It’s encouraging to know that extensive research shows that while physical stamina and strength might be impaired with age, our manual skills – those of the mechanic, carpenter, stitcher, potter and artist – show little sign of decline as we age. Not only that; exercising and testing our manual dexterity keeps our skills alive and our joints oiled.

In his essay “The Artist Grows Old” the art historian Kenneth Clark noted that the creativity and dexterity of all the great painters and sculptors living beyond the age of seventy – Michelangelo, Titian, Rembrandt, Monet, Turner, and many others – remained pretty much unaffected by the passage of years. Indeed, when a lifetime of experience and a relatively large amount of available time are added into the equation, it is hardly surprising that that of us who have or want to develop a manual skill produce some rather amazing results! Now is the time to experiment, refine, share, and show off what we have spent a lifetime learning.