Photo_Smith
Well-known
I think each one would have been slightly different, the machinery still probably meant that these were hand turned on a lathe rather than being made on a wholly automated line.
Something that requires direct hand turning, hand made means just that a human hand directly interacts with machines to fabricate.
Once the human hand isn't directly working on the finished medium i wouldn't call that made.
Kevcaster
Well-known
I Like this thread and the way in which all the contributions seem to map through their argument so wide a territory.
I hand-made a barbecue, it was neither beautiful or long lived but cooked a steak very effectively. I did not make the bricks, the steel grill or the cement but chose to buy those in.
When I see a carved stone embellishment on a beautiful building I am moved to consider the life of the stonemason and his or her joys and worries. It is a brief moment that illustrates how handcraftedness works on my thinking. it is enough for me to be moved by that. I am also awestruck by the complexity of a silicon chip which has never been touched by any animal. Recently I opened up a German camera, maybe handmade or manufactured (depending on how you distinguish those two things) in the 1950's and found a trail of paint blobs, scratches, initials and pencil marks. It was a mildly romantic moment that adds a little stardust to my relationship with photography. In the same moment I contemplate how this piece of machinery might have been made more reliable or long lived or more beautiful by different design or more accurate machining so that I don't have to open it up.
Watches and cameras share a fate in so far as they have morphed from mechanical devices to electronic components and currently into a function of some other device. They still do their job but have joined the romantic photography movement (I belong here), the collector market or have become unused heirlooms.
You may have been to a local craft fair full of handcrafted items, I'm glad my cameras were not made by those guys.
Kevin
I hand-made a barbecue, it was neither beautiful or long lived but cooked a steak very effectively. I did not make the bricks, the steel grill or the cement but chose to buy those in.
When I see a carved stone embellishment on a beautiful building I am moved to consider the life of the stonemason and his or her joys and worries. It is a brief moment that illustrates how handcraftedness works on my thinking. it is enough for me to be moved by that. I am also awestruck by the complexity of a silicon chip which has never been touched by any animal. Recently I opened up a German camera, maybe handmade or manufactured (depending on how you distinguish those two things) in the 1950's and found a trail of paint blobs, scratches, initials and pencil marks. It was a mildly romantic moment that adds a little stardust to my relationship with photography. In the same moment I contemplate how this piece of machinery might have been made more reliable or long lived or more beautiful by different design or more accurate machining so that I don't have to open it up.
Watches and cameras share a fate in so far as they have morphed from mechanical devices to electronic components and currently into a function of some other device. They still do their job but have joined the romantic photography movement (I belong here), the collector market or have become unused heirlooms.
You may have been to a local craft fair full of handcrafted items, I'm glad my cameras were not made by those guys.
Kevin
Roger Hicks
Veteran
Dear Kevin,
Quoting Chalky the Troll from memory, "Dem lady potters wit' der dangly earrings dat make coffee mugs what it takes two hands to lift."
As ever, Sir Terry Pratchett has an appropriate quote...
Addendum: loved the "stardust" line of thought.
Cheers,
R.
Sparrow
Veteran
Sejanus.Aelianus
Veteran
That reminds me, I'm half-way through "Raising Steam". Got distracted by "A Brief History of the Future".
Darn those interesting authors!
Sparrow
Veteran
That reminds me, I'm half-way through "Raising Steam". Got distracted by "A Brief History of the Future".
Darn those interesting authors!
... Good Companions .. J B Preastly was my undoing, just can't get past chapter II