Reading the post about playdoh started me thinking about all the things we used to do and make, like playdoh for the kids.
But what really has me reminiscing is the old mimeograph copies. Somewhere I still have a recipe to make a pan of jelly stuff that will hold ink long enough to press multiple sheets against it so you can have copies of whatever. Now, with computers/printers and photocopiers, putting the time and effort into that would be ridiculous.

What other arts have been lost to technology?

Calligraphy comes to mind.

I think hand embroidery is fast becoming a lost art. An inexpensive machine can do embroidery. No more blackboards in schools, it's all dry erase boards now. No more cleaning the chalk erasers outside! I use to think that was so much fun.

Just plain paper and pencil for school.

Penmanship education.
I did my Master's Thesis on the connection between brain development, literacy, and penmanship education.

Typing paper - bet you can't find it anymore.

Also, we used to buy really thin tissue paper to write on - for airmail letters - they cost more than regular letters.

Can't find carbon paper anywhere either. There is also the lost art of shoelace tying, knot tying and even tie tying. What about the lost art of writing thank you notes/cards....the lost art of mending (especially sock darning) and the complete inability of people when it comes to polishing shoes!

The art of letter writing. And I'm guilty of it. Used to love to write letters to loved ones. Maybe I'll do it again!! :D

Counting change out? If the register doesn't tell them how much to give you in change, they're lost!
I love the look on someones face when I let them ring up my money, then throw them a few pennies. Sometimes I'll say "here's 3 pennies, just give me a quarter back". lol

I took a calligraphy class in high school and kept at it... I used it to send out the invitations to my wedding. Everyone remarked upon it. Sad, but I do think with the technology we've got, this is truly a soon to be lost art. Why spend all the time and effort when a computer "font" is so easy and perfect?

Don't recall the name of it, but ladies use to paint with stencils, on pillow cases, towels etc. This was in the 70's wonder what will happen to the art of cake decorating with fondant being so popular. Hmmm

The lost art that I find most disturbing (and who'd have thought of it as an art?) is the one of keeping one's pants ABOVE their underwear.

Seriously, there are so many things. I just got back from a quilting retreat at Threads of Time in Danville, Il. and there were two sisters there that brought their aged mother. I think she was in her nineties. She couldn't hear well and couldn't see well but they tried to keep her occupied with things that she could do. One of the things that she was doing was stringing Rose Beads. They were beads that she'd hand made from real rose petals and they still had a scent. Very cool. Most of us wanted the recipe so that we could try to make the Rose Beads ourselves. They made beautiful necklaces.

I used to love the smell of the memeograph my mom used for the church bulletin.

That sounds lovely. If you got the recipe, please post it.

I'm supposed to be getting the recipe in a week or two. I'll have to ask the lady that sends it if it would be okay to post it here. If she says it's okay then I will although it's probably already online somewhere. There's also a story with it about using the beads in the Rosary. I'm not sure what the story is but I'm hoping to get that too. Not that I'm Catholic, I just find bits of history about things interesting.

Bet I can! Bought some not long ago.

I still darn (wool) socks. Something I've always enjoyed doing. In fact my MIL who used to hate darning socks, used to give me FIL's wool work socks to darn. Couldn't understand how I could like darning.


.[/quote]

...the lost art of mending (especially sock darning) and the complete inability of people when it comes to polishing shoes![/quote]

I love to embroider, but would totally enjoy learning to tat. Unfortunately, there are not many teachers out there anymore. Using overhead projectors in school is fading also, used to love cleaning the chalkboard and the projector films after school. Guess I was the teacher's pet - only because they didn't have to get dirty cleaning them!

...the lost art of mending (especially sock darning) and the complete inability of people when it comes to polishing shoes![/quote][/quote]

where do you find a darning egg?

when I learn to knit socks, I will need one of those for mending.

I've had my 'mushroom' for about 46 years. Have a look in the haberdashery department at one of your stores. 'Spotlight' here in Australia had them not so long ago when I was in there.


.[/quote]

...the lost art of mending (especially sock darning) and the complete inability of people when it comes to polishing shoes![/quote][/quote]

where do you find a darning egg?

when I learn to knit socks, I will need one of those for mending.[/quote]

Basket weaving, I'm looking at one on top of my cabinets that I made as a kid at summer camp. :)

[/quote]

where do you find a darning egg?

when I learn to knit socks, I will need one of those for mending.[/quote]

Kint Picks - just saw one in their latest catalog. (I still have my mother's)

Many of these arts/crafts are still alive in the re-creation groups (like the SCA -- society for creative anachronism), I honed my calligraphy and blackwork skills when I was involved with them.

Weaving is another craft/art that has fallen by the wayside.

I am currently trying to teach a lady to Tat, I learned as part of home ec in high school and taught 4H we had so much fun. I also taught a group of ladies several years ago and one of their husbands also learned to do it. Once you get the hand of it it isn't hard. Look on line for some simple directions and take it one step at a time. It is a dying art!!

Ironing. As a kid I was the one to do all my dads things. Especially handkerchiefs. Even did sheets and pillowcases.

I love to mend and iron too. Actually writing letters is falling by the wayside as is spelling. I positively hate it when people write using texting spelling. I don't know what that stuff says, I barely know what lol is.

When I was needing a darning egg I used one of the larger plastic Easter eggs--the kind you put candy inside. It worked pretty good.

Seems like my DM always used an old lighbulb for darning socks. Of course those will be a thing of the past soon!

Here's a link w/ directions for making rose petal beads. Within it contains a link to making rosary beads, too. Sounds very interesting.

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Rose-Petal-Beads

I restore rugs by hand and that definately is somethin no one wants to do anymore. Re-sew knots on antiques and repair holes. Hand dye fibers to match the colors. Use my quilting knots to help se it all back together.

That was what we used when I was a kid.... :D

Chalk bothers my allergies so I am so happy that we don't use it to teach with anymore. We have an infocus machine now in our classrooms that projects from the computer onto our white dry erase boards. It is so great - such an improvement. I can scan a work paper into my computer, access it and project it really large onto the board. Everyone can see it. Then the kids can solve math problems etc. with markers. This is a huge improvement. I can also show clips on the board. We watched a video of a crayfish molting last year during one of our science units. It was taken in Australia!

I still hand embroider and love it. Would love to learn how to tat, too.
lots2do

I've been reading "Little House in the Big Woods" to my DGD which is full of description about how Ma and Pa made this or that. Although I know that our lives are easier and we live longer with these modern conveniences, I can't help but wonder what we are losing.
I recently watched a Native woman fillet a whole tub of salmon in the time it takes me to do one - poorly.

I think there will be people who will keep these skill alive; if only as a curiosity or to get their PhD in anthropology. There are a handful of people who can still make stone tools the way (we think) people were doing it 50,000 years ago.

I don't darn, but my mom always did and she used an old light bulb everytime. :)

I just darned a sock last week!

I do hand embroidery and find it quite enjoyable.

This isn't really and art or craft (I think?), but I recently went to the Vandalia Festival here in Charleston, WV. It's a really fun festival with lots of bluegrass music, TONS of pretty quilts, food, etc. Well, I joined in a square dancing thing (which I've never done before in my life - it was SO fun!) and later as I was watching the people dance, I thought it was sad that they were mostly only older people. There were very few people my age (20s). And I just sat there hoping and praying that the traditions would never die out.

I like to hand embroider too and would like to do more (portable and I can do it, if not too intricate in the car while traveling. Did a lot as a kid. I tried tatting once. I managed after lots of difficulty to get a few knots done but decided I'd be better off sticking to crotcheting and learning to do a few more stitches with that. Tatting is hard! But very pretty.

...the lost art of mending (especially sock darning) and the complete inability of people when it comes to polishing shoes![/quote][/quote]

When I was first married, I kept seeing a plastic bag with DH's socks sitting in my sewing room. It seemed to be growing. Finally asked about it. Seems his mother and aunt (whom he lived with during college) darned them for him. I showed him how I did it. Took the bag and dropped it into the wastebasket while saying, "Oh Darn!" In my defense, lest you think me wasteful or a poor wife, these were just ordinary, everyday socks. I have occasionally darned good wool socks if I could do it smoothly without creating a blister-making spot.

:lol:

[/quote]

When I was first married, I kept seeing a plastic bag with DH's socks sitting in my sewing room. It seemed to be growing. Finally asked about it. Seems his mother and aunt (whom he lived with during college) darned them for him. I showed him how I did it. Took the bag and dropped it into the wastebasket while saying, "Oh Darn!" In my defense, lest you think me wasteful or a poor wife, these were just ordinary, everyday socks. I have occasionally darned good wool socks if I could do it smoothly without creating a blister-making spot.

:lol:[/quote]

I like your sock-darning method! :lol: :lol: :lol:

My knitting friend who got me back into knitting gave me some beautiful self-striping sock wool over a year ago. If I ever manage to knit that into a pair of socks, those will be the only ones that get darned.

How about kids playing with gimp to make key chains? Or, those flexble cloth elastics and frames used to make pot holders? Long time, no see.