Wild Crafts cover

Live wilder · ebook & activity guide collection

Wild Crafts

Grow it. Gather it. Make it.

Repeated making with natural materials: from a familiar object to closer study of material, shape and use, and a growing relationship with what you gather and grow.

Carve, weave and make useful, beautiful things from natural materials, and grow your own craft garden.

The ebook
43 Wilding activity guides as printable PDFs
Templates and charts the activity guides need

Coming soon. Jay is giving this book and its activity guides a final proofread before they go on sale as downloads. Ask to be told when they're ready.

Safety first. Outdoor activities carry real risks. Each activity guide has safety notes, but you are responsible for yourself and anyone in your care. Supervise children, get permission, never eat anything you cannot identify with certainty, and only light fires where it is allowed and safe.

Prefer to learn it outside? See course dates →

The activity guides in this collection

Create culture

Natural sounds & instruments

Making a sycamore whistleCreate culture

Making & using a bullroarerCreate culture

Making a kazooCreate culture

Natural jewellery

Making beadsCreate culture

Making a bracelet from natural cordageCreate culture

Making a holly touchwoodCreate culture

Natural decorations

Making a dream catcherCreate culture

Making a hanging mobileCreate culture

Making a wandCreate culture

Making a fat lampCreate culture

Making an incense bundleCreate culture

Live wilder

Tools

Selecting the right tool for the jobLive wilder

Techniques for cutting & carving with a sheath knife

Splitting wood along it’s grain with a knife in reversed gripLive wilder

Thumb push & pivot techniquesLive wilder

Shin pull techniqueLive wilder

Wrist push techniqueLive wilder

Thumb pull techniqueLive wilder

Reinforced pull techniqueLive wilder

Practical applications of cutting & carving techniques

Making a depression with a sheath knifeLive wilder

Making a hole with a sheath knifeLive wilder

Cutting line with a sheath knifeLive wilder

Techniques for cutting & carving with a small camp axe

Splitting wood with a small camp axe & malletLive wilder

Carving with a small camp axeLive wilder

Carving with a crook knifeLive wilder

Tool care & maintenance

Sharpening & caring for a sheath knifeLive wilder

Sharpening & caring for a small camp axeLive wilder

Sharpening & caring for a crook knifeLive wilder

Cordage, baskets, mats & containers

Plaiting fibres to make cordageLive wilder

Making clay potsLive wilder

Wooden tools

Making a wooden malletLive wilder

Making an improvised bow sawLive wilder

Making a bow drill friction fire lighting setLive wilder

Making a hand drill friction fire lighting setLive wilder

Making an ember blowerLive wilder

Useful campcraft items

Making a clothes pegLive wilder

Making a large pegLive wilder

Making a candle holderLive wilder

Cooking & eating utensils

Making tongsLive wilder

Making a butter spreaderLive wilder

Making a spatulaLive wilder

Making a wooden spoonLive wilder

Making a chopping boardLive wilder

Track & ask questions

Tracking tools & technology

How to make a tracking stickTrack & ask questions

← Back to the Wilding Rucksack

Safety, and where the activity guides come from

Look after yourself and others. Outdoor activities carry real risks: fire, tools, water, weather, heights, plants, fungi, animals and getting lost. Every activity guide includes safety notes, but you are responsible for your own safety and for anyone in your care. Supervise children closely, get the landowner's permission, follow the Countryside Code, never eat anything you cannot identify with complete certainty, and only light fires where it is allowed and safe. If in doubt, leave it out.

With gratitude to the lineage. The Wilding Practice Keys and many of the activities in the activity guides have been adapted from the core routines of nature connection in the 8 Shields approach (Coyote Mentoring), mapped by Jon Young and shared in Coyote's Guide to Connecting with Nature (Young, Haas & McGown).

These ways of noticing and belonging are far older than any book. They grow from the knowledge of Indigenous and land-based peoples around the world, who have lived in close relationship with the land for thousands of years and have kept that knowledge alive, often in the face of great loss. Jon Young describes 8 Shields as built on patterns of nature connection he found in Indigenous cultures around the world, and on what his mentors taught him, including the teachings passed down through Tom Brown Jr. from Grandfather Stalking Wolf. Our own ancestors in these islands once knew the land in this way too.

I offer Wilding with deep respect and thanks to all of them. It does not claim or copy any culture's ceremonies or sacred practices. It is a UK way of carrying forward simple, shared human ways of paying attention, giving thanks and belonging to a place. — Jay