What the Hands Make, the Mind Knows
I opened my shop in 2016 or 2017 in western Massachusetts, to manage the gradual growth of my production sewing of baby quilts, larger quilts, and the sewn items needed by members of the Druidical Order of the Golden Dawn (DOGD — http://www.druidical-gd.org/), and to sell my services as a geomancer and astrologer.
I split my sewing time between two studio spaces, one in my house, and one in a studio space I share in the next town over with two weavers. A lot of my sewing work comes in the form of commissioned pieces, in the form of shirts, trousers, tunics, robes, vests, sashes, and other garments for cosplayers, RenFaire attendees, magicians and other practitioners. Since 2020, I haven't been sewing as much — there have not been events for my clients to attend, and they haven't needed new clothes as a result.
I believe strongly in the idea that "What the hands make, the mind knows." Sewing, carpentry, graphic design — these are all skills that rely on the hands learning and teaching themselves what to do and how to do it, and the mind only learns how to do them while the hands are at work. This philosophy is informed by Matthew Crawford's "Shop Class as Soul Craft" and the "Anarchist Woodworker" series of books by Christopher Schwarz.
