Louise of Twenty Cent Mixture has won the Babushka, yay! Dolly flies out to you this week.
Thanks to everyone who has been leaving such lovely comments and all my new subscribers, you all make my day!
At the little Gem Session today we talked a lot about the value of handmade, how it is a way of life and how buying handmade is a protest against chain stores and $2 Shop rubbish. Here’s a quote from the Pledge Handmade site:
Buying Handmade makes for better gift-giving.
The giver of a handmade gift has avoided the parking lots and long lines of the big chain stores in favor of something more meaningful. If the giver has purchased the gift, s/he feels the satisfaction of supporting an artist or crafter directly. The recipient of the handmade gift receives something that is one-of-a-kind, and made with care and attention that can
be seen and touched. It is the result of skill and craftsmanship that is absent in the world of large-scale manufacturing.Buying handmade is better for people.
The ascendancy of chain store culture and global manufacturing has left us dressing, furnishing, and decorating alike. We are encouraged to be consumers, not producers, of our own culture. Our ties to the local and human sources of our goods have been lost. Buying handmade helps us reconnect.
Buying handmade is better for the environment.
The accumulating environmental effects of mass production are a major cause of global warming and the poisoning of our air, water and soil. Every item you make or purchase from a small-scale independent artist or crafter strikes a small blow to the forces of mass production.
I’d love to see Crafters and Craft groups/organisations in New Zealand rise up united to shout this out. Crafters never make much (if any) money on their work, yet many worry about pricing our work too high in case people don’t buy (which does happen). So how can we move on from this? How can we promote the true value of local craft? More on this shortly.
On a final note here is a woman who uses craft as a form of protest or Craftivism (thanks to Wendy for the heads up) .
Screaming Lulu and the Invisible Woman documentary.
I liked this from Kris Herbert “It’s pretty hard to undercut The Warehouse, so craft has a new role – relief from mass-produced sameness” Go you craft girls!!! I like the idea of craftism
Another thing I don’t like about craft fairs is the occasional person who disses your stuff WHILE STANDING AT YOUR STALL…like, hello? I’m right here!
This has happened to me a few times now – my weirdo dolls are not to everyone’s taste – and it never fails to piss me right off.
Yay it’s so awesome that this discussion is happening through out the craft world. We had a big discussion about it on the latest episode of the craft cartel podcast that you might be interested in (sorry haven’t got a transcript…) http://radicalcrossstitch.com/craftcartel
I think it’s absolutely imperative that us makers of handmade stuff are continuously educating ourselves, our communities and our customers about the politics of handmade stuff and the ‘true costs’ of buying mass produced crap.
Arohanui
Thanks for the nice comments!! and glad to have helped to find you the link to Screaming Lulu. I enjoyed her way of crafting and what she is saying so much myself.
Hand made gifts are better gifts indeed. Something personal, made with love, what can be better then that.
Thanks!
our “sessions” are deep man, deep!
[...] Props Helen [...]
[...] also been writing an article expanding on on my Craft Protest post. I’m hoping it will end up on paper in the next few months, I’ll keep you [...]