Original subtitles

CHARLIE (off-screen): All right guys.

Here's the scene, we're here at Colonial Williamsburg,

the perfect place if you want to learn how to craft the old way.

Woo! Ugh!

BETTY: Go over the top.

CHARLIE: I like the bow in this one.

The way they did, like, 300 years ago by hand,

before all the computers and electronic nonsense.

This is how you should do it guys.

Right here.

It's time for Weird But True!

(theme music plays).

Kirb, I respect you, but I gotta say,

this is an absolutely terrible idea.

KIRBY: Charles, I respect you, but you're being ridiculous.

CHARLIE: Hey guys, I'm glad you're here,

because Kirby's abandoning everything that we stand for!

KIRBY: Charles is blowing this out of proportion.

I'm going on a short trip to the Crafty Campers Animation

and Technology Expo.

It's a whole weekend dedicated to new advancements in

crafting technology.

CHARLIE: It's gonna be terrible.

KIRBY: Charles! CHARLIE: Kirb!

Think of why crafting is so amazing.

CHARLIE (off-screen): We share these wonderful experiences

and bring our joint ideas to life.

It's a communal thing.

Technology, just separates us.

We text each other instead of talking.

CHARLIE (off-screen): You spend all our research time on your laptop.

And we never see our library friends anymore because

the Internet exists!

KIRBY: What library friends?

CHARLIE: Exactly!

You're gonna come back with all these crazy ideas.

I can see it now.

CHARLIE (off-screen): All strapped up into some weird

anti-reality craft goggles like.

"Hey Charles, check out my 3D digitized model that I made

with my adhesive algorithm and my VR glue sticks

beep boop beep boop."

We're gonna be making Internet crafts that just exist as

beeps and boops in the cloud!

KIRBY: It's gonna be okay, Charles.

New technology and innovation are nothing to be scared of.

KIRBY (off-screen): Imagine if the Wright Brothers never

invented the powered airplane.

Or if Edison never invented the light bulb!

Everything would be totally different!

I'm embracing progress.

I'm gonna go to the Expo and bring HQ into the future.

Cause Charles, we gotta stop living in the past.

CHARLIE: But the past was so much better, Kirb,

before all this technology, and I'm gonna show you why

because guys, we're unraveling the world of.

KIRBY: Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope.

I'm not unraveling the world of anything.

CHARLIE: Wait, what?

KIRBY: I gotta go!

That's Patrick. He's the keynote speaker and my ride.

So.

CHARLIE: Kirb, wait, no!

KIRBY: Charles, it's just a few days.

CHARLIE: Kirb. KIRBY: We'll video chat!

CHARLIE: Wait, no. KIRBY: It'll be fine.

CHARLIE: Kirb! KIRBY: Bye!

CHARLIE: We're in full blown crisis mode.

We gotta make sure that when she comes back we can convince

her that the old way is the best way.

So we're going back, we're gonna go way back to before

the Internet, before any of this techy garbage was

getting in the way.

Today, we're unraveling the world of.

CHARLIE (off-screen): Colonial Crafting.

All right, how did people craft in the olden days?

I think we should start with some science,

right, Paper Kirby?

This isn't the same.

We're gonna need some help with this one.

But I don't know where to go.

It's usually a Kirby thing.

Type, type, type, type.

I'm sure I can find a place where they feature the ways

that people make crafts before all this terrible futuristic

technology that I will definitely not enjoy at the Expo.

What a great idea, Paper Kirby!

I'm gonna go but you stay put and hold down the fort.

Sounds good? Okay, Charles.

Let's go, guys!

CHARLIE (off-screen): Tis a fine day to head off to

Williamsburg, Virginia!

A colonial town where they're totally devoted to

handcrafting exactly as they did in the 1700's.

They even dress the part.

Thanks for the ride.

So this place seems like a giant amusement park for

history buffs, right?

It's full of recreations of craft studios and workshops

that were used by the earliest crafters in America.

Williamsburg, is a real city that played a major role in

the early American Colonies.

What's a colony? I'm glad you asked.

MAN: Hear ye! Hear ye!

CHARLIE: That's the town crier.

MAN: A colony can be defined by a group of people who

settle in a foreign land or country.

CHARLIE (off-screen): In 1607, the British founded Virginia,

the first colony in America and many followed.

The 13 original colonies are: Delaware.

Pennsylvania. New Jersey.

Georgia. Connecticut.

Massachusetts Bay. Maryland.

South Carolina. New Hampshire.

Virginia. New York.

North Carolina.

And Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.

They were all little British settlements.

And Williamsburg was the multicultural center of it all.

MAN: Over the course of 170 years,

these colonies transformed into the independent country

we now know as the United States of America.

CHARLIE: Oh! Oh it's Kirby.

Hey Kirb!

KIRBY (over phone): Whoa, where are you?

CHARLIE: I'm at Colonial Williamsburg!

KIRBY (over phone): I leave you like for two seconds and you're already

halfway across the country?

CHARLIE: I'm doing fine.

They craft the right way here, the way they did like 300 years ago.

KIRBY (over phone): That's pretty cool, but it's crazy.

I met these people.

They're from Chattanooga, and they never use paper

or glue or tape.

CHARLIE: How is that even possible?

KIRBY (over phone): It's all digital.

CHARLIE: Ugh! That's gross.

KIRBY (over phone): It's awesome. It's awesome.

They use a.

CHARLIE: Kirby? Kirb?

Ugh! This is exactly what I'm talking about.

CHARLIE (off-screen): We can't even use regular telephones anymore.

We gotta use these glitchy video chat apps that just like

drop out every two seconds.

CHARLIE (off-screen): Let's keep taking a look around.

We gotta learn all we can before we lose Kirby for good.

Inside this building, right here, is a printing press.

CHARLIE (off-screen): So imagine over 200 years ago, they were making newspapers

and books in Williamsburg by hand.

Think about that!

Handmade books!

Let's go check it out. Hey there!

DAVID: Hey, how you doing?

CHARLIE: Good. I'm Charlie. DAVID: I'm David.

CHARLIE (off-screen): I see you're making what? A newspaper or?

DAVID: I'm doing a uh hand bill actually.

CHARLIE (off-screen): What can you tell me about printing?

This whole process, I want to know.

DAVID (off-screen): What I'm doing is really just using a big stamp.

You're gonna ink it, put that to paper and then.

CHARLIE: To press it?

DAVID (off-screen): I'm pressing down.

CHARLIE (off-screen): Wow that's all it is.

DAVID: Now I'm going to run this underneath and then by

pulling this bar.

You want to do it? So, good tug.

There you go.

CHARLIE: Oh, geez.

DAVID: And this is why this industry is called the press.

DAVID (off-screen): A form like this might have about 12,000 pieces

of metal in it.

CHARLIE: So here's the deal guys,

we have two cases that are full of these little boxes,

they're all organized.

And these hold the actual letters that they put together

to spell pages in books or newspapers.

And the cool thing is the top one is called the upper case.

And that has all the capital letters.

The bottom one is called the lower case,

and has all the small letters.

So that's where we get the words uppercase and lowercase.

So instead of typing on a keyboard,

they have to reach into the correct boxes,

lay them in this composing stick, right here,

to spell out the words.

They're gonna look kind of weird and backwards and upside

down, but apparently, you don't even think about that,

and then when it prints down, it will all line up the right way.

Can I give it a try?

DAVID (off-screen): Sure, if you want.

CHARLIE (off-screen): L. L.

Right there.

DAVID: Yep. All the way over into that corner.

CHARLIE: Right? D.

DAVID (off-screen): Sure.

CHARLIE (off-screen): Ugh, my gosh.

DAVID (off-screen): Space is there. Yep.

CHARLIE: I. E.

DAVID: And the B is all the way over there.

CHARLIE: B! All right, here's the final space!

It took about a half hour but, we got it!

Apron's on.

CHARLIE (off-screen): We got all of our typeset right here.

DAVID: We got it in the press and we're pretty much ready to go.

DAVID (off-screen): Now just give that a little bit of uh ink on that type.

Remember, it's just a stamp, right?

CHARLIE: Woo. This is exciting!

Ahhh. It's perfect.

Weird but true: soldiers used portable printing presses on

the battlefields during the Civil War.

Happy birthday.

It's our own homemade birthday cards.

DAVID: We can make thousands of those if you want 'em.

CHARLIE: I love it.

Thanks so much for showing us about the printing press.

DAVID: Yes, indeed Charlie.

CHARLIE: Let's go guys.

I'm gonna give Kirb a call real quick, show her my card.

She's gonna love this.

CHARLIE (off-screen): Hey Kirb.

KIRBY (over phone): Hey Charlie.

CHARLIE (off-screen): Check out what I made.

It's a homemade birthday card!

I made it using a real, actual printing press and it only

took me like two hours.

KIRBY (over phone): That's pretty cool.

But check this out.

I made it with a 3D printer!

I just had to use one finger and it took like 12 seconds.

CHARLIE: They have 3D printers there?

KIRBY (over phone): Yeah.

They 3D print stuff all the time.

All the time, all the time.

CHARLIE (off-screen): Kirb? Kirb.

This is ridiculous.

CHARLIE (off-screen): I think the printing press is out.

I'm losing her to the techies.

I gotta keep looking around cause there's gotta be

something around here that can help me out.

I'll see you in a bit.

KIRBY (off-screen): Weird but true.

CHARLIE: All right guys.

It turns out that the printing press and making books and

newspapers didn't really rejuvenate Kirby's interest in

working with her hands.

CHARLIE (off-screen): But luckily there are tons of trades in this place that

require handmade crafting.

Let's go.

Hey Duke, Hey Diamond.

It's good to see ya.

Have a good one.

CHARLIE (off-screen): Ooh, check this out.

I can make bricks!

It starts with mixing up some clay and some water.

Ew! Oh!

CHARLIE (off-screen): You stomp around for like a million hours.

JASON: Right.

CHARLIE: And then, what's next in the brick making process?

JASON: The clay is pulled onto a table.

CHARLIE (off-screen): Uh huh.

JASON (off-screen): Rolling it in some sand, throwing it into a mold,

and then dry the bricks in the sun.

CHARLIE: I'm not going to lie, I like the feeling of peanut

butter between your toes, but I think I'm going to have to

pass on this craft.

CHARLIE (off-screen): I guess I'm not cut out to be a brick maker.

But I guess I'm lucky right?

Cause I can kind of hop around and try all these different

crafts here.

CHARLIE (off-screen): But back in the day, in Colonial Williamsburg,

a lot of people didn't have the choice, you know?

They were forced into these jobs.

That's something to keep in mind as we're looking around today.

Guys, farming!

MAN: Want to try?

CHARLIE: Yeah, sure. Ugh.

CHARLIE (off-screen): Maybe farming is not my thing.

But I'm sure I'll find something around here.

Oh guys, this is great.

CHARLIE (off-screen): Barber and Peruke maker.

Cool old timey word, peruke means wig. Right?

WOMAN: Absolutely.

CHARLIE: So this is a wig making shop.

It's perfect for us!

Kirby and I love wearing wigs and playing dress up.

CHARLIE (off-screen): Let's take a look inside.

WOMAN: Come right in. CHARLIE: Oh, great.

CHARLIE (off-screen): The old time wigs are incredible

and all handmade.

Just what I'm looking for.

Betty wastes no time getting me started.

BETTY: First of all, Charlie, I want you to take a moment to

look around the shop.

Do you see the various styles?

Often times, the style of wig that you wear represents what

type of person you are.

CHARLIE: So, is it part of your uniform?

BETTY: Part of your uniform, but also it reflects your

status and your class.

Right here is your tressing frame because you're working

with tresses of hair.

BETTY (off-screen): There's different patterns of weaving,

depending upon where you're at upon the wig.

CHARLIE (off-screen): You're so fast at this.

BETTY (off-screen): Exactly.

CHARLIE (off-screen): It's crazy.

BETTY: I'm going to give you a little bit.

BETTY (off-screen): Come in front of it and come right up behind it.

CHARLIE: Yup. BETTY: You got it.

BETTY (off-screen): Then you're going to repeat.

You're going to go over the top and right.

CHARLIE: Oh jeez. BETTY: Underneath it again.

CHARLIE (off-screen): Oh, man. This is a mess.

I'm sorry, Betty.

BETTY: That's okay.

It's harder than it looks.

Now, I expect within the next hour or so that you should be

weaving, let's say, about an inch every minute.

CHARLIE: An inch a minute?

BETTY: Mm-hm. CHARLIE: Okay.

There?

BETTY: Mhm.

CHARLIE (off-screen): Oh my gosh!

BETTY: Slide it on over. That's it.

BETTY (off-screen): Then you sew the layers on, layer upon layer upon layer

following the diagram.

CHARLIE: This thing.

BETTY: That's called the wig plat.

CHARLIE (off-screen): Ok.

BETTY: And then once you have all the hair on,

then you're gonna use the curling irons.

CHARLIE: So, Thomas Jefferson. What did he like in a wig?

BETTY: He had two styles.

He had the bob wig with the six rows of curls.

Brown was the color for day wear.

CHARLIE (off-screen): Oh.

BETTY: So that's what he was wearing.

And then he also preferred the tie wig.

Do you see the one up there with the ringlets?

CHARLIE (off-screen): Yes.

BETTY (off-screen): Mm-hmm. That was more formal.

CHARLIE: For a night on the town,

he'd pull out his fancy wig.

BETTY (off-screen): Exactly.

CHARLIE (off-screen): With the long curls?

BETTY: Exactly. And then he would have it powdered.

CHARLIE: Wow.

BETTY: You see, and then he could have it washed out

afterward and put it back to natural color.

BETTY (off-screen): You could even go for colors.

You could use colored hair powders.

CHARLIE (off-screen): Holy cow.

BETTY: Now, that's for high fashion,

only for like fancy balls and things like that.

Look at up there. You could even have a ship and full sails.

CHARLIE: A boat? Would people actually do that?

BETTY (off-screen): Yes. Yes.

CHARLIE (off-screen): What?

BETTY: So, would you like to try on one of these wigs?

CHARLIE: Oh, you bet. Let's do it.

BETTY: Okay.

BETTY (off-screen): This is called a club wig, and the number of curls,

particularly for military would be an indication

of one's rank.

CHARLIE: Oh man.

If there are four, what would I be right now?

BETTY: We're talking a general.

CHARLIE: Ah, yes. I like the sound of that.

BETTY (off-screen): Does that suit you?

CHARLIE: Yeah, that suits me very well.

BETTY: I think that's you.

Now, we're gonna go a little foppish.

CHARLIE: Oh, I like the bow in this one.

I'm not gonna lie.

The braid's a very nice touch, too.

BETTY (off-screen): Yeah.

CHARLIE: Can we try on one more?

This was all the rage?

BETTY: Yeah, and the more rows, the more hair,

the more expensive.

CHARLIE: The more hair?

BETTY: The larger the wig you'd wear. CHARLIE: Oh.

BETTY: That's referred to as a big wig.

CHARLIE: There you go.

BETTY (off-screen): Weird but true, everyone thinks that

General Washington wore a wig.

In reality he wore his own hair.

And for special occasions he would have it powdered white

with flour and grease.

CHARLIE: Oh! It's Kirby.

Hey Kirb.

KIRBY (over phone): Hey Charles, I just did the coolest thing.

CHARLIE: Me too. I learned how to make wigs.

KIRBY (over phone): That's pretty cool, but I went to this booth that has

these pens and pads that can track the movement of the pen

and convert it into a drawing on your computer.

I can draw on my laptop.

CHARLIE: So the drawing doesn't even exist in real life?

Why would you wanna do that?

KIRBY (over phone): It just makes the tweaks and the color changing

and stuff like that super easy.

My friends in Chattanooga use it all the time.

CHARLIE: Yeah, who are these new friends from Chattanooga?

KIRBY (over phone): They're great, great, great.

CHARLIE: Kirb? I lost her again.

CHARLIE (off-screen): If I wanna understand how to be a true craftsman I need

full immersion.

Stick around guys.

I got a plan.

KIRBY (off-screen): Weird but true.

CHARLIE: Here's the deal, I gotta convince Kirby that

crafting the old way is the best way.

Before we had all this techy garbage getting in the way.

I'm sorry Kirb.

No more video chats.

Gotta feel what it's like to make things with my hands.

So I'm applying for a blacksmith apprenticeship.

CHARLIE (off-screen): So I'm meeting up with Ken Schwartz.

He's the head blacksmith here at Colonial Williamsburg.

This is my life now.

CHARLIE (off-screen): Say goodbye to modern Charlie.

Say hello to Charles, colonial craftsman!

Hey Ken.

KEN: Hey.

CHARLIE: I'm here to learn everything I can about blacksmithing.

CHARLIE (off-screen): How can I get started?

KEN: Well the basics are, we work with iron and steel.

KEN (off-screen): So those are pretty tough metals.

We have to have a fire to soften the iron.

It takes on clay-like properties when you heat it up

and so if you think about shaping clay with your

fingers, we're doing the same thing but since it's hot we

use the hammer and an anvil.

CHARLIE: So you just kind of rest the iron pieces in there?

KEN: Right. I want a bright yellow color to begin with.

The brighter the color, the higher the temperature,

the softer the metal.

KEN (off-screen): I think we've got enough heat.

Now, we'll do a little bit of bending.

I'll set it over the corner of the anvil there and just with

light taps with my hammer, I can bend that around.

You see it moves easily.

Now I'm gonna cool off the very tip and I want you to try

a little bit of this.

So you grab the tongs back here.

CHARLIE (off-screen): Yeah?

KEN (off-screen): And then with the hammer come over here.

CHARLIE: Right there?

KEN: And hit right on the end there.

KEN (off-screen): You see how it's bending?

CHARLIE: Yeah. Aw it's hard to keep it in the same spot.

KEN (off-screen): Yup, it takes practice.

CHARLIE (off-screen): He's not kidding.

It takes practice to shape the hot metal and safely handle

the fire and extreme temperatures!

So don't try this one at home.

KEN (off-screen): Bring it up on top. Flip it over.

And now hit back this way and see if you can make a hook

on the end.

CHARLIE (off-screen): Ugh.

KEN: So take that and put it in the water.

KEN (off-screen): Water will take the heat right out of it.

And when it's no longer steaming.

CHARLIE (off-screen): Oh nice.

KEN: You can touch it.

So you've gone from about 2,000 degrees

down to a temperature where you can touch it.

CHARLIE: Holy cow.

KEN: In just a couple of seconds.

CHARLIE (off-screen): Woo!

What other sorts of things do you make?

KEN: We do all sorts of iron and steel work for the community.

Things like hinges or nails, locks and keys, farm tools,

parts for wagons and carriages.

All things you've encountered today.

CHARLIE: Everything had to be better back in the 1700s, right?

So much simpler time, we didn't have things getting in

the way, our phones drawing us apart.

KEN: Well, I wouldn't go that far.

KEN (off-screen): All of these technologies were cutting edge at one point.

When iron was first developed it transformed the world.

KEN (off-screen): It's still an important material.

Transportation's much better today.

CHARLIE (off-screen): Yeah.

KEN: With a cell phone, you can dial up your friends and family.

CHARLIE: Just like that.

KEN: Anytime. In a matter of seconds.

CHARLIE: Hmm.

KEN (off-screen): 18th century society, there were people that had

very little freedom and they had to work hard for their

day to day existence.

CHARLIE: So I guess, kind of, saying broadly that everything

was better back then doesn't really make a lot of sense.

You gotta draw a little bit from both.

KEN: Right.

CHARLIE: It's a lot to think about I guess,

but uh thanks so much for teaching me blacksmithing.

CHARLIE (off-screen): I'm gonna get back to you about that apprenticeship.

KEN (off-screen): Ok.

CHARLIE (off-screen): Was I too hard on Kirby?

What now?

Guys! Do you hear that?

Hear ye, hear ye.

I am Charles, I came here in search of a life void of any

form of technology.

But my eyes have been opened!

Technology is so much more than electronics or gadgets or e-mails.

CHARLIE (off-screen): Technology allows us to communicate new ideas and information.

It's led to advancements in medicine and the quality of

life, so that now it doesn't take like five years to make like

half a book or one single wig.

Pencils were technology at one point.

Even scissors and paper.

Just imagine if people didn't accept those?

We'd be crafting in caves, slapping mud together like a

bunch of Neanderthals!

Technology even led to the creation of the staple!

Yeah! Woo!

All right guys abandoning technology is not the answer.

CHARLIE (off-screen): I just gotta figure out how to preserve the things I love

crafting the old way, while also trying new things.

I'm gonna go back and figure out how to move forward.

WOMAN: What's an email?

CHARLIE: Kirb! What is this stuff?

KIRBY: Before you freak out, don't say anything.

It's gonna be fine.

Can I show you how it works?

CHARLIE: Sure.

KIRBY: Okay. So at the Expo I learned a bunch of stuff.

Including, we can digitally model things on our computer

so that when we print them out we know exactly how much

supplies we need, they're the perfect size,

and there's less waste.

CHARLIE: That's pretty cool.

KIRBY (off-screen): Check out this guy.

The Stargazer Paper Laser 1000, Crafty Camper edition.

When we digitally model things on our computer, a laser can

cut it out.

But the best part is I learned how to use the cloud.

CHARLIE: The cloud!

CHARLIE (off-screen): So you're saying we can craft together.

KIRBY: Even when we're apart.

CHARLIE: Wow!

You know Kirb when you were gone, I went on a journey,

I found out that if we wanna make truly amazing things,

I have to embrace technology and this stuff's pretty cool.

KIRBY: I can show you how it works.

CHARLIE: All right, guys, it looks like we've got a new

project on our hands.

CHARLIE (off-screen): But thanks so much for stopping by,

come by again when we discover more things that are weird.

KIRBY: But true.

CHARLIE: We'll see you guys later.

CHARLIE (off-screen): What is happening.

KIRBY: It's printing it. Look, design, thing.

CHARLIE: What in the world.

Captioned by Cotter Captioning Services.