Handmade in Soviet style: Devils from droppers, vases from postcards and other nostalgic crafts from the USSR

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

What today is denoted by the foreign word "handmade" in the Soviet Union was simply called "needlework". Considering that the choice of goods in the stores was small, homemade vases, boxes, hanging curtains in the doorway and small knick-knacks always found a suitable place for themselves in the apartments. It is interesting that with a huge selection of auxiliary materials, only a few models gained nationwide popularity.

Weaving from droppers

This skill can be considered part of a kind of hospital subculture that emerged in the USSR in the second half of the 20th century. Experience and techniques were passed directly in the wards from "old-timers" to "newcomers". Everyone who was in Soviet medical institutions probably had the opportunity to meet the "carriers" of this technique. From hospitals, handicrafts, of course, later came to the townsfolk and most often decorated the windshields of cars or gathered dust on the shelves. Why this technique became just a hospital entertainment, in principle, is understandable - only there people had in excess of two important components: unnecessary IV tubes and free time.

In fact, the dropper weaving technique is a macrame knot. However, the ancient knotted weaving, adapted for plastic tubes, did not differ in a variety of models, there were not too many types of "hospital souvenirs". There were, of course, unique specimens, but most of the crafts from the droppers are devils, fish, braided ball rods from pens and key rings. More rare are frogs and owls. The painting of the finished product was considered a special chic. It was made using potassium permanganate, iodine and brilliant green (an excellent example of adapting skill to the environment).

From postcards

In any Soviet family, you could find packs of old postcards. Bright pictures from thick paper gradually began to be used in needlework. Most often, caskets were made from them. The oldest is probably the technique in which the cut out parts of the product were simply sewn with decorative stitches. At the same time, the drawings themselves began to play an important role, so they had to be carefully selected.

In the 80s, Soviet women were seized by a "postcard epidemic" - an original method of making a new type of handicrafts spread among needlewomen. Today this method could be called "modular origami", perhaps it was from there that it was borrowed, although it also resembles weaving from birch bark. The postcards, cut into several parts, were folded into separate pieces and then connected into a bright "paper constructor". So it was possible to assemble a vase or swing at a global project - curtains in the doorway, however, for the last postcard it was necessary to collect all the friends.

There was another variation on the theme of curtains. In this case, scarce, but so beloved by many, bamboo curtains were imitated. The strips of postcards were twisted and fastened to each other using ordinary paper clips. Often such handicrafts became a real family affair, which made it possible to while away the long evenings.

From matches

Houses made of matches require skill and great perseverance. Perhaps this is the only type of crafts from this collection that can be considered alive and developing today. Modern matchmakers create real masterpieces from this light and highly combustible material. Soviet schoolchildren most often knew how to make small houses, and the gurus of this art aimed at a house with a mill.

Wire

This type of crafts was mainly made by boys. Some lucky people were given the material by their parents, while the rest did it on their own - they looked for wire wherever they could. This art was characterized by complete freedom. There were popular models in it, but, in principle, the masters were free in their fantasies, so they worked in a variety of ways and with a soul.

Memories of the Soviet era often bring a smile, but sometimes nostalgia can be very expensive: Why Soviet Christmas tree decorations cost hundreds of thousands, and How to recognize a treasure in old trash