The Chinese Itinerant Peddler Water Color Series - May your day be full of ideas and friendly discussions.

Yesterday we saw a video from China on Facebook, with an itinerant craftsman who fixed broken ceramic bowls in the old way with metal staples, what was fascinating was his skill at putting the pieces together again, make tiny holes for the metal staples and anchor them over the cracks, while he had tied the piece together with a rope.

He traveled on an old bike, and had all his tools organized in boxes and holders. It was lovely to see, the man was proud of his skills and to demonstrate them in front of the camera. It inspired me to go find my collection of water colors, bought over a decade ago from California. They are not antiques. Probably mid 20th century or so for the export markets.

China is vast and was mostly agricultural for a long time. Village people would trade and use the services of these men when they came by for whatever skill or supplies they required. I know we also had a version of this not that long ago. Now, if we need some knifes and scissors to be sharpened, we go and buy new ones.