A craftsman who excels in the pride of the old
Guild and assesses his work (which is chiefly the making of strong, semi-spherical baskets of withy, oak, or cane) in exact accord with the worth of the material and the sum of labour is Mr. J. Walters, Llwynfedwer, Farmers, Llandilo, South Wales ; and he has made quite a little school of his craft. Now he can sell " like hot cakes " certain toys, so to say, such as broad tipped wooden scissors, which people find useful for the slaughter of wasps or for the salad bowl. They are a rather fanciful side-line, but the ready sale is a good example of the curiosities of demand, of the public taste. Again, delightful oak furniture, big and small, is made at the Brynmawr and Clydach Valley Industries. The hand weavers of Tintern are skilful in extracting their own dyes from native plants for their own simple and charming designs. Some of the colours that personally I liked best were made from lichen, from wild mignonette, from madder and from onion skin. I thought the brown and yellows more pleasing than similar tints produced by the wool dyers of time Western Islands of Scotland from that most pernicious and poisonous but not least attractive of farm weeds, the ragwort, though that too gives a good and useful dye. These stuffs are made at the Barn House, Tintern, and while we are among the names of places famous in story a word might be said of the dainty and dapper glass work, especially imitations of flowers of all sorts, made by Mrs. Gomer Davies at Llanthenoc Rectory, Caerleon, Monmouthshire. Some charming specimens decorate Princess Elizabeth's miniature Welsh cottage. Pottery, worthy of its tradition, is produced at the Runiney Bridge pottery, St. Mellons. These are the local crafts that I have seen lately. As good are produced elsewhere ; and infor- mation about any of them will be given by the Rural Indus- tries Bureau in London.
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