Esther Abosch

For my book I was inspired by the German/Old English tradition of the Journeyman Years, in which young craftsmen who had graduated from their time as apprentices would travel from town to town, gaining experience from local craftsmen until they earned the stamp approval from the local craftsman’s guild. These men would carry around Wanderbuchen for their guild stamps as well as various recommendations from those they trained under. With this in mind, I tried to make my own Wanderbuch of sorts and split it into two parts. The first, Rituals of Waste, serves as a simple record of my waste in the form of faux woodcutstamps and short descriptions. The next was my change of habit, and a record of what I learned in making the book, titled Crafts. I had a few very bad habits that I noticed in the first part of the project. Namely, my tendency to buy cheap things with short lifespans, and to throw things out and replace them, instead of repairing them. And so to lessen my own impact, I attempted to learn a few crafts that I thought would make these habits easier to give up. I started with embroidery and improving my general sewing ability, making two posters and the carrying case for my book, and from there began recycling my own paper, which I also used in the book. I provide instructions for both of these in the book.