Bonus Episode 1: Secret Societies and Silk Collars: A chat about heritage crafts and conservation with Willow Polson
Handmade History
What does it mean to be a "custodian of craft"? 🧵✨ In our latest episode, Alicia sits down with the heritage crafter, conservationist, podcast host, and Odd Fellow Willow Polson for a journey through the hidden corners of history. From the secret symbolism of the Odd Fellows to the year-long process of weaving baskets, Willow shares what it’s like to hold traditions in your hands. We’re talking: The delicate art of restoring 100-year-old silk collars. The ethics and honor of holding traditions for other cultures. The essential Victorian tool modern sewists overlook ...
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Episode 28: Rhino Armor and Dog-Tooth Purses: Leather's Long History
Handmade History
Did you know the world’s oldest leather shoe is a right-footed size 7? In this episode, we talk all things leather. From the science of tanning (using everything from tree bark to animal brains) to the world's oldest right-footed shoe, we explore how humans have used animal skins for over 70,000 years. Join us and travel from an ancient cave in Armenia to the snowy Schniedejoch Pass in the Alps to see how our ancestors stayed warm, protected, and stylish. Highlights include: 🦴A 4,000-year-old purse flap made of 100 dog teeth. 🦏 Chinese warriors wearing 7 layers of rhinoceros skin. 🧵...
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Episode 27: Harriet Powers and Her Quilts
Handmade History
This episode is brought to you by Quiltfolk, an ad-free magazine made for quilters like you! Visit and use code HandmadeHistory for 20% off your first order. Thank you, Quiltfolk! We are running a stumpwork stitch along this March and we would love to have you join us. Starting March 3, we are going to stitch a design created by Melissa Galbraith of MCreativeJ–a 3-dimensional wild pansy. We will post our progress each week on social media and on our Patreon page. If you would like to join us, you can . Harriet Powers was a quilter and artist. She was born into slavery on a plantation in...
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Episode 26: Papercutting Around the World
Handmade History
A quick reminder: if you'd like to join us for the Wild Pansy Stumpwork Stitch Along with MCreativeJ in March, please pre-order your kit or pattern today! You'll get everything you need (pattern, supplies, and a great Handmade History article) to make a beautiful hand-embroidered 3-D pansy & learn to do stumpwork! Get 15% off the kit or PDF pattern before 12/31/25. Want to share the Stitch Along as a gift? Just put a note in your order and we will send a cute e-card to your giftee to let them know they are in, and their kit/pattern is on the way! Visit for more details. The art and...
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Episode 25: Polymer Clay & Artists
Handmade History
This episode is brought to you by Sculpey. Are you curious to try out polymer clay? Are you a polymer clay artist or enthusiast? We have a special offer for you from Sculpey, the original polymer clay company. Use code HANDMADE25 to get 25% off your entire purchase on . If you aren’t sure where to begin, Sculpey III clay is the perfect polymer clay for beginners. It comes in almost fifty colors and is easy to mold and shape into fun creations. You can also buy a multipack of Sculpey III clay, including sets of the Classic colors, Brights, Pastels, and Naturals. These sets are an...
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Episode 24: Blackwork Embroidery
Handmade History
We're doing a giveaway! To celebrate our & with Melissa Galbraith of MCreativeJ, we are giving away one of Melissa’s books, . If you would like to enter the giveaway, visit . You’ll see the giveaway post pinned right at the top and you can comment and enter there. If you’re not on Instagram, no worries! Just send us an email with your name and let us know that you’d like to enter the giveaway. You can email us at . This giveaway closes on December 1, 2025. This week, we are talking about blackwork, a type of counted embroidery that typically uses a special stitch called the...
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Episode 23: Mimeographs & More
Handmade History
This episode is brought to you by our Patreon page: visit and sign up to get our free posts! You'll be the first to know when an episode is live. Explore more on each topic with videos, photos, and links to research rabbit holes. This week also marks the launch of our first collaboration: the Wild Pansy Stumpwork Stitch Along! Pre-order your kit to make a beautiful stumpwork pansy designed by Melissa Galbraith of MCreativeJ. A PDF pattern is also available. Both include an exclusive history article from Handmade History. Then, join us for a stitch along in March. Visit to pre-order your or ...
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Episode 22: From Morojo to Yaya Han: The History of Cosplay
Handmade History
Sponsored by Folkwear Patterns. Folkwear – Where history meets your hands. Visit and use code HANDMADE20 for 20% off your purchase. Code is good through the end of 2025! Cosplay might make you think of shiny spandex and elaborate makeup--but did you know it got its start in 1939? Morojo (pronounced mo-roy-oh) was the first ever sci-fi fan to create a costume for a con: a dress that converted into a cape and romper. This "costume of the future" inspired other fans to start making their own costumes, and soon the masquerade or costume contest was a fixture at cons around the country....
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Episode 21: Hairwork, Victorian & Otherwise
Handmade History
Sponsored by Folkwear Patterns. Folkwear – Where history meets your hands. Visit and use code HANDMADE20 for 20% off your purchase. Code is good through the end of 2025! "Hairwork" probably makes you think of intricate Victorian mourning jewelry and silky sculpted hair under glass. We take a broad view of this craft and talk about hairwork from ancient times (such as false beards made of metal) to modern day (the fabulous wigs Queen Charlotte wears in Bridgerton). We also share the varieties of hairwork that were made in the US from pre-colonial times (hair cord used to hang canteens...
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Episode 20: Esther Inglis
Handmade History
Sponsored by MCreativeJ: Visit today and raise your embroidery to new heights! Esther Inglis was a skilled book artist, calligrapher and embroiderer who lived at the same time as Shakespeare. She created roughly 60 miniature handwritten copies of printed books and gifted them to nobles and royals (including Queen Elizabeth) to gain political and economic favors. Join us as we discuss her life, her books, and the complex patronage system that she worked in. The child of French Huguenot emigrants to England and then Scotland, Inglis was educated in calligraphy by her mother and French by her...
info_outlineThis episode is brought to you by Sculpey.
Are you curious to try out polymer clay? Are you a polymer clay artist or enthusiast? We have a special offer for you from Sculpey, the original polymer clay company.
Use code HANDMADE25 to get 25% off your entire purchase on Sculpey.com.
If you aren’t sure where to begin, Sculpey III clay is the perfect polymer clay for beginners. It comes in almost fifty colors and is easy to mold and shape into fun creations.
You can also buy a multipack of Sculpey III clay, including sets of the Classic colors, Brights, Pastels, and Naturals. These sets are an easy way to get all the colors you need to get started.
If you are an experienced polymer clay maker, then you know the variety of products Sculpey has to offer, from Liquid Sculpey to Sculpey Souffle, to all the tools you need to make beads, jewelry, sculptures, frames, dishes, and more.
Visit Sculpey.com use code HANDMADE25 for 25% off your entire order.
Sculpey – Where creativity takes shape.
Thank you, Sculpey!
If you were a child of the nineties (like one of us was!), you probably came across polymer clay. This brightly colored clay that bakes in the oven can be made into beads, miniatures, and so much more. In this episode, we share the story of the invention of polymer clay from an oil-production by-product (in Germany) and a failed attempt to make a material for electrical transformers (in the US). We tell the story of Sophie Rehbinder-Kruse, who eventually made the first successful polymer clay in the 1940s called FIMOIK. We also tell the story of how Sculpey started in the US in the 60s with white clay and demonstrations at art shops and craft fairs.
We share some of the wide range of techniques that people use to create with polymer clay, from caning to conditioning with a pasta machine (thank you, Marie Segal!). And we finish by profiling two very different but very cool polymer clay artists, Ford/Forlano and Yuka Morii. Join us and relive your time at the kitchen table making beads, buttons, and miniature versions of food for your dolls!
Show notes and sources here: https://tinyurl.com/373kwc5u
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