There’s something deeply pleasing about seeing a Craftman/woman/Craftsperson? creating something from scratch that is beautiful as well as functional. Though I did think he was going to make a walking stick, so the initial laying down of that tree trunk was a bit unexpected!
By coincidence, I watched this video about making marbles a couple of days ago and thought it was interesting, though I found the commentary a bit patronising – subtitles are available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cXy7gxUtbU
I have been wondering, on and off, for a while why the big marbles are called ‘Allies’, so I looked it up. According to St. Fagan’s National Museum of History “The ancient Greeks and Romans enjoyed playing marbles. Early games used balls made of stone such as marble, hence the name. Glass marbles were called steelies. Clay marbles were called commoneys. Brown marbles were called stonies and alabaster marbles were called allies.” Still don’t know why cats-eye marbles were called ‘Ollies’. Come to think of it, I don’t think I saw any other kind of marbles but cats-eye (ollies and allies) until I was an adult.