Q 01/05

Which children's modelling compound was first sold in 1930s Cincinnati as a wallpaper cleaner?

A) Play-Doh

B) Plasticine

C) Silly Putty

D) Blu Tack

Answer · why

A) Play-Doh

Play-Doh was devised at the request of Kroger Grocery to lift coal residue off walls. When demand for the cleaner shrank after World War II, the putty...

Q 02/05

In Japanese tradition, folding one thousand origami models of which bird is said to grant a wish?

A) Swan

B) Crane

C) Dove

D) Heron

Answer · why

B) Crane

The crane was said to live for a thousand years, so the tradition folds one for each year. Sadako Sasaki, a child survivor of Hiroshima, made the cust...

Q 03/05

Papier-mâché, the craft of moulding pulp and paste, takes its name from French words meaning what?

A) Folded paper

B) Glued paper

C) Soaked paper

D) Chewed paper

Answer · why

D) Chewed paper

Chewed paper is the literal meaning, though nobody chews anything: waste sheets are shredded and mixed with water and a binder. The technique has root...

Q 04/05

Despite its name, the Bayeux Tapestry depicting the Norman Conquest was made using which needlework technique?

A) Loom weaving

B) Knitting

C) Embroidery

D) Lacemaking

Answer · why

C) Embroidery

Embroidery is the right word because the Bayeux scenes are stitched onto linen rather than woven into the cloth. A true tapestry has its design woven ...

Q 05/05

Which Japanese craft mends broken pottery with lacquer and powdered gold so the cracks become a feature?

A) Ikebana

B) Suminagashi

C) Shibori

D) Kintsugi

Answer · why

D) Kintsugi

Kintsugi became so fashionable that some collectors were accused of deliberately smashing valuable pots so they could be repaired with golden seams.