Artisanal YouTube: who is making videos for the joy of it?
September 5, 2022 8:22 AM Subscribe
Who do you follow on YouTube who is making interesting videos, perhaps educational, for the joy of it, not shaping their behavior in order to serve the ruthless YouTube/clickbait algorithm?
I don’t begrudge anyone the right to make a living but I’m curious about folx who just are in it for the love of their hobby, project or topic. I’m talking about folks who aren’t planning on creating a Premium tier any time soon.
I don’t begrudge anyone the right to make a living but I’m curious about folx who just are in it for the love of their hobby, project or topic. I’m talking about folks who aren’t planning on creating a Premium tier any time soon.
The CrafsMan retains this feel, despite the fact that he has a Patreon. It's partly about the weirdness, partly about the mix of topics and video types, and partly about the genuine, child-like joy he brings to his projects. Here a few that convey the vibe: I weaponized these cute puppies, I don't know what's fixin to happen, How to Etch Stuff Into Metal, DIY ShrinkyDinks, 10 Minutes of Rain on an Old Window.
posted by ourobouros at 9:36 AM on September 5, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by ourobouros at 9:36 AM on September 5, 2022 [1 favorite]
Zed Outdoors is a channel where Zed does long form interview/demo sessions with practictioners of traditional skills. Think spoon carving, tool making.
posted by janell at 9:40 AM on September 5, 2022
posted by janell at 9:40 AM on September 5, 2022
Are you ruling out people who make money on their channel, even if they aren't producing "clickbait" content?
One of the channels I like is Chinese Cooking Demystified, which is a relatively big channel (over 700k subscribers and lots of views), but has never really gotten into the whole clickbait cycle. They're popular because their videos do a good job of explaining how to make delicious food. They do have a patreon, but AFAIK none of their content is locked behind donations.
I don't think that having a Patreon means you aren't in it for the love of your topic; it's incredibly common to start one nowadays because it's so easy. The line will be pretty fuzzy.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 9:56 AM on September 5, 2022 [4 favorites]
One of the channels I like is Chinese Cooking Demystified, which is a relatively big channel (over 700k subscribers and lots of views), but has never really gotten into the whole clickbait cycle. They're popular because their videos do a good job of explaining how to make delicious food. They do have a patreon, but AFAIK none of their content is locked behind donations.
I don't think that having a Patreon means you aren't in it for the love of your topic; it's incredibly common to start one nowadays because it's so easy. The line will be pretty fuzzy.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 9:56 AM on September 5, 2022 [4 favorites]
In Stitches is a sewing machine repair guy from New Zealand mostly explaining what he's doing as he works through repairs, and occasionally giving tours of vintage machines he likes or interesting features. He has a very calm and soothing style, and doesn't edit out the parts where he runs into unexpected difficulty or makes a wrong decision; if you like sewing or fixing machinery it's definitely educational. Like with the recommendations above, he has a patreon and there are some nods to the algorithm (somewhat frequent updates, longish videos - although they don't feel intentionally long - and text overlays on the video thumbnails with total clickbait like "Seized Singer Model 20" or "Correct Hook Timing") but the content doesn't feel that way at all.
posted by trig at 10:11 AM on September 5, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by trig at 10:11 AM on September 5, 2022 [3 favorites]
The Sauce family loves the Crafsman so much.
our fave random Crafsman thing is HERE GO SOME HONEY.
Crafsman could just look at honey all day.
posted by Sauce Trough at 10:41 AM on September 5, 2022 [4 favorites]
our fave random Crafsman thing is HERE GO SOME HONEY.
Crafsman could just look at honey all day.
posted by Sauce Trough at 10:41 AM on September 5, 2022 [4 favorites]
I've been on a mudlarking (and bottle digging) watching kick.
Nicola White - Tideline Art. Finding bits and bobs of Victorian (and sometimes Roman!) treasures along The Thames muddy foreshore, with a particular interest in tracing the individual histories of objects when she can.
Mudlarking With Kit & Caboodlers are a very charming British mother-daughter team.
Northern Mudlarks, another fun mother-daughter team from the Scottish borders. Both of these two channels also do crafty things with the stuff they find.
Dirty Secrets of Scotland is a fellow who digs for Victorian age bottles in old bottle dumps. Sometimes he does repairs on old ceramic bots and jars. Sometimes his girlfriend digs, too.
Tom Burleigh wanders wild and less wild places in England, searching for old things, often in rivers. He has a very soothing voice, and does not appear in his videos.
Tons more of these kinds of channels. Also fossil hunters from different areas, agate hunters, etc. I should also add that a couple of these channels sell some of the items they find, or that they make from their finds, but I figure they still fit the request.
posted by Glinn at 10:43 AM on September 5, 2022 [3 favorites]
Nicola White - Tideline Art. Finding bits and bobs of Victorian (and sometimes Roman!) treasures along The Thames muddy foreshore, with a particular interest in tracing the individual histories of objects when she can.
Mudlarking With Kit & Caboodlers are a very charming British mother-daughter team.
Northern Mudlarks, another fun mother-daughter team from the Scottish borders. Both of these two channels also do crafty things with the stuff they find.
Dirty Secrets of Scotland is a fellow who digs for Victorian age bottles in old bottle dumps. Sometimes he does repairs on old ceramic bots and jars. Sometimes his girlfriend digs, too.
Tom Burleigh wanders wild and less wild places in England, searching for old things, often in rivers. He has a very soothing voice, and does not appear in his videos.
Tons more of these kinds of channels. Also fossil hunters from different areas, agate hunters, etc. I should also add that a couple of these channels sell some of the items they find, or that they make from their finds, but I figure they still fit the request.
posted by Glinn at 10:43 AM on September 5, 2022 [3 favorites]
thang010146 is the channel of a retired mechanical engineer who creates mechanisms in Autodesk Inventor and posts them to YouTube individually, without any adornment.
Henry Segerman's channel is a treasure trove of geometric curiosities. He often collaborates on his videos with other mathematicians and artists.
posted by panic at 10:50 AM on September 5, 2022
Henry Segerman's channel is a treasure trove of geometric curiosities. He often collaborates on his videos with other mathematicians and artists.
posted by panic at 10:50 AM on September 5, 2022
Primitive Technology
Tips from a Shipwright
posted by saladin at 10:59 AM on September 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
Tips from a Shipwright
posted by saladin at 10:59 AM on September 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
Martijn Doolard who's renovating an off grid stone cabin on his own in the Italian Alps. Beautifully filmed.
posted by PardonMyFrench at 11:17 AM on September 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by PardonMyFrench at 11:17 AM on September 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
My partner got me to start posting as Weird Bike Design by saying something like, "You keep telling me all these odd things about bicycles, why don't I take videos of it and post them online?"
posted by sibilatorix at 11:51 AM on September 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by sibilatorix at 11:51 AM on September 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
I agree on Chinese Cooking Demystified, even if it is their primary source of income
Kenji is very popular, but with good reason. He doesn't ask for likes or subscribers, uploads whenever the hell he feels like it.
Sampson Boat Company painstaking restoration of an antique boat. He does have a Patreon
Curious Marc: restoring antique (vintage?) and often historically important computers
Tim Woodford: guitar repair videos
posted by O9scar at 12:08 PM on September 5, 2022
Kenji is very popular, but with good reason. He doesn't ask for likes or subscribers, uploads whenever the hell he feels like it.
Sampson Boat Company painstaking restoration of an antique boat. He does have a Patreon
Curious Marc: restoring antique (vintage?) and often historically important computers
Tim Woodford: guitar repair videos
posted by O9scar at 12:08 PM on September 5, 2022
Glen and Friends - a Canadian guy who cooks pretty basic meals and gets his wife to try them when she comes home from work. For his Old Cookbook Show episodes (every Sunday) (example here), he’ll cook some old recipe from one of many old (mostly Canadian) cookbooks in his collection. No sponsors or anything, he just seems to enjoy running his channel.
posted by thebots at 1:29 PM on September 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by thebots at 1:29 PM on September 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
Paul Sellers teaches hand tool woodworking - he's kinda like a cross between Bob Ross and Mr. Rogers.
posted by namewithoutwords at 3:26 PM on September 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by namewithoutwords at 3:26 PM on September 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
Nineteenth century videos. Back to life. - Just got recommended this one today. Nineteenth century videos colorized and enhanced.
David Bull - "Tokyo-based woodblock printmaker David Bull has created a number of video presentations of his work, including a number of videos showing the complete process of making his prints. A highlight of the channel is the series of videos chronicling the production of prints in the Ukiyoe Heroes series - his collaboration with US-based illustrator Jed Henry."
Grand Illusions - "Nearly all the toys you see here are from Tim's Toy Collection, and are no longer available in the shops. Many were bought 20 or even 30 years ago! "
posted by ljesse at 3:30 PM on September 5, 2022 [4 favorites]
David Bull - "Tokyo-based woodblock printmaker David Bull has created a number of video presentations of his work, including a number of videos showing the complete process of making his prints. A highlight of the channel is the series of videos chronicling the production of prints in the Ukiyoe Heroes series - his collaboration with US-based illustrator Jed Henry."
Grand Illusions - "Nearly all the toys you see here are from Tim's Toy Collection, and are no longer available in the shops. Many were bought 20 or even 30 years ago! "
posted by ljesse at 3:30 PM on September 5, 2022 [4 favorites]
Renovation East is a guy who’s been slowly remodeling a tiny house in the German countryside, sometimes with the help of his gorgeous husband. His posts have slowed down lately, but there’s lots of older content there.
posted by southern_sky at 4:32 PM on September 5, 2022
posted by southern_sky at 4:32 PM on September 5, 2022
Well, Rick Beato's Youtube channel seems to be almost exclusively for the joy of music. He does offer material for sale to support the channel, but I enjoy his insights and stories about the bands and music theory.
posted by forthright at 4:35 PM on September 5, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by forthright at 4:35 PM on September 5, 2022 [3 favorites]
Geography King is pretty great. I think he has a Patreon, but otherwise he doesn’t seem at all interested in influencing. Just interesting informational videos about geography.
posted by kevinbelt at 4:42 PM on September 5, 2022
posted by kevinbelt at 4:42 PM on September 5, 2022
Lockpicking lawyer
He has stuff that he sells these days, but he did something like 1100 videos before he set his own company up.
posted by lalochezia at 5:26 PM on September 5, 2022 [1 favorite]
He has stuff that he sells these days, but he did something like 1100 videos before he set his own company up.
posted by lalochezia at 5:26 PM on September 5, 2022 [1 favorite]
Techmoan is delightful. He repairs and reviews modern and retro tech.
posted by Lil' Blue Goat at 6:06 PM on September 5, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Lil' Blue Goat at 6:06 PM on September 5, 2022 [1 favorite]
Sally Pointer forages natural fibers from nettles and tree bark and such, and makes textiles inspired by ancient and prehistoric artifacts and tools.
posted by moonmilk at 6:29 PM on September 5, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by moonmilk at 6:29 PM on September 5, 2022 [3 favorites]
Mike Oblinski has awesome time-lapse weather videos, often set to music. They are also "sort of educational" in that they can show how storms form in some of them. He also has a few tutorials about techniques he uses in making them. Many are in 4K and 8K so they look gorgeous on a large high resolution screen.
posted by TimHare at 9:20 PM on September 5, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by TimHare at 9:20 PM on September 5, 2022 [1 favorite]
Life In Jars? is a quirky channel about closed ecospheres/terraria. He's been on a bit of a hiatus for a while but hopefully will start posting again soon, and in the meantime his back catalog is charming and strange. Come for the identification of invertebrates and aquatic plants found in his jars, stay for the boogie worms.
Simon Roper discusses linguistics topics, primarily Old English and Germanic languages, with a strong emphasis on reconstructed phonology. He's been posting every few weeks for the last four years or so, mostly just speaking-to-camera style videos but with some "skits" performed in Old English.
Kathy Loves Physics & History has a series of incredible deep-dive videos on the history of physics, mostly electromagnetism. She was featured on the Blue a little while back. One of my favorite channels.
This Old Tony makes videos about hobby machining with an excellent sense of humor. He's posting less frequently these days but still active, and has a catalog of about 200 videos. He's probably one of the most popular, if not the most popular, hobby machinists on YouTube, but it never feels like he's catering to the algorithm aside from sneaking the word "subscribe" into various places in his videos, which feels more like a joke than anything else.
Blondihacks is another YouTube hobby machinist with a smaller following who focuses on good educational content and machining how-tos without seeming to need to chase the algorithm's whims.
Mathologer is a math teacher who posts about various math topics about once every 1-2 months. Topics vary, and pretty much only high-school level math is required to understand his discussions.
Michael Penn is a professor of mathematics who's currently posting pretty much every day, mostly videos working out slightly tricky problems that should be accessible to people with basic calculus-level training.
Dr. Becky Smethurst is an astrophysicist who publishes regular videos on space news and discoveries. She's very good at explaining complex topics in an accessible way, and has an infectious enthusiasm for her work.
Nils Berglund is a physicist who posts videos of simulations of simple physical or mathematical systems, set to absolutely on-point music selections from YouTube's free/licensed music library.
Ancient Americas produces great quality introductions to various pre-Columbian civilizations in the Americas. In my opinion it's one of the best history channels out there.
Huygens Optics is a channel featuring various optics topics and manufacturing in a home shop. If you've ever wondered how lenses are made, this is a good channel for you.
Engineering with Rosie is a channel run by a wind turbine engineer, talking about wind energy engineering and other renewable energy topics and policy from an engineering perspective. She's great.
Practical Engineering is created by a professor of civil engineering, with videos about infrastructure and the built environment. His videos are usually sponsored but otherwise not obviously chasing clicks.
SNES drunk posts reviews of games from the 16-bit era, mostly SNES & Super Famicom games. After doing this for years you'd think he'd run out of games but the back catalog of video games from that era is pretty impressively large, with more interesting stuff than you might think.
Ben Eater posts videos about computer engineering, including a great series where he builds an 8-bit computer from scratch (out of logic gates). He's been on hiatus for a little while now but his existing catalog is already great.
Torbjörn Åhman is a blacksmith. Most of his videos are completely wordless and just show him completing a project, often interspersed with some footage from his garden. It's super relaxing and pleasant to watch.
Big Clive is an electrician with an interest in consumer electronics, especially cheap mass-produced stuff. Most of his videos involve him taking apart something he ordered online or bought at Poundland, diagramming out and reverse engineering the circuitry, and explaining whether he thinks it's good quality or not. There's a fair amount of not-great-safety-practices on display in some videos, but he at least seems to know enough to know when he's putting himself at moderate versus real danger. No signs of any surrender to the algorithm here though.
From others' suggestions, I'll second Applied Science, Tom7, Primitive Technology, Technology Connections, Grand Illusions, Paul Sellers, Lockpicking Lawyer, and Techmoan.
posted by biogeo at 11:10 PM on September 5, 2022 [6 favorites]
Simon Roper discusses linguistics topics, primarily Old English and Germanic languages, with a strong emphasis on reconstructed phonology. He's been posting every few weeks for the last four years or so, mostly just speaking-to-camera style videos but with some "skits" performed in Old English.
Kathy Loves Physics & History has a series of incredible deep-dive videos on the history of physics, mostly electromagnetism. She was featured on the Blue a little while back. One of my favorite channels.
This Old Tony makes videos about hobby machining with an excellent sense of humor. He's posting less frequently these days but still active, and has a catalog of about 200 videos. He's probably one of the most popular, if not the most popular, hobby machinists on YouTube, but it never feels like he's catering to the algorithm aside from sneaking the word "subscribe" into various places in his videos, which feels more like a joke than anything else.
Blondihacks is another YouTube hobby machinist with a smaller following who focuses on good educational content and machining how-tos without seeming to need to chase the algorithm's whims.
Mathologer is a math teacher who posts about various math topics about once every 1-2 months. Topics vary, and pretty much only high-school level math is required to understand his discussions.
Michael Penn is a professor of mathematics who's currently posting pretty much every day, mostly videos working out slightly tricky problems that should be accessible to people with basic calculus-level training.
Dr. Becky Smethurst is an astrophysicist who publishes regular videos on space news and discoveries. She's very good at explaining complex topics in an accessible way, and has an infectious enthusiasm for her work.
Nils Berglund is a physicist who posts videos of simulations of simple physical or mathematical systems, set to absolutely on-point music selections from YouTube's free/licensed music library.
Ancient Americas produces great quality introductions to various pre-Columbian civilizations in the Americas. In my opinion it's one of the best history channels out there.
Huygens Optics is a channel featuring various optics topics and manufacturing in a home shop. If you've ever wondered how lenses are made, this is a good channel for you.
Engineering with Rosie is a channel run by a wind turbine engineer, talking about wind energy engineering and other renewable energy topics and policy from an engineering perspective. She's great.
Practical Engineering is created by a professor of civil engineering, with videos about infrastructure and the built environment. His videos are usually sponsored but otherwise not obviously chasing clicks.
SNES drunk posts reviews of games from the 16-bit era, mostly SNES & Super Famicom games. After doing this for years you'd think he'd run out of games but the back catalog of video games from that era is pretty impressively large, with more interesting stuff than you might think.
Ben Eater posts videos about computer engineering, including a great series where he builds an 8-bit computer from scratch (out of logic gates). He's been on hiatus for a little while now but his existing catalog is already great.
Torbjörn Åhman is a blacksmith. Most of his videos are completely wordless and just show him completing a project, often interspersed with some footage from his garden. It's super relaxing and pleasant to watch.
Big Clive is an electrician with an interest in consumer electronics, especially cheap mass-produced stuff. Most of his videos involve him taking apart something he ordered online or bought at Poundland, diagramming out and reverse engineering the circuitry, and explaining whether he thinks it's good quality or not. There's a fair amount of not-great-safety-practices on display in some videos, but he at least seems to know enough to know when he's putting himself at moderate versus real danger. No signs of any surrender to the algorithm here though.
From others' suggestions, I'll second Applied Science, Tom7, Primitive Technology, Technology Connections, Grand Illusions, Paul Sellers, Lockpicking Lawyer, and Techmoan.
posted by biogeo at 11:10 PM on September 5, 2022 [6 favorites]
CGP Grey - YouTube seems to only put out the occasional well done yet sorta random topic video. A few have made the blue.
posted by zengargoyle at 5:06 AM on September 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by zengargoyle at 5:06 AM on September 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
LGR (LazyGameReviews) - Retro reviews of 90s PC games and tech.
The Nick Knacks series by Poparena - The goal of the Nick Knacks series is a retrospective of every single show that ever aired on Nickelodeon. It started about five years ago and is barely into the 1990s.
Steve1989MREInfo - Do you have the desire to see someone eat peanut butter and crackers from a Vietnam-era MRE? Me neither! And yet there's something so very charming about how enthusiastic Steve is when he cracks open and talks about obscure MREs. "Nice!"
Lofty Pursuits - Candy-making on machines over a hundred years old.
DancingBacons - Street food, odd vending machines, convenience store / fast food offerings, etc all beautifully shot with zero music or commentary.
Defunctland and Expedition Theme Park - Deep dives into theme parks and theme park rides, both past and present.
Summoning Salt - Hour+ long videos on video game speedrunning. Very well researched and presented.
Retail Archaeology Exploration of dead / dying malls and retail stores, usually over a soothing vaporwave soundtrack.
Most of these people have a Patreon or a merch store but none of them are obnoxious about pushing you to buy anything.
posted by Diskeater at 6:16 AM on September 6, 2022 [2 favorites]
The Nick Knacks series by Poparena - The goal of the Nick Knacks series is a retrospective of every single show that ever aired on Nickelodeon. It started about five years ago and is barely into the 1990s.
Steve1989MREInfo - Do you have the desire to see someone eat peanut butter and crackers from a Vietnam-era MRE? Me neither! And yet there's something so very charming about how enthusiastic Steve is when he cracks open and talks about obscure MREs. "Nice!"
Lofty Pursuits - Candy-making on machines over a hundred years old.
DancingBacons - Street food, odd vending machines, convenience store / fast food offerings, etc all beautifully shot with zero music or commentary.
Defunctland and Expedition Theme Park - Deep dives into theme parks and theme park rides, both past and present.
Summoning Salt - Hour+ long videos on video game speedrunning. Very well researched and presented.
Retail Archaeology Exploration of dead / dying malls and retail stores, usually over a soothing vaporwave soundtrack.
Most of these people have a Patreon or a merch store but none of them are obnoxious about pushing you to buy anything.
posted by Diskeater at 6:16 AM on September 6, 2022 [2 favorites]
I was going to mention Sally!
Here are some; I haven't strictly checked for Patreon, but these are all low-sub creators that strike me as quality.
Breaking Taps does totally normal garage machining, like building deformable mirrors and scanning electron microscopes.
Ancient Americas has videos on the ancient history of the Americas.
Somewhat similar to Sally Pointer is which covers ancient pottery.
posted by caphector at 2:56 PM on September 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
Here are some; I haven't strictly checked for Patreon, but these are all low-sub creators that strike me as quality.
Breaking Taps does totally normal garage machining, like building deformable mirrors and scanning electron microscopes.
Ancient Americas has videos on the ancient history of the Americas.
Somewhat similar to Sally Pointer is which covers ancient pottery.
posted by caphector at 2:56 PM on September 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Just wanted to drop in and thank everyone for all of these great recommendations. I love these strange obsessions.
posted by mecran01 at 11:51 AM on October 31, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by mecran01 at 11:51 AM on October 31, 2022 [1 favorite]
I'm very late to this thread, but I'd like to recommend Liziqi! Very relaxing and beautiful videos.
posted by typify at 1:18 PM on August 20, 2023
posted by typify at 1:18 PM on August 20, 2023
This thread is closed to new comments.
jan Misali comes to mind as well — they've been featured on Metafilter several times before. Again, with a Patreon, but they seem like they're making the videos they want to make even when they aren't popular.
Tom7 (aka suckerpinch), also featured on Metafilter many times.
Antonella Inserra — she mostly does podcasts, so when she does a video, it's definitely something she cares about.
I think most of the people I know like this just stopped making videos, though — they had some number of things they wanted to do, they did them, then they stopped. Not sure if you're interested in short-lived channels like that.
posted by wesleyac at 9:12 AM on September 5, 2022 [1 favorite]