After my blog the other day
about what to call my items – pendants or necklaces, and crystals or
gemstones, I have noticed a discussion
going on on LinkedIn about what crafters can actually call “Handmade”. There are some, lets say “warm”, discussions
going on trying to distinguish what is handmade, handcrafted or just assembled. People who make things from scratch are
saying that only their items are handmade – but even they had to get the basic materials from somewhere in the first place –
did they dig it out of the ground etc. – they still have to buy
components/ingredients. Even a cake
maker has to buy in the ingredients to make the cake. It
seems to have come to light that everyone has to buy in materials to make their
items. I know I don’t go off all over
the world to dig out crystals and then take them home to cut, glaze and
tumble. I would have no idea where I
would get the cotton, silk etc. to make my necklaces and as for acquiring the
leather to make those necklaces – well forget it. I would have to be able to make metal, silver
etc. to make the chains plus the crimps and bails.
~-~-~-~-~-~
Some people buy materials and
do more basic things with them (as in when I make a pendant, someone makes a
candle, someone knits a jumper), some people do a bit more with the bought in
materials (as in when I design and make my beaded items, someone makes a fancy
candle with shapes on top, someone designs their own pattern for the jumper
they knit). So it seems to me that
everyone is making Handmade items if they are deciding which bits go with
which, use different moulds or patterns etc. whether their item is intricate or
plain, easy or hard – at the end of the day we all have to buy in things to
make our items with and they are all changed from the original ingredients we
bought to start with.
~-~-~-~-~-~
I can honestly say my items
are unique in that every single crystal / gemstone I buy to make an item of
jewellery with is different because they are all naturally different. I could make 100 Sea Sediment pendants and if
I kept them all plain and hung them all on a plain black leather thong they
would all be and look different in that their natural patterning is different. That is just the nature of my craft
work. But someone who buys in other basic
products aren’t as lucky as I am as my crystals are a product of nature. If someone knits a jumper to the same pattern
with the same blue wool, they will all come out the same (LOL – well they
should).
~-~-~-~-~-~
So would the people who are
moaning about the others who they don’t feel are making handmade things say
that the jumpers are not handmade because the knitter can make a production
line out of them and make 100 identical jumpers? To me they are still handmade – they are not
mass produced in a factory. I feel that
anything that is made or changed in some way to make something else is a handmade
item. It doesn’t make it any more handmade
just because someone picks up an old piece of wire at a car boot sale and
reshapes it into a swirl, puts a piece of string through it and calls it a
necklace, than someone who buys some wool from a shop and spends hours knitting
a jumper to sell. Even people who make
an ornament out of wood have to buy the wood to start with – but someone could
do a very plain carving and someone else would do a very detailed intricate
carving taking 50 times as long – but both are handmade, and the intricate
carver had the choice of making it plainer if they chose. It doesn’t mean that the one who decided to
spend a lot longer doing an intricate carving should run the other one
down. Does it also mean that if you made
an item of wood on a lathe then it would not be classed as handmade? Or a pot made in a potters wheel and in a
kiln?
~-~-~-~-~-~
Ideally there should be a
separate category for those that make things that are skill based that only a
real crafter could do but it wouldn’t be called Handmade but something like
Crafter would suit it. Anyone can make a
“Handmade” card identical to one they have seen if they bought the specific
items to make it (usually too expensive unless bought in bulk) and could stick
the parts on in the right places but surely the whole idea is that people buy
handmade items that they would quite possibly like to make themselves but can’t
quite see how, haven’t got the components and haven’t got the time.
~-~-~-~-~-~
Surely the whole point of
handmade is that you are buying something that someone has actually made and in
its own way is unique but is certainly not made on a production line, as
someone has gone to the trouble to make it using their own hands. At the end of the day beauty is in the eye of
the beholder and if someone likes your necklace or jumper they will buy it
whether it is handmade or not the majority of the time. If they are looking for something
specifically handmade then whatever item they choose has not been manufactured
by the millions in a factory, but the ingredients bought by someone who has
turned them into something else.
~-~-~-~-~-~
I think the people who moan
the most about the name are the ones who put a lot of effort into what they
make, and so resent other people calling what they make handmade. We all choose what we want to make and into
how much depth we want to go in making it.
So if they feel that their work is better / more involved / takes longer
then they should charge the price according to the effort they have put in to
making it. Unfortunately a potential buyer
may not see it that way and may not want to pay that much but that is what we
all have to weigh up when we create something anyway – does the time and cost
of components make it worthwhile? We all
get satisfaction in what we make because we created the end product. But the value the consumer is willing to pay
is another matter altogether. If we put
a lot of work into it we can either charge more money for it because of how
long it took us or we can just be pleased with the item we have created as we enjoyed
making it.
~-~-~-~-~-~
I know that from my
experience it doesn’t matter how long it took me to bead an intricate necklace
it wont sell for any more than a plainer one, as different people have
different tastes and also the trends for things change. At the moment I am finding that people are
going for the minimalistic look in jewellery as well as in their homes so I am
selling more of the plainer pendants / necklaces but things will change and
people will go back to more intricate ones at some point. The idea is to go with the flow and to make
things your potential buyers want to buy.
And even though I buy in my components to make the items I happily class
the finished product, however detailed it is, as handmade regardless of what
some would call it.
~-~-~-~-~-~
I would like to put one of
the Handmade signs beside my blog and I may well do so at some point but I feel
someone is bound to shout out “but they aren’t handmade”. Maybe I should make a sign that says “Put
Together By Me”.
~-~-~-~-~-~
If we are being picky,
perhaps we should call them “Handchanged” in that we all change either one
thing, or many things, into a different item to sell. Or even better “Person Made” as opposed to
manufactured. At the end of the day who
cares – only the ones who are feeling wronged obviously – certainly not the
potential customers! I tend to think that customers know what
Handmade means in general and if they are looking for Handmade items then it
means they are looking for something different that is not manufactured in the
thousands or more and generally available.
They want the personal touch of something that bit different.
What’s your view? I would
love to hear what “buyers” think so please leave a comment.
~-~-~-~-~-~
Todays snippet of interest:
The first ever novel written
on a typewriter was Tom Sawyer
~-~-~-~-~-~
And todays little chuckle:
No comments:
Post a Comment