Glassmaking

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  • subtitle: Espionage and the Secrets of Craft on the Island of Murano

By Nic Denholm | 15 Feb 12 | Glass | Comment
Image of glass recovered from a ship wrecked circa 1025 near Serçe Limanı, Turkey. Image via the Institute of Nautical Archaeology.

Glass from when glass was precious. Recovered from a shipwreck from c. 1025 near Serçe Limanı, Turkey. Image via the Institute of Nautical Archaeology.

As anyone from Alfred the Great to Dr. Moreau will tell you, an island is a great place for defending secrets. Italy’s Venetian Lagoon — and in particular the island of Murano — has been trading off its closely-guarded glassmaking methods for over a millennium (the earliest works dating back to the reign of King Alfred). It’s a true cottage industry, one that has enjoyed no less then two periods of global domination of the decorative glass market.

In that time, the island of Murano and its skilled workforce have been venerated, ostracized, plundered, restored, canonized, brought under the control of numerous empires and much imitated, but never bettered for sheer craftsmanship.

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COCKTAIL RECIPES: HOT TODDIES

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  • subtitle: Five Recipes and All-Around Tricks for Winter Coziness

By Lydia Reissmueller | 11 Feb 12 | Recipes, Smoking & Drinking | 2 Comments
Grating the nutmeg for a hot toddy

Lydia grating nutmeg into a bowl for an extra large spiced brandy bowl.

Before central heating and electricity, heating a cup of spirit with a hot poker was one of the more effective ways to warm up in the winter. The warmth soothed the senses and the alcohol mellowed the mind. But hot drinks are also delicious, which is why they survive well into our era of radiators. Jerry Thomas — the father of bartending as a skilled profession — allegedly even moved back to to the cold Northeast, after years bartending around the South, so he could once again live the pleasure of a hot drink on a cold day. So powerful was his call to warm a chill that he invented drinks like his famous Blue Blazer, a cocktail so hot it strikes fear into the hearts of men.

Below are variations on the classic hot toddy, and some tips on how to make your own with what you’ve got in the spice cabinet.

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Cocktail Bitters

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  • subtitle: The Ingredient You Use One Drop at a Time, Plus 10 Recipes

By Lydia Reissmueller | 25 Jan 12 | Recipes, Smoking & Drinking | 3 Comments
Measuring out bitters with a dropper/

Just a drop will do. Measuring out bitters. Image taken at Calyer Restaurant, Brooklyn.

Now that cocktails have weaseled their way back into the current drinking repertoire, it’s time to take a look at one the elements of many a good cocktail: bitters. These days, there are many different kinds of bitters with wildly diverging flavor profiles — from blueberry to celery — but their aim is the same. All bitters are concentrated elixirs of botanicals that add nuance and balance to a drink. The flavor doesn’t punch you in the mouth like a a glug of piña colada mix does — but a few drops of bitters can separate a great cocktail from a serviceable one.

A heap of classic and new recipes follow, so you can start flexing your bitters-dripping muscles right away.

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Harris Tweed Part II

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  • subtitle: On Living a Weaver's Life

By James Fox | 18 Jan 12 | Fabrics, Interviews | 4 Comments
Setting up the loom to start weaving Harris Tweed

Setting up the loom. Photo by Mike Donald.

A couple of months ago we introduced you to Mike Donald, a young Scot who decided to forsake city life and return to the western isles of Scotland. He won a placement in a state-sponsored scheme to become a registered weaver of Harris Tweed. Reminder: Harris Tweed enjoys Protected Geographical Status (similar to “Champagne”) and must be made from wool which has been dyed and spun on the Isles of Harris, Lewis, Uist and Barra in the Outer Hebrides islands, and handwoven at the home of the weaver. Afterwards, the cloth is returned to the mill for inspection, and only then can it be given the Orb stamp that authenticates it. Each piece of tweed can be traced back to the individual weaver. (If you inspect the label in your Harris Tweed sport coat you’ll see an inked blue number, this number relates to the responsible weaver.)

I caught up with Mike again after he received his weaver’s number and completed his first tweed.

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Shoe Shine

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  • subtitle: Three Experts on Why You Should

By James Fox | 9 Jan 12 | Accessories, Leather | 7 Comments
Ryan Plett's shined shoes

A well cared-for pair. Photo by Ryan Plett of You Have Broken the Internet.

Rather than give you another fanatical instruction guide on how to polish your shoes, we interviewed three experts about why you should do it. For me, part of it is ritual and nostalgia. I associate it with my father and grandfather getting their shoes and boots out on Sunday and polishing them all. But there’s more to it than the smell of polish and mink oil. I asked a leather guy, a style guy and a shoe shine guy about their takes on polishing and maintenance. Nick Horween breaks down shoe leather and how and why to treat it right, Ryan Plett displays some very tasty brogues and discusses his thoughts on style and investing in quality, and Nicolo Timore distills hundreds of shoe shines into one word: preservation.

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Other Voices and Readings

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  • subtitle: Things to do With a Pocket Knife

By Aurora Almendral | 5 Jan 12 | Other Voices & Readings, Tools | 1 Comment
Picture of a raccoon on a man's back

Not ready to be made into a coonskin cap. Image via Old Chum.

1. Carry it around every day. A lot of people who are invested in what little space there is in their pockets make room for a pocket knife. Pocket Dumps, Everyday Carry.

2. Be wholesome. Mumbelty peg is a game of knife feats. It’s competitive and skill-driven, and the loser is punished heartily by having to pull a peg out of the ground with his teeth. The American Boy’s Book of Sport has diagrams of the knife-flipping tricks one must accomplish in order to be crowned winner.

There are other variations of mumbelty peg, including an ill-advised one that requires a pair of duelers with more stupidity than skill. The one who throws a knife closest to his own foot wins. Stick your own foot and you win automatically.

3. Skin a raccoon. If you come across a furry friend that’s given up the ghost, this guide teaches you how to turn that fresh road kill into a pair of fur socks (or cap, or pouch), using only nature’s tools. Which means the animal’s own brains.

4. Whittle. Art of Manliness’ guide to whittling takes you from knowing nothing to knowing something about how to fill up your time with little more than a tree branch and a pocket knife.

5. One thing you can’t do with a pocket knife is use it as a weapon. If you think through defending yourself while getting ambushed in a back alley, you’ll quickly come to the conclusion that you will have to get very, very close to an attacker before you can scratch the surface of the person’s skin with a pocket knife. If you’re thinking of attacking someone, you better hope that person is already in a coma, because you’re likely to get a knee to the balls before you can set your pocket knife in action. Here’s a run-down by an expert on why knife fighting is a crazy myth that, if executed, will end in tears and/or prison: “Knife Fighting Lies,” No Nonsense Self Defense.

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Flour

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  • subtitle: One Cup Closer to the Perfect Dessert

By Aurora Almendral | 22 Dec 11 | Food | 1 Comment
Rita Hoyworth cutting into a cake

Errol Flynn, Nora Eddington, Rita Hayworth and Orson Welles enjoying the fruit of 10,000 years of human technology.

For a single ingredient wheat flour has an amazing number of iterations. It can be gruel or wedding cake, Wonder bread or baguette, croissant or hot dog bun. Flour seems simple, but it can give the occasional baker some anxiety — what exactly separates a good pie crust from a bad pie crust when it’s just flour, fat and water? Why is this cookie recipe calling for bread flour, and should I care that I don’t have it?

Read on for a primer. A little de-mystifying means better sweets for you.

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Titanium

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  • subtitle: Of Gods and Men: A Brief History of A Super Metal

By Daniel Lang | 7 Dec 11 | Materials | 4 Comments
Titanium deposits in sand in South Africa

Like needles in a haystack. Titanium deposits in sand, Eastern Cape, South Africa. Photo by Niel Overey.

Conceived beneath the skies of the ancient world, the Titans were the incestual god-lineage of Zeus: gigantic creatures who bore names like Oceanus, Themis, Hyperion. The metals then known to man were those purest of elements, and it was some two millenia before titanium would be discovered and used.

With an unmatched strength-to-weight ratio, low thermal conductivity and a tendency to be impervious to corrosion, titanium is indeed a metal of mythical proportions, even to the point of being mythically difficult to work with.

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Felt

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  • subtitle: An 8000-Year-Old Technology That's Innovative to This Day

By Jennifer S. Li | 4 Dec 11 | Materials | 3 Comments
Felt yurt with felt door

A felt home. Central Aisa, circa 1910.

Felt is said to be the oldest man-made material: its story goes back 8,000 years. It’s used in everything from carpets to garments to chalkboard erasers. Felt is basically the matted fibers of sheep, so it has all the virtues of wool — warm, waterproof, resilient, durable — but denser, more compact and much more versatile. It is extremely adaptable and can be made with little more than a pair of hands for tools.

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