoughts somewhat about Apprenticeship With Mirabel(TM).
I have three apprentices at the moment. I love them dearly. All three are currently fairly gafiated due to mundane Real Life Issues(TM). I also have an apprentice emeritus in South Africa who's now a laurel himself. Now, all three of my current apprentices are very free-form. They play at their own level, which at the moment is very low. Only one of them is in what I would consider to be an actual fealty relationship with me. I've been feeling for a while as if I've been failing these apprentices because even before they had Real Life(TM) take over, none of them were making much progress as artisans. They don't want to stop being my apprentices (I've asked), but neither are they actually DOING much of anything. I've been at a loss over what to do with them. Of course, nothing's going to happen right now due to their Real Life Issues(TM), but in the long run, I wonder whether keeping them as apprentices is actually doing them a disservice. I'm beginning to feel that it is. I'd also been starting to think in relationship to this that I'm not really sure I want to take apprentices anymore due to what's been happening (or more correctly, what's not been happening) with these three.
It occurred to me today while reading different people's responses to Liam's posts that I know what has been missing from these laurel-apprentice relationships. Structure. A curriculum. Of the four apprentices I have had, only one--my apprentice emeritus--specifically requested a curriculum (which I gladly and gleefully gave him). The truth of the matter, as I'm thinking about it, is that I'm at my best as a teacher when I have a student who embraces that structure, and who is driven to meet those goals as part of becoming the best artisan s/he is capable of being. Apprentices who are focused bring out the best in me--not only in terms of what I find to teach them, but also what they spur me to achieve as an artisan, too. We feed into one another. It's an awesome, amazing feeling when it works. And when it's not happening, well...the laurel-apprentice relationship is, by comparison, very flat, because of course, we feed into each other there as well.
This laurel-apprentice relationship philosophizing is not related in any way to people who want to learn from/with me in informal (or even formal) student relationships. I expect students to play at the level at which they are comfortable. And I'm willing to teach anyone and everyone (as pretty much everybody knows). But when someone wants to take their (informal or formal) student relationship to the next level, I think I need to create a framework for it. I have to assume that if someone really wants to be apprenticed to ME (as opposed to someone else), they are seeking to learn things they feel that only I can teach them, and they're seeking for it to come via my own personal teaching style. And of course, I must also assume that they want the best I can give them. That, faithful readers, means structure.
I'll worry about the details of said structure when/if I have another person ask to become my apprentice. But in the meantime, it helps to have a plan for building Bigger, Stronger Apprentices(TM).