Craft
by Dave—Age 37—Spain
I was utterly broke. We had recently moved to the little seaside town of Kinsale. Not only were we penniless, our landlord had reneged on his deal and told us we only had a month’s tenancy left. We had no contract and little choice but to look elsewhere. Little did I know that the smooth pebbles I had collected on the beach one cloudy, depressing day would lead on to make me a yearly income.
At first it began as an idea, to paint funny faces on the stones, little Viking warriors, that kind of thing, mainly for kids. But one evening as I was painting I scored a stone with a piece of metal and it dawned on me that I could carve designs onto them with a screwdriver. Don’t ask me why! The idea just came to me, pitched from the void as it were.
Initially the trade brought in a little money, from craft shops and festivals or fly pitching in the city. Everywhere I went people saw me carving on the street and grew interested, if they didn’t buy a pendant for themselves they pointed me to shops that might. However I pushed it too far and for a few years I had to halt and seek other employment when my wrist packed in.
Returning to Scotland after years living in Ireland and subsequently wandering aimlessly I began to carve afresh, using different techniques and building up a huge collection of designs; prehistoric, Celtic, Viking, Pict…so that I could sit down with a display and every pendant would be different.
I returned to my fly pitching roots, occasionally paying for tables at markets – but Edinburgh has always proved the best. The stones fit right in with the history of the place. I sit and carve and tell people what I know about the designs.
I believe in this day and age of hyper-consumerism, when everything is made in factories and mass-produced, people appreciate something “˜real’. A craft—the artisan making his wares right there on the street! There is something enthralling about that, something that evokes a time we have strayed from but is not necessarily lost.
Well, now I live in Granada, Spain. I make my money in the summer then seek such retreats to create my work and relax. It’s been tough getting here but much preferable than a nine-to-five any day!
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