I love arts and crafts, and while many do not realize it, when you
"craft" something, you are an artist! I especially support handmade in
the USA. I love handmade crafts
However, one of the biggest problems I have with handmade items,
especially in the jewelry trade, is that people who BUY handmade do not
always seem to appreciate the time and skill that goes into each piece.
This happens quite a bit in the crochet field as well.
Take for
instance a handmade crochet afghan. It takes time to choose and
purchase the yarn. If you designed the pattern yourself, well that
creativity is worth millions! and for those who read patterns, didnt it
take time and practice just to do that! Now you make the afghan. It
takes anywhere from a few hours to weeks and even months to finish!
When I kept a log of time spent on an afghan, it can take, on average,
40 to 80 hours! That is a full time job.
Now take some of the
jewelry I make. Supplies are very costly. And you can invest that
money and it may never sell (bummer!). Then there is the design
process again (sometimes involving alot of "put together, no thats not
right, take apart and try again") which is time consuming, not to
mention frustrating. Then when you do get it right, it may take 4 hours
on one item, and then a customer wants to know why it is so costly. I
had one girl offer me $10 for an item that not only took 3 hours to make
but was about $10 in supplies alone. What really disturbed me is she
gets $20 an hour to clean houses. Yet she didnt understand what MY time
was worth creating a piece of art.
I also do not appreciate how
much beaded jewelry has been imported into the country. These items are
sold so cheaply, that someone making jewelry in this country cannot
compete. Jewelry made overseas should not be sold so cheaply in this
country, or at all, as it makes it even harder for us to earn our living
utilizing the skills we have. And why sell it cheaply? The people
overseas deserve to have their products purchased at a higher/fair rate as
well!!! They also deserve the respect to be paid fairly for their time and
skill.
So think about that whenever you either buy a piece
of handmade jewelry or other craft, and keep that in mind as well if
you MAKE and sell crafts. Do NOT undersell yourself!
