{"id":135,"date":"2013-08-24T20:54:00","date_gmt":"2013-08-24T20:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/2013\/08\/24\/craft-guilds\/"},"modified":"2013-08-24T20:54:00","modified_gmt":"2013-08-24T20:54:00","slug":"craft-guilds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/2013\/08\/craft-guilds.html","title":{"rendered":"Craft Guilds"},"content":{"rendered":"<div dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<div>Join a Guild<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Do you have a few hours a month?&nbsp; Do you want to improve your proficiency in your favorite pastime?&nbsp; Do you wish to make new acquaintances who share your interests?<\/div>\n<div>Then join a guild.&nbsp; There are guilds in every endeavor, from art to weaving located right in your community.&nbsp; Large or small, these groups provide inspiration and instruction with the added bonus of a pleasant social atmosphere.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Last week I was invited by the Dropped Stitch Knitters Guild of Albuquerque&nbsp; to present a program on textile history.&nbsp; Note the presentation was NOT on the subject of knitting, as I can make a scarf, which looks better bunched up or tied, but that\u2019s about the extent of it. <\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Guilds date back to early medieval times, although I believe from much earlier times groups of artisans&nbsp; formed associations to protect their interests.&nbsp; It was during the 12thC that the formal organizations known as guilds were introduced into society.&nbsp; The first guilds to appear were Merchant Guilds, followed by Craft Guilds whose main purpose was to maintain a monopoly on their products and no one could practice a craft without belonging to the guild. Therefore, there was a guild formed for nearly every occupation from bakers to lacemakers.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Guild members were protected from dubious practices such as price-fixing, revelations concerning processing secrets and price-cutting.&nbsp; Hours of work were regulated and there were strict guidelines for quality of workmanship, as each article had to be inspected and&nbsp; approved.. Each guild member was expected to perform public service.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>There were three levels of guild membership: apprentice, journeyman and master.&nbsp; The apprentice, usually a male (although there were guilds who admitted women), lived with the master.&nbsp; His room and board and tuition expenses were paid for by his family.&nbsp; During this time he was not allowed to marry.&nbsp; After a period of 2-7 years, depending upon his trade he would then become a journeyman.&nbsp; Journeymen received a salary and were also housed in the master\u2019s home.&nbsp; In order to obtain the status of master, the journeyman had to produced his \u201cmasterpiece\u201d, working on his own time and purchasing his own tools and materials.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>But back to the Dropped Stitch Knitting Guild.&nbsp; These ladies are serious knitters.&nbsp; Seriously wonderful knitters.&nbsp; During Show and Tell each produced their current or recently finished project.&nbsp; Knitted animals for a grandchild, absolutely gorgeous shawls and wraps and one unbelievable graduation gift.&nbsp; The gift was intended for a graduate of astronomy and featured 2 round (I would say each nearly 45 inches in diameter) depictions of the night sky: one of the northern constellations and the other of the southern constellations.&nbsp; The membership of this group, like all guilds, includes all levels of expertise. Beginners can be inspired, experienced artists can explore new techniques and materials.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div>So, again, if you want to sharpen your skills or learn new ones, join a guild.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Join a Guild Do you have a few hours a month?&nbsp; Do you want to improve your proficiency in your favorite pastime?&nbsp; Do you wish to make new acquaintances who share your interests? Then join a guild.&nbsp; There are guilds in every endeavor, from art to weaving located right in your community.&nbsp; Large or small,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}