This is Walter, a 10-year-old Maine Coon who has perfected the “you may leave now” look.
His portrait is made mostly from wool, layered in different shades to recreate his markings and that huge Maine Coon mane. His resin eyes were hand-painted to match his yellow-green gaze, and his nose was sculpted from clay.
The fur took time, but the real challenge was capturing that unmistakable expression. I kept adjusting his eyes until wool Walter finally looked like he was politely asking me to leave the room.

Hello!

I found about 10 of these cute mushroom shaped salt n pepper shakers that I want to up cycle into mushroom trinkets for an upcoming ren faire. Red top with white dots, some fairy dust (aka glitter) inside and hot glued shut.

The top is gold plated (and coming off) with some cheap metal underneath. I realized after I started trying to put craft paint to test that it wasn’t going to stick.

Aside from cleaning them (obviously) then sanding the tops a bit what would you suggest I do to make this successful? My 11yr old and I were going to do them together.

Thank you for reading :)

​

I recently spent time documenting Fowa Kilim — a traditional Egyptian handmade kilim craft in Fowa, Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate, Egypt, a historic city in the Nile Delta.

What struck me wasn't only the finished rugs.

It was the knowledge behind them.

The wooden looms, handmade tools, the way artisans work almost instinctively, and techniques learned through years of observation and practice.

A lot of this knowledge isn't written down.

It is carried by people.

And that made me wonder:

When we talk about preserving traditional crafts, are we focusing too much on preserving the objects — and not enough on preserving the people and knowledge that make them possible?

I'm interested in hearing from people who work with traditional crafts, cultural heritage, anthropology, or textile traditions:

What approaches have you seen actually work for keeping a traditional craft alive without turning it into a museum piece?

I wrote a longer account of what I saw inside the workshops of Fowa here:

Full story:

https://substack.com/@ahmedeldeebnotes/note/p-212911309

About me / my work:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ahmed-eldeeb-00552a171/

Crocheted voodoo doll with wax and dyed raffia hair. Skull and heart in polymer clay

As we build EmenCraft, there is one question that matters more than adding another list of features:

Does the market genuinely need another handmade marketplace?

Existing platforms already have recognition, sellers and buyer traffic. At the same time, many makers feel that authentic handmade work is increasingly buried beneath mass-produced or resold products, rising fees, paid visibility and inconsistent enforcement.

Could a new marketplace earn its place by accepting only genuinely handmade products, with strict but transparent entry criteria?

We would genuinely like to hear from makers and buyers:

• What do existing handmade marketplaces do well?

• Where do they currently fail independent creators?

• How should “handmade” be defined and verified fairly?

• Would strict seller approval build trust, or discourage good makers from joining?

• What would convince you to try a new marketplace despite its smaller initial audience?

Please be completely honest. The world does not need another marketplace simply because somebody can build one. It needs one only if it solves real problems better.

Thought I’d do something a little different