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Is it Really Handmade?
Handmade?
I am kinda passionate about the adjective handmade as in “handmade product.” I’m not wanting to be a purist but I am (a) concerned about keeping a true vision of what is handmade in this very-technological 21st century and (b) honoring the artists from earlier centuries who had only their hands to work with. Maybe they used their feet or teeth too and maybe they devised tools to help, but it was all personal struggle in order to craft beautiful objects. It still is.
In the world of creating, using your hands and some handheld tools will produce a product that can’t be repeated perfectly, indeed that is not perfect. A machine has been calibrated. It will expel a perfectly made product and repeat it. Is every baby a copy? In the quilting tradition we have a thought that suggests that if a quilter is trying NOT to make a mistake he/she is trying to challenge the Deity. Most of us do not need to try!
I have been astonished sometimes to find that a certain technique can be accomplished with very few materials and some basic thinking. Below is a little woven purse I made on a piece of cardboard with string for the warp and handspun eccentric yarn and a needle tool. (The needle could have been a pine needle).
When I do piecework sometimes I piece by hand. It takes longer but it is far more accurate and I have developed a stitch that is very strong.
On the machine you are looking at an angle of the line to be stitched and counting on the needle or bobbin thread not to break off and to end precisely at the corner point. I sold my knitting machine a while ago because I did not like the look of an even, flat knit as much as I like the bumpy character of a handknit.
I have just finished reading a book about the survival of a young girl in the forest for 5 years by herself. If her father had not taught her some very basic skills and how to use found materials she would not have survived. It is important to keep that level of human knowledge going in the next generations. Making art is fun that way but staying alive in hostile conditions is imperative.
Written by Susan of Ten Thousand Threads
Tags: handamde artists, Handmade, is it handmade
Posted in Handmade, Information
2 Responses to “Is it Really Handmade?”
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Hello Susan, I enjoyed your post. It seems to me that we are getting more and more away from ‘community’, as in community or neighborhood groups that get together and work on projects together. Like knitting or crocheting circles, quilting groups, woodworking groups, etc.
I remember growing up in a small farming community where the women of all ages would gather together a couple times a month, bring their handworks they were currently working on or had just completed to show off to the group, and just have fun being together, sharing stories and recipes, and creating with their hands.
I always liked to go with my mother when she would go to the ‘meeting’ (and my two little brothers would come along too). Most of the ladies brought their children along with them too, so my friends would be there too. I loved to watch all the ladies working on their projects, and learned a lot from them as well.
I have tried to pass along the tradition of creativity to my children, and feel that it is a very important attribute to have in this age that we are living in.
~ Rita
I love a post that gives us all something to think about.