I went to Craftsmen days festival a few years ago and I noticed an amazing shepherd's shrink cup with a dragon head on the handle (these cups were traditionally used on mountain sheep farms for drinking žinčica, a drink from sheep milk whey). They are usually decorated with figures of sheep, shepherds or bears, but I consider dragons much more cool. I didn't buy the cup, it was quite expensive - but I noticed that the bottom was from a different piece of wood, fitting so tightly that it was waterproof. And I tried to find out how it was made.
The maker's wife told me that the cup must be boiled in hot water to expand. A bottom from dry wood is inserted into a groove inside. When the wood dries, the cylinder shrinks tightly around the bottom.
I thought I could try it someday, so I asked how long the wood must be boiled, but the maker's wife didn't know. And when I asked her husband the same question, he looked at me like "You want to steal my trade secrets!" and he gave me very evasive answers.
But he had no idea what a stubborn person he'd just met.
So I tried to search on the internet... and I found nothing. Only much later I realized why there were no online instructions. The shepherds have always learned the carving skills personally, from one generation to another. Even today's makers learned their craft directly from the old masters. And no one ever realized that it could be done otherwise. After all, most of them don't even have their own website, not to mention facebook or instagram. So the whole craft of making shepherd's shrink cups is practically ignored by a new generation of people who find everything online.
And I think it's about time to change it.
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