Do It Yourself, dangit!

“You can make that.”

That was the response I got from my mother 90% of the time while we were out shopping. If I wanted a skirt, art piece, ornament, lamp, mobile, puppet, or book; really anything that looked remotely handmade. It’s a curse that plagues me to this day. I see something in a store or online and think, “I can make that.” Sometimes I do, and mostly I don’t.

I was always a crafter as a kid. My niece dubbed me the “craftable” aunt when she was four-years-old. It’s played out in my life as such. One of the reasons I was called to be in the Webelos was because I am “crafty.” Maybe that’s why I like swaps. It gives me an excuse to make.

The point is this: there has been an intense rise of crafters in the U.S. in the last couple years. It gives me hope for my work. To most people it’s still just a bunch of junk. People like my brother-in-law say, “who would buy that?” Sometimes it is hard to sell people on the idea of handmade over machine made when they can go to the mart that starts with “W” and buy clearance notebooks for 50 cents. How do you convince a person that shelling out $50 for a journal that they can touch and hold and love, like the person that made it, is worth his/her hard earned $50? Right now, it seems like it’s other artists that get it. But soon I think the same brother-in-law that couldn’t see who on this green earth would buy my collages, will want one.

Crafster.org posted a blog with an eight minute snippet from a documentary in the making by Faythe Levine. She traveled around the country during the rise of the DIY movement. I’m excited to see the outcome. It is currently being edited down from about 80 hours of footage.

You can find out more about the doc by reading below, yes it is lengthy, no, I did not read it. I watched the eight minute snippet.

A new wave of craft is capturing the attention of the nation. It has emerged as a marriage between historical technique, punk and the D.I.Y. ethos while being influenced by traditional handiwork, modern aesthetics, politics, feminism and art. It is no longer just about cross-stitching samplers or painting floral scrolls on china. Instead, it has increased its realm to embrace an emerging movement of artists, crafters and designers working in traditional and nontraditional mediums and methodologies to intervene in mass-market consumerism, to challenge the familiar and to attempt creative and economic freedom. This movement created by craft forges a new economy, lifestyle and burgeoning art community that is based on creativity, determination and networking.

The heart of the new wave of craft is the community. Artists, crafters, makers, organizers, critics, curators, cultural theorists and historians come together to create a community that shares the desire to produce change through the passion to create. By sharing ideas and encouragement they work together to nurture entrepreneurialism, preserve feminine heritage and wield great economic power. Through websites, blogs and online stores individuals in this widespread community can stay virtually tight-knit while boutiques, studios, galleries and craft fairs connect to the greater public to inspire and to promote.

With the use of stop motion animation the opening credits will set the tone of a community that works creatively giving a 1970’s art’s and craft’s feel, saturated with color, but with a modern aesthetic twist, possibly using the designs of featured makers. The theme from the opening credits will continue throughout the film, threading together the talking heads, interweaving stories of the community members, events, places and studios we visited; showing the “movement” through-out the country on a map, with animated sewing, painting, knitting, etc.

I owe an apology to Erik for calling him a Hipster in 2004. He corrected me by saying he was DIY, at which point I made fun of him again. And lookie here. I’m making an entire post devoted to his counter-culture.

Shop, shop, shop.