What's in the name ....

“What's in a name?  that which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet;”

From William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (1623)

Original BushbearZ

A name is important to most of us.  Usually it is chosen with care and it forms part of our identity.  However sometimes a name is born from a gut reaction and somehow a deeper meaning develops as time goes by.  BushcraftZ was born as the gut reaction to my first attempt at crafting a teddy bear.  The result looked more like a bushbaby  than a teddy bear.  I called the little odd-shaped, wide-eyed creature BushbearZ – with a ‘Z’ for Zipfel, our surname.  I constantly dabble and try many different crafts and gradually my creations became known under the name BushcraftZ.  The name seemed most appropriate since we are fortunate enough to reside in a small piece of bushveld on the edge of the metropolitan city of Johannesburg. 

Over time the name BushcraftZ has developed a deeper meaning for me. It closely relates to the term ‘BUSHCRAFT’  coined to describe traditional skills and crafts, practiced by indigenous people that are useful for survival in nature.  Crafting offers me the opportunity to use traditional crafts learnt as a child from my parents and grandmothers and techniques I picked up from other crafters, books and magazines.  These basic skills have become a basis and constant golden thread throughout my crafting life.  Today we modify heritage craft techniques and use them with a modern twist to create beautiful art and craft objects.  In my life crafting provides entertainment, a possible income but also offers an escape from our demanding and hectic lives.  It is an opportunity to relax and be creative, a breath of fresh air and at the end of a successful project, a sense of achievement.  

Original BushbearZ

PS. My teddybear making skills have improved in the past 12 years. Practice does improve skills.