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Bulgarian Crafts
Children gain confidence by developing their skills,
and nations gain confidence by developing their crafts.
For Bulgarians, the tradition of the national crafts
flourished during the Age of Revival.
The elegant and functional aesthetics developed.
The training in a particular craft was beginning in an early age,
as the skills were transferred from a father to a son and from a mother to a daughter.
But the achieving of a real mastery
had to be proved before the guild of masters.
Only their acknowledgement could allow a craftsman to open a shop
and to create their domestic and artistic articles on their own.
Pottery in Bulgarian lands
appeared as early as the age of the Thracians and Romans.
The pots, jugs, bowls, jars and pans
are a real wonder, made of clay.
Their shapes were simple but perfect at the same time,
because they were taken from the vеry nature.
This ancient craft was turned into an exquisite art,
in which multiple styles and epochs are entwined.
The patterns on the dishes were engraved,
painted by colorful painting
or applied as additional figures.
Pottery was not only vivid, but it also tells stories.
About the hot meal in the clay bowl,
about the exquisite pitcher full of water
and about the girl with a flower in her hairs, who is going to the spring.
If pottery is an art,
then woodcarving is a real passion for Bulgarian.
The case with the Daskalova House in Tryavna is emblematic.
In the beginning of the 19th century the wealthy tradesperson Hristo Daskalov
decided that his house was not entirely completed,
becausе it lacked an internal decoration.
He hired the two most famous Tryavna artists –
Dimitar Oshanetsa and Ivan Bochukovetsa.
The two artists made a bet with each other
about who will make a more exquisite wood-carved ceiling
For half a year they created "suns",
which remained an unreachable peak in woodcarving art to the present day.
The tradition in weaving is also well known to Bulgarians.
But braid-making also obtained a great development during the Revival Age.
Braids are weaved cords,
by which clothes, made of coarse woolen fabric, were decorated.
Initially it was developing in domestic conditions by women-spinners,
but by the introduction of the woolen braid wheel
in mechanized and turned into manufacturing.
Bulgarian women are famous for their weaving skills.
This craft flourished by the 1950s,
and the achieved mastery in this area impresses people even nowadays.
Motley rugs, carpets, tufted rugs in amazing colors
and compositions attract even the most glutted eye.
The aesthetic effect of the fabric is achieved
by the combination of the material, the way it is processed,
the colors, the composition and the technique of implementation.
Spinning, thickness, fluffiness, natural dyes –
this is the alphabet of weaving.
And the rest is a innate talent and art.
Bulgarians love receiving their guests
and amazing them with their incredible artistic skills and imagination.
The Chiprovtsi, Samokov and Kotel carpets are brands,
which distinguish with their own style.
Manufactured mostly of sheep wool and fabrics made on a vertical loom,
they are painted in natural dyes in bright colors
and with diverse ornaments entered in them.
Geometry figures, placed as stripes or checkered,
or beautiful stylized flowers, plants,
birds or animal figures -
the compositions are amazing and they had been declared an art a long time ago.
A great diversity of crafts had shaped
for the small territory of Bulgaria -
knives-making, bells-making, copper-processing
and a number of other popular or almost unknown crafts.
In Bulgaria there are a number of functioning centers for developing crafts –
the Samokov bazaar in Veliko Tarnovo,
the ethnographic complex Etara near Gabrovo
and a complex in Dobrich, as well as many others.
All Bulgarian crafts are an expression of the people's spirit
and represent a striving for beauty and self-perfection,
which are genetically entwined into the Bulgarian nation.
Besides a pleasant memory of the times,
when crafts were a part of the daily life,
presently they are a part of the tourist industry -
and a favorite memory of every trip in Bulgaria�