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The role of commercially produced and distributed kits for the learning of painting, embroidery, and other applications by hand of substance to surface assumed new prominence in the United States in the 1950s through the 1980s, leaving a legacy of self-teaching that continues to thrive in online communities of knowledge. Kits of all kinds made directly available to consumers skills once taught only in dedicated schools or by family members, while at the same time smartly produced magazines, books, and television shows provided instructional resources and enticing visuals of finished items. An exhibition at the Winterthur Museum in the fall of 2020 will feature such kits as part of a showcase of the work of Erica Wilson, widely known also as author of how-to books and a pioneering public television series. This session examines the relationship of kits to artistic and craft production. How did the kit bridge the gap between knowing “about” and knowing “how to”? To apply terms coined by David Pye (The Nature and Art of Workmanship, 1968), how did the kit mediate the workmanship of risk and the workmanship of certainty? How did it disrupt traditional knowledge transmission processes? Did it only mimic skills it purported to teach? More broadly, what is the relationship between the pedagogy of the kit and artistic expression? Papers may consider any aspect of kits that have taught any skill set in artistic or craft production. Comparative analyses, as well as case studies, are welcome.