How to Make CBD Chocolates: a Berkeley Herbal Center Workshop
Willy Wonka meets herbology? Craftsmanship’s contributing editor gets a hands-on lesson in making plant medicine, with sweet results.
Herbalism: Crafting Ancient Plant Medicine for Modern Life
Inside the Berkeley Herbal Center, traditional plant knowledge is thriving—not as a museum relic, but as a living practice focused on holistic healing.
Diatoms: Biology’s Unseen Craft
Nate Dube’s passion is exploring the aesthetic possibilities of manipulating microscopic, single-cell algae called diatoms. Welcome to the world of diatom arranging, an obscure craft that’s been obsessing a small subculture of the ultra-meticulous for nearly two centuries.
written by CHRIS COLIN
photography by PETER BELANGER, except where noted
What Science Says About Craft, Creativity, and Mental Health
For nearly 30 years, woodworking has provided Miles Boudreaux with purpose, connection, and a creative “fix.” Now, science is catching up to what he’s learned from experience.
The Mad Science and Master Craft of Handblown Lab Glass
With specialized training, professional glassblowers, like those of the West Berkeley co-op Adams & Chittenden, can also make scientific glass, turning out precise, customized tools for advancing research and discovery—tools that machine-made glass cannot match.
Reviving the Craft of Plant-Based Photo Developing
For Beatrice Thornton, an artist, photographer, and archivist based in Oakland, CA, nature is more than a muse: It’s also the source of the sustainable materials she uses for developing analog film.
“The New Didgeridoo,” with Andy Graham
Andy Graham—musician, instrument maker, inventor, and patentholder—takes us on a brief but fascinating “tour of sound.” Graham’s enchantment with a centuries-old Aboriginal wind instrument, the didgeridoo, has yielded several new instrumental creations. His passion for experimentation shines through as he discusses the process behind his work; the joys of tinkering; and some of the highlights…
From Plastic Waste to Zero-Waste, One Soap Bar at a Time
How one journalist (and her daughters) turned her frustration with household plastic waste into a sustainable, handmade line of organic soap bars—crafted with creativity and a whole lot of heart.
“Why Letterpress Endures,” with Blake Riley of Arion Press
Blake RIley, the creative director of San Francisco’s beloved Arion Press, discusses some of the long history and persistent myths of letterpress printing; what keeps a centuries-old, labor-intensive industry going in a high-tech world; what ‘mastery’ means to him (it may surprise you!)—and why he never gets bored.
