Food: Banana and a bacon sandwich. Chicken & Rice for supper?
Coffee Level: 1/4 Tank
Sneak Peek Slideshow
Here is a quick view of the orders carved and shipped from my DustyNewt workshop this week.
Handmade in the 21st Century
The definition of the word “Handmade” is continually being manipulated (which literally means “shaped by hand”). Big companies, like Etsy, have recognized the ability of the word “handmade” to conjure up mental images of quality, uniqueness and homeyness in the minds of buyers. This is a good thing!
But, like electricity, the internet, religion, politics and space travel, everyone has a preconceived idea of what Handmade is, how it works and how it comes into being. Our concepts are personal and true in our minds but should be kept there, until facts either prove you right, or adjust your thinking.
I remember being four or five years old and believing (for some reason) that the erasers at the end of pencils were highly combustible and, if lit with fire, would shoot the pencil like a rocket across the room.
I held this belief for a couple years, until I was brave enough to test it in the driveway and not get caught with my grandpa’s Zippo. Nothing happened except melted goo and a hot thumb. Lesson learned and theory dismissed. I was thankful I had NOT imparted my beliefs to all my buds, to wind up looking like an idiot.
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Public Opinion
During over 40 years of demonstrating and selling to the public, I have eavesdropped on a number of “explainers” of a group, telling their entourage how handmade is done.
“He makes these on a lathe.”,as I am literally carving a pair of chopsticks on my bandsaw.
“She uses a hot knife to carve those candles.”, not considering the mess that would make on Julie’s workbench.
“Them is stuffed bibles!”, while looking at my Aunt Judy’s “Books of Love”.
I have found that immediately correcting these misconceptions is counterproductive to business and makes the “explainers” angry to be outed. It's best to mind my own business unless asked… or better yet, show them how it is done.
This is Handmade
Like most crafts, ours is one that can start with simple, cheap hand-tools and available scraps, then graduating to better quality raw materials and more effective tools as we learn to grok them. This is a natural progression for every artisan. Repeating our process makes us faster so that we can improve our bottom line. Daily practice makes us masters of our craft.
Our handmade creations organically evolve from humble beginnings to cherished mementos. Love for the material and process pushes us to improve as we go. Seeing a finished product ready to go, to be loved in its new home, is what we strive for. Quality and durability are goals that beginners and masters alike should share.
This is NOT Handmade (in my humble opinion)
There are some really great opportunities out there for mass producing your designs. Print-On-Demand companies will pump out your designs on just about any conceivable object. They drop-ship your finished items directly to the buyer.
This is a fabulous way to make money, if that is your main goal. But you still have to be unique and vigilant to protect your designs, lest someone (or some thousand others) copy it and beat you to the markets you envisioned capturing, like eBay or Amazon.
Your designs themselves may be unique and even marketable art, but mass produced products made from them are NOT handmade.
Also, if the POD company you choose to use is shipping crap, that reputation will come back to YOU. You will be putting your reputation in their hands.
Handmade on Etsy
By the time I joined the Etsy bandwagon in 2008 (three years after its inception), it was still primarily handmade and vintage oriented. The maker’s products were juried by real people who got it right, most of the time. They rejected factory made, production line junk and promoted artists and crafters until 2013 when they started allowing for mass production and drop-shipping to infiltrate the venue.
Copyright infringement was (and still is) an issue, but not Etsy’s bailiwick. It is the responsibility of the company that holds the rights to actively protect them, searching for violators and threatening litigation.
Etsy is still a fabulous place to shop for handmade. It is the home of very remarkable and innovative artisans (I hope to be considered one). Once you learn to use their “search” tools to separate the chaff of industrialism and scammers, there are lots of very cool makers to be found. It is still my primary venue for sales, so hopefully things will be sorted soon, with a reasonable consistency that small businesses require.
Over the last five years, Etsy has gone to an AI guided search algorithm that has proven impossible for most mere mortals to figure out. All the learning about SEO (Search Engine Optimization), that we have been told is mandatory, is becoming moot. Artificial Intelligence “bots” do as they deem fit, without empathy for the crafters that Etsy relies on.
I, for one, hope that Etsy will see the light and go back to its human roots of being unique. It is not too late. For now, the artists and makers have no better alternative for exposure. The value Etsy gives is exemplary, but they loathe to eliminate the income they get from vendors that are selling $100K+ of manufactured crap annually.
They do advertise and bring huge numbers of shoppers, but their concentration on volume and lack of support for sellers will be their undoing.
I'm with you on "Handmade" insanity -- also, we always make fun of "Homemade" on the menus of restaurants... Ummm... is this your home? Do you always have this many guests? That pay you?
I'm with you on "Handmade" insanity -- also, we always make fun of "Homemade" on the menus of restaurants... Ummm... is this your home? Do you always have this many guests? That pay you?