Tools and Materials

Used in Making
Indigenous Creative
Crafts

MA. CLARETTE JOY M. PASION-INSTRUCTOR

Objectives:
1. Understand the present situation of Philippine
Handicraft Industry;
2. Know the tools and materials in handicraft
making/industry; and
3. Point out the importance/relevance of the handicraft
industry in the countryside.
 Philippine Handicraft Industry:
Their Benefits and Importance
 second largest world producer of handicrafts, mainly baskets out of indigenous
materials. This industry continues to provide a respectable contribution to foreign
exchange earning of the country (US$71.9M in 2000) while many handicraft items are
also sold on the local market. All together, the sector is providing livelihood to more
than 1 million Filipinos. Although the industry has experienced some setbacks over the
last ten years, it has kept the respect of the high-end markets in the United States,
European Union, and Japan and has only lost a great part of the low-end market to
China, our main competitor.
Over the years, Philippine handicrafts have evolved through innovative changes in
designs reinforced by exciting choices and combination of indigenous materials. There
is, however still ample room for improvement, particularly in remote upland
communities with little access to market information, brokering services, capital, and
technologies for value addition.
The handicraft industry is important because of the following
reasons:

 It promotes our cultural heritage through the use of indigenous

materials.
Handicraft products show an individual’s creativity and lofty
imagination.
Producers of raw materials will be encouraged to produce more.
Employment is generated especially for undergraduates.
Values of perseverance and industry are developed.
 Handicraft Tools
The tools commonly used in handicraft are
of two types – the hand tools and the power
tools. Hand tools are the tools for
processing the article which are used
manually or by hands. Power tools are tools
for processing materials that are operated
by machine.
M - a kind of hammer, usually with a heavy wooden
head and a short handle, for driving a chisel

A - A mallet is a hammer used to strike an object

without damaging it. They are typically
lightweight and made from solid wood, rubber, or

L leather. Due to their lack of weight, they are

typically not very good at moving objects a great
distance. Instead, they are better suited for

L
seating (nudging) objects together.
-

E
T
S - a tool for turning screws that has a handle at one end
C and a metal rod at the other end, shaped to fit in the
top of a screw.
R -used for screwing or unscrewing the screws into
E different surfaces. Ideally, a screwdriver is used in
projects like hanging drywall, attaching ledger boards,
W installing cabinets, fastening wood decking or fabricating
cabinets, wooden toys, bookcases, and other
woodworking projects.

D
R
I
V
E
R
P -a hand tool used to hold objects firmly, possibly
developed from tongs used to handle hot metal in
Bronze Age Europe. They are also useful for bending

L
and physically compressing a wide range of materials.
-used for gripping something round like a pipe or rod,
some are used for twisting wires, and others are

I
designed to be used for a combination of tasks including
cutting wire.

E
R
S
C - it was mainly invented to “cope” or “saw” the crossings
between two surfaces to allow them to fit together
O seamlessly.

P -With a coping saw, you can cut out any intricate shape
in wooden materials or make curved trims for your roof

I
eaves.

N
G

S
A
W
C -it is a hand tool used for carving, cutting, and shaping
hard materials such as wood, stone, and metal.

H
- It is one of the most common tools used to shape
wood, mostly in carpentry work. The chisel tool used in
wood and wood carving is a sharp-edged hand chisel
tool similar to a screwdriver.

I
S
E
L
H - it is a hand-powered drill for drilling a hole. With a
hand drill, you can drill through all kinds of materials. A
A hand drill is often used for drilling in aluminum, plastic,
wood, rubber, and cork.
N - Drills are hand-held tools with rotating drill bits

D
used to fabricate holes in multiple materials. They
are widely used in construction, carpentry,
metalworking, assembly, and maintenance. Most drills
used today are powered and use a chuck to grip the bits
of the drills.
D
R
I
L
L
W - this are made in various shapes and sizes and are used
for gripping, fastening, turning, tightening and
loosening things like pipes, pipe fittings, nuts and

R bolts.

E
N
C
H
C - versatile tools that serve to temporarily hold work
securely in place. They are used for many applications

L
including carpentry, woodworking, furniture making,
welding, construction and metal working.

A
M
P
K - Craft knives are used for cutting and shaping light
materials, such as card. They are very useful during the

N
model making stage of the design process. They have a
very sharp (razor sharp) blade, which slices through
light materials with ease.

I
F
E
S
- is a type of bench plane used in woodworking. The
M smoothing plane is typically the last plane used on a
O wood surface, removing very fine shavings to leave a
smooth finish. When used effectively it quickly produces
O a finish that equals or surpasses that made by
T sandpaper.
H
I
N
G

P
L
A
N
E
A -  a spiral-shaped tool that is used to drill holes into the
ground and other surfaces or materials.

U -Drilling into wood or into trees to extract maple syrup

(this would require a wood auger)

G
Small home projects like gardening (this would require a
handheld auger)
Drilling holes through ice while ice-fishing (gas and

E hand-powered augers will work for this purpose)

R
H - a hand-powered, small-toothed saw used for cutting
metal pipes, rods, brackets, etc. Hacksaws can also cut

A through the plastic. The hacksaw has a U-shaped frame

and a handle at one end. Hacksaws have small pins at
each end of the frame that receives a blade.
C
K
S
A
W
P -a brush used to apply paint or ink. A paintbrush is
A usually made by clamping bristles to a handle with a
ferrule. They are available in various sizes, shapes, and
I materials. Thicker ones are used for filling in, and
thinner ones are used for details.
N
T

B
R
U
S
H
 -Folding rules, sometimes called zig-zag rules or jointed rules,
are a series of two or smaller rule strips joined with hinges.
These rules can be folded together to be carried easily, or
used in confined spaces. They can also be folded out and used
to measure longer distances or take measurements that are
further away and difficult to reach.

FOLDING, -Folding rules can be used for measuring both small spaces
and longer distances. It can also be used to help determine

ZIGZAG angles on larger structures or for places and masonry folding

rules have markings on one side to show the proper
dimensions of the bricks and mortar joints needed to lay a

AND structure of a specific height or length which are difficult to

measure with a just protractor.

STEEL
RULE
P - a writing utensil with a graphite lead embedded in a
wooden shaft. It is mainly used for artistic sketching and

E
drawing, for stenography or notes. Its benefits are the
simple usage as well as being able to remove what
you've drawn with an eraser.

N
C
I
L
 Handicraft Materials
In order to create new handicraft products which
can be sold locally or exported abroad, different
raw materials which are available in the market,
are needed.
Handicraft makers fashion them into baskets, bags,
accessories, cabinets, lamp shades, wall decor,
bamboo sofa sets, cabinets, clothes, and others.
ABACA - known worldwide as Manila hemp.
Abaca fiber is obtained from the
leaf sheaths of the abaca (Musa
textilis Nee) and is considered as
the strongest among natural fibers.
The length of the fiber varies from
3 to 9 ft or more, depending on the
height of the plant and the age of
the leaf sheath. The color of the
fiber ranges from ivory white to
light and dark brown.
RATTAN - is superficially similar to bamboo, but
distinct in that the stems are solid, rather
than hollow, and also in their need for
some sort of support. While bamboo can
grow on its own, rattan cannot. Some
genera (for example Metroxylon,
Pigafetta, Raphia) are however more like
typical palms, with stouter, erect trunks.
Many rattans are also spiny, the spines
acting as hooks to aid in climbing over
other plants, and also to deter
herbivores. Rattans have been known to
grow up to hundreds of meters long.
BAMBOO
-Stems of bamboo plants are c.
Bamboo grows in all parts of the
country – in plains, forests, hills,
and mountains. Among the
varieties of bamboo are spiny
bamboo, kawayan China,
kawayan kiling, bikal and buho.
COCONUT SHELLS
-Coconut trees are abundant in
the Philippines. Coconut shells
vary in thickness and color
depending on the age of the nut.
They are used for fuel and for
manufacturing articles such as
buttons, pins, coin banks, lamp
shades, and flower vases.
FIBERS
-They come from plants where
fibers or threadlike substances
are extracted.
Fibers from coconut husks, buri,
maguey, pineapple, abaca, and
banana are used in making
mattresses, carpets, and seat
pads.
BURI
- It is a palm from which three
kinds of fibers, namely buri, raffia,
and buntal, are obtained. The buri
palm has large fan-shaped leaves
with stout petioles ranging from 2
to 3 m in length. The palm reaches
a height of 20 to 40 m and its trunk
attains a diameter of 1 to 1.5 m. Of
the buri fiber, buntal is the one with
the most impact in the market.
ACTIVITY!
Draw the different tools and equipment
used in handicrafts and write the
functions of each tool! Use A4 size bond
paper and compile it in a sliding folder!