First comment on Youtube:
"It all began with the forging of the Great Kilograms. Three were given to the French; immortal, wisest and fairest of all beings. Seven, to the Germans, great miners and craftsmen of the mountain halls. And two, Kilograms were gifted to the United States, who above all else desire power."

Your video, Craftsman Uses Electricity to Burn Pattern on Wood, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

I love the juxtaposition of the incredibly strict technical standards for the CNC milling and the beautiful hand carving of the stock and the engraving. Old school craftsmen and new fangled robots working together to create a thing of beauty and death. Nice.

very interesting, thanks for sharing this! unfortunately it does seem that across a lot of fields traditional craftsmen are dying out

It's great to see a craftsmen at work, someone who is really just -good- at what they do, regardless of profession.

Nice sift.

>> ^rottenseed:

>> ^criticalthud:
we're all a sum of our influences.
if it weren't for generations of culture, we'd all be in the woods grunting, eating worms, and trying to poke eachother with sharp sticks.
none of us are original. get over it

wow...um, I've got an original Leonardo Da Vinci to sell you. I mean, he didn't do it, but since we're all the same, you know...the sum of our influences, it's all the same.


ok. let's say i'm a drummer, and you're listening to me play music. are you just hearing me? or are you experiencing a smorgasbord of musical influences that include everyone who i've ever studied?

If you are listening to me play you are hearing a collective body of work, and my interpretation of it, played on an instrument that in it's own right is a collective product of decades of master craftsmen.
i'd be way lucky to be able to add to that art in an original sense.

it's really just another level of self-awareness. ain't none of us special. it's a lie

Hah! Nice Thx, I learned another thing today.

In reply to this comment by HaricotVert:
Feynman actually used a strip club as an office and defended it in court.

From Wikipedia:

"In Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!, he gives advice on the best way to pick up a girl in a hostess bar. At Caltech, he used a nude/topless bar as an office away from his usual office, making sketches or writing physics equations on paper placemats. When the county officials tried to close the place, all visitors except Feynman refused to testify in favor of the bar, fearing that their families or patrons would learn about their visits. Only Feynman accepted, and in court, he affirmed that the bar was a public need, stating that craftsmen, technicians, engineers, common workers "and a physics professor" frequented the establishment. While the bar lost the court case, it was allowed to remain open as a similar case was pending appeal.[12]"

>> ^Truckchase:

>> ^mentality:
I wish I could've bought him a drink at a strip club and just listen to him talk all day.

I believe per his own specified criteria in this video he'd be too distracted to think.

Feynman actually used a strip club as an office and defended it in court.

From Wikipedia:

"In Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!, he gives advice on the best way to pick up a girl in a hostess bar. At Caltech, he used a nude/topless bar as an office away from his usual office, making sketches or writing physics equations on paper placemats. When the county officials tried to close the place, all visitors except Feynman refused to testify in favor of the bar, fearing that their families or patrons would learn about their visits. Only Feynman accepted, and in court, he affirmed that the bar was a public need, stating that craftsmen, technicians, engineers, common workers "and a physics professor" frequented the establishment. While the bar lost the court case, it was allowed to remain open as a similar case was pending appeal.[12]"

>> ^Truckchase:

>> ^mentality:
I wish I could've bought him a drink at a strip club and just listen to him talk all day.

I believe per his own specified criteria in this video he'd be too distracted to think.

>> ^curiousity:

So every time this guy carves a watermelon, they are exact replications?
You make it sound like artists making fine art do not exactly reproduce the same piece of art, but ignore that they are still using the skills that they have done "hundreds of times and has become really skilled at it."
So if this guy carves a different flower in a veggie? That wouldn't be exactly the same, but using the same skills. Would that address the point in your response?
EDIT: I reread my comment. It really comes off dickish... To be honest, I'm tired and am going to go to bed instead of trying to figure out how to make my point while being less of a dick. Please understand that was not the intended tone.

It's alright. And I didn't mean to imply that they're exactly the same every time. If they were exactly the same every time, they wouldn't be improving. Compare a carpenter to a sculptor. The carpenter works off a pattern, usually one that's been refined very slowly over hundreds of repetitions, with a very specific result in mind. The skill with which he does his work can create an object of great beauty. But he doesn't have the same goal as a sculptor who is trying specifically to create something unique and evocative for the first time, often not knowing how it will turn out. I'm not even saying that fine art is "better" than fine craftsmanship, only that there is a distinction.

You're also right that artists have skills that they have practiced the hell out of, maybe brushwork, perspective, shading. In that way they have a lot in common with craftsmen. Again, the difference is in the goal.

from: http://www.city.daisen.akita.jp/content/for_english/omagarifireworks.html

Held on the 4th Saturday of August every year.

The Omagari Fireworks Competition is without a doubt one of the most spectacular fireworks events in Japan, with over 600,000 people visiting Omagari every year to witness the latest in fireworks technology and proud tradition on display. The best of the best fireworks manufacturers come from all over Japan and battle for the title of ‘Best in Japan’ with an amazing display of light and sound. The fireworks craftsmen put their heart and soul into the creation of their fireworks, making each one by hand. Only at the Omagari Fireworks Competition is it possible to see such a beautiful and original display of colour, style and light. The competition is held on the banks of the beautiful ‘Omonogawa’ River, and with the mountains and late summer stars as a backdrop, is thoroughly recommended.

click the link to see a spectacular photograph of the fireworks.