Forum Discussion

suceress's avatar
suceress
Seasoned Novice
3 years ago

Idea: Blacksmithing, Pottery, Glass-Blowing, Sewing, Basketry, Leatherworking, etc.

First of all, I'm glad that knitting got added in, but I would love to have more forms of sewing. I would love to have more items and options for sewing. I am particularly interested in medieval style items.
Blacksmithing objects:

  • Functional forge
  • Functional quench barrel (would like medieval wooden barrel style and modern)
  • Functional quench basin (wooden to modern- these are like the laundry basins that are shorter but wider)
  • Anvils for shaping (flat & rounded versions)
  • Blacksmith's tongs
  • Forging hammer
  • Bellows
  • Grindstone
  • File
  • Molds for forming poured metal
  • Crucible (container in which metals and glass can be melted)

Things that can be made: metal flatware, plates, cups, armor, metal gates, metal fences (wrought iron), metal widow frames, shelves, etc.

Pottery objects:

  • Functional throwing wheel (aka pottery wheel-- from medieval foot-powered to modern)
  • Functional wedging table (work table with absorbent cloth or papers on surface to turn mud into workable clay)
  • Functional kiln
  • Cutting & shaping tools
  • Glaze jars to color/coat pottery
  • Drying rack (clay objects must dry out before being placed in a kiln to be fired- *see notes on firing below)

Things that can be made: pots, vases, tiles, bricks, cups, plates, mugs, jars, urns, statues, crucibles, molds, etc
*From what I recall, after pottery dries it gets a bisque-firing to solidify it. Then it is glazed and fired again. Sometimes you can glaze before bisque firing and then do a final coat of glaze (usually a glossy glaze that adds a protective layer)

Glass-Blowing objects:
https://www.polaroidfotobar.com/glass-blowing-tools-list/
https://www.cmog.org/article/tools-glassmaker

  • Blowpipe
  • Triple furnace w/ annealing chamber (I'm still researching how this works & what they look like)
  • Pontil (iron rod for gathering glass)
  • Work table with marver (flat slab of stone or metal on which glass is worked)
  • Blocks (wooden spoon-like tool that is rounded-- is dipped in water before use)
  • Tweezers
  • Jacks (bladed tweezers)
  • Paddles
  • Shears (multiple kinds)
  • Yokes (for holding up blowing stick or pontil)
  • Water basin
  • Large jars/vases or barrels holding sand & other materials
  • Mortar & Pestle (for mashing up of ingredients)

Things that can be made: Glasses, vases, windows, statues/figurines, glass art, glass jewelry, etc

Sewing objects:

  • Spindles
  • Functional spinning wheel (both old style & modern)
  • Harvestable cotton, flax, & silk (from silkworms that could work similarly to bees)
  • Functional loom (again, medieval and modern-- perhaps even have mini handheld looms for smaller items)
  • Functional sewing machine (from old fashioned to fancy computerized kind)
  • Sewing table
  • Rocking chair (for sitting in to sew by hand, stitch, etc)
  • Textile rolls
  • Folded fabric
  • Skeins

Things that can be made: Rugs, tapestries, clothing, shoelaces, pillows (can be stuffed with feathers from chickens) etc

Basketry (aka Basket-weaving) objects

  • Work table (or mat that can be placed on the floor so sims can work while sitting)
  • Awl
  • Pliers (even crude ones for medieval times)
  • Knife or Scissors
  • Mallet
  • Wedges
  • Pillow for sims to sit on if they sit on the ground or floor
  • Container of materials-- can be a large vase/jar, basket, barrel, etc

Things that can be made: baskets (obviously), bowls, hampers, ropes, floor mats, window coverings, roof covering, flags, wall tapestries, awnings, etc

Leatherworking objects:

  • Work table
  • Leather / hide partials & scraps
  • Jars of dye
  • Jars of tanning equipment
  • Functional Tanning rack
  • Awl or hole punch
  • Mallet
  • Beveling tool
  • Burnishing stick
  • Skiving knives
  • Strop
  • Roller

Things that can be made: Wall coverings, wallets, window coverings, aprons, armor, boots, awnings, door flaps, clothing (pants/jackets), tool cases, toolbelts, etc

Candlemaking/Waxcraft

  • Heated vats or cauldrons of wax
  • Work table
  • Wicks
  • Hanger to suspend candles
  • Knife
  • Shaping tools

Things that can be made: Simple candles, ornate candles, figurines, molds, wax blocks, etc

I would love to have sheep added to the game to join Llamas. Similar coding for llamas can be used. Sheep should be able to provide wool and milk (sheep milk is high in protein and fat). It would be nice to add goats for milk as well. Sheep also produce wax.

Wax from beehives can also be added. Leatherworking uses waxed thread and wax is used for making molds (look up "lost wax molding") and helping things retain shape. It also blocks dye and glaze from going on undesired areas. I wanted to keep the underside of my pot's lid the same color as the original clay so I used hot wax before glazing. I also used it to do layers of dye (lightest to darkest) on my batik artwork.

Batik/Dyeing

  • Wax heater (can be fire or electric powered-- small pot)
  • Wax Pen
  • Brushes for wax
  • Canvas (to stretch fabric)
  • Dye vials/containers
  • Brushes for dye
  • Tub or pot (to place fabric for dying)
  • Paper (to put over and under batik when ironing out wax)
  • Salt container (to add to dye)
  • Bowl of water (for dipping dye brushes to dilute dye or rinse them)
  • Hot iron (can be heated over fire or electric to iron wax out of batik)
  • Fabric bolts (to be dyed or made into Batik)
  • Work table

Things that can be made: Batik wall hangings, clothing changed color, colored fabric for clothing, sheets, etc. Tie dye stuff.
Batik is like a combination of painting and dying where you apply hot wax over the areas you want to keep the color it goes over. So if you want anything the same color as the fabric you put wax in those spots, wait for it to cool enough and then apply the next lightest color of dye with a brush. You put wax over that and keep adding dye of progressively darker colors. Once you are done, you remove the fabric from the canvas/frame and put sheets of paper above and below and iron the wax out. You end up with wax paper as a byproduct. Without using hot wax, you can do other dying techniques for regular dying. If you want more fine lines than a pen can provide, you can use a wax pen. It has a reservoir for hot wax and a small opening that lets you drip wax out.
https://i0.wp.com/blog.dma.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/fullsizerender.jpg?resize=475%2C475&ssl=1

Soap Making

  • Work Table
  • Pot (for mixing ingredients)
    [*}Flame/Heating apparatus (simple for medieval or electric for modern- may be able to use stove or fireplace if available)
  • Containers for ingredients
  • Stirring stick
  • Molds (to pour liquid soap into to form shape)
  • Knife for cutting any shapes needed
  • Bowl of water

Things that can be made: Various shape, scent, & color soaps. They can be regular bars, oval bars, beveled bars, or even animal shapes like rabbits. Different soaps can result in different moods. (Pied Piper and Icemunmun both made soap-making CC). Medieval soap was made with a combination of oak ash, tallow, quicklime (not fruit), salt, flour, and water. The ash is boiled and left to sit to create lye.
https://www.medievalists.net/2019/09/how-to-make-medieval-soap/

Scrimshaw

  • Work table
  • Containers (for bones, horns, teeth, ivory, shells etc)
  • Carving tools
  • Scrap bowl (to catch shavings for re-use or disposal)

Things that can be made: horns or bone with carvings on them, small figurines, miniature boats, blowing horns, drinking horns, handles for knives & flatware, piano keys, small wind instruments-- kazoo, flute, etc.

Sims3 had pottery and there was a glassblowing-jewelry making station from the store. It looked a bit too modern though. From what I understand there are chambers on a furnace with different levels of heat for different parts of the glassblowing process. I could add more detail after further study.

I can't remember if Sims3 had sewing or not, but I would love to have it.

I think I mentioned I would love to have silkworms added. Someone made a mod with silkworms being similar to bees. They can only eat mulberry leaves or something apparently.

Perhaps making dyes can be added to alchemy or brewing. Either that, or feeding the silkworms & sheep certain things can yield different colors. Similar to fertilizing cotton. But it would be cool to dye stuff. I want some flax that is used for linseed oil and linen.

For vegans/vegetarians who don't want to kill animals for leather there can be cactus leather. Cactus leather can be harvested from prickly pear cacti (nopal cacti)- which also provide fruit. Harvesting "leather" does not kill the plant.

Lit candles can be used for burning off ends of waxed thread.

I'd also like to expand woodworking to make wagons, carriages, carts, etc. A Conestoga wagon would be cool. The cloth cover could be sewn and coated with linseed oil.

New items:

  • Cotton
  • Sheep
  • Flax (for linen and linseed- linseed can be used to seal cloth to make it waterproof)
  • Silkworm nests
  • Nopal Cacti (aka prickly pear)
  • Mulberry tree
  • Pokeweed (for dye)
  • Wax Paper


I'm open for more suggestions.

Usually I include pictures but last time I tried it wouldn't let me. If it lets me post some later I will try.

Editing to add that it would be nice to be able to make something with one skill to use in another- like a basket to hold yarn, a box (from woodworking) to hold stuff, leather pieces to garments or parts of tools, etc. Either smithing or jewelry crafting can be used for making grommets, rivets, hairpins, metal studs, nails, screws, etc.
Edited to add a few new things like scrimshaw, candle making, and soap making.