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Mark Shiner

@sailmaker_shiner

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Teaching sailmaking, boat handling and navigation in the Orkney Islands. Investigating less well known maritime skills. Living island family life.

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Loooong tutorial on Sailmakers Darning. Very rare in sailmaking, so worth reviving. Not so rare in socks I'm told! I hope you'll lock in for the duration.

#endangeredcrafts #sailmaking #sailmaker #tallships #sailing by @sailmaker_shiner

Making sails in natural cotton (or flax!) Canvas. Here's how I assess the behaviour of a piece of cloth before I use it for sailmaking. Apologies that I ramble on a bit. I'd be grateful for your constructive (kind!) thoughts and comments. It all adds to the knowledge!
So, Insta cut the video, of course, and what I went on to say was that this shrink/stretch grid does several jobs:
Initial shrinkage after wetting.
How much it stretches back.
How stretchy the cloth is anyway.

Overall I concluded with this piece of cloth, after shrinking and gently stretching back.... The net shrinkage was 5% down the warp, 1% across the weft, and 2% on the bias.

#sailmaking #cottoncanvas #canvas #sail #sailmaker by @sailmaker_shiner

"Success to the Sailmakers" This jug in the Museum of the American Revolution ( @amrevmuseum ) shows how important sails and sailcloth were to world trade in the 18th and 19th Centuries. (Thanks to Tyler Putnam of the Museum, for the slide.)
I want to congratulate Mark Matthews ( @mmsailsolutions ) for being a finalist for the Trainer of the Year Award from Heritage Crafts Association. ( @heritagecrafts ) .
I got a different award last year in 2025 and it is SO nice to see Sailmakers in the running once again.
Congratulations Mark! by @sailmaker_shiner

After my "Mystery trip to the Isle of Wight" post yesterday, one person guessed where I was going. Ratsey and Lapthorne Sailmakers. Established 1790. They are the oldest surviving sailmakers in the world.
I've been asked to work with them on an exciting project that will preserve the history and heritage of this amazing company while developing the next generation of sailmakers. There's a cast of great sailmakers and other maritime craftspeople who are involved and we'll meet them as we go. It's very early days yet but I'll keep you posted.

#sailmakers #sailmaking #heritagecrafts #sailing #classicboat by @sailmaker_shiner

Off to the Isle of Wight today. Who could I be visiting?

#mysterytour #sailmaking #sails #heritage by @sailmaker_shiner

Random pics from a Sailmaker's Summer. Teaching sailmaking, making sails, Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival, apeldoorn time with Emiliano Marino, visiting other Sailmakers, preserving endangered skills ams generally having a blast! Enjoy!
#heritagecrafts #woodenboatfestival #sailmaking #sailing #artfulsailor by @sailmaker_shiner

Original illustration by Denis Lushch. I think this rather sums up the message behind the messaging we are getting these days.
A sailmaking video next ... promise!

#denislushch #cookiememe #scapegoating #economics by @sailmaker_shiner

Places still available. Online learning followed by a practical week, April or September.

#sailmaking #sailing #sail #tallships #nautical by @sailmaker_shiner

We had a torchlight parade and a galley burning last Saturday. So that was alright...

#orkney #vikings #jarlsquad #Shetland by @sailmaker_shiner

It was wonderful to visit the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival this year and be given the chance to give a talk, chair a panel, and run demos with Emiliano Marino aka @theartfulsailor . Those Port Townsend folk certainly know how to make you feel welcome! They even wrote nice things about me in the Festival programme and magazine! I would LOVE to come back! You should come too!

#woodenboatfestival #sailmaking #sailing #woodenboat #sailmaker by @sailmaker_shiner

OK! Will do. How to do sailmaker's circular darning! COMING SOON!

#sailrepair #sailmaking #sailing #sail by @sailmaker_shiner

Sailmaking Course: Orkney Islands. What fun we had! Sail design. Traditional repair techniques, including rare circular darning. Edge and luff-rope locking - in shocking pink. Big, computer-controlled, air-lift sewing machines, as well as smaller, affordable machines. Eventually a new mains'l for the Nav School Drascombe was completed and we took her for a blat round Stromness Harbour. AND we made a pile of new friends.
Why not book YOUR place for online study and a practical week in April?

#sailing #sailmaking #sailmaker #yachting #tallships by @sailmaker_shiner