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News From the Craft + Style Blogosphere: January 22, 2009

2009-01-22T16:27:00-05:00

In the hope of inspiring readers, I'm going to continue posting thought provoking quotes. (As so many say it so much better than I.) Today's comes from the never-ending font of wit and intellect, Oscar Wilde:

"The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible."

With that in mind, this week's edition of News From the Craft + Style Blogosphere is slightly dark in nature (besides the incredibly bright knitted bus). There are advertisements composed of food and other such bits, brooding marionettes from the inventor of the Metro and Electra typefaces, Jean Seberg's stylish coif and an interior mastermind of Hemingway proportions.

Read on!

William Addison Dwiggins (or WAD, as he called himself) is best known as a type designer and for coining the term "graphic designer." He also had a love for woodcarving and puppets that lead to the construction of a marionette theater in the garage behind his home. These effusive little guys now live at the Boston Public Library. [Via Nothing is New]

This just takes my breath away. WOW. [Via London Telegragh]

I recently discovered the wonder of Dayalets. These frightening portraits made of cigars, food and other random objects were actually intended to be vitamin advertisements. As Lileks states, "They were vitamins, but they were so much more. They were glimpses into the HELL that awaits people whose vitamin consumption is unbalanced or inadequate. Never has the phrase 'you are what you eat' been proven so horribly." You can buy these vintage ads right here on Etsy.

How do I best describe the wonderment that Hollister Hovey's blog brings? Her worldview is one of Hemingway-esque grandeur: African safaris, taxidermy a-plenty crossed with gothic overtones, as shown by her living room above. I'll allow her recent Blackbook feature to do the talking: "Aesthetically speaking, Hovey is like the bastard child of Hemingway, adopted by Royal Tenenbaum.... Taxidermy and Audubon prints, tweedy, slightly Goth-prep with an outdoorsy ephemera and loaded with turn-of-the-century relics and keepsake colonial Britannia." In other words: she rules.

Come Spy With Me has posted about her ongoing goal of long and lustrous hair, but recently pointed out the one exception that might throw a wrench in her plans: Jean Seberg. She makes short hair so timeless and chic.

Want give me some more artsy, style or design blogs to peruse? Leave them in the comments! And check out past installments of News From the Craft + Style Blogosphere!

Etsy Finds: Gone Fishin'

2008-06-09T11:21:00-05:00

You know what my dad likes? Fishing. You know what I like? Fishing. Some of my fondest childhood memories involved myself, my father and my grandpa climbing into a (somewhat rickety and definitely stinky) rowboat, going out into the middle of a lake, and vainly attempting to reel in some of the local fauna. The stillness of the mountain air would be broken only by the occasion outburst of cursing (hooked fingers, or broken lines) or shushing (apparently fish weren't attracted to my shouting).

Unfortunately, I have not gone angling lately. But, I was happy to learn that Etsy would be able to meet some of my equipment needs for next time. I found some shops: WilMakLures, mountainriverflies, and clivemathias, who make their own awesome lures. I also found some great sportsman's attire, accessories, and finally this painting from fishfanatic:

A little something to remind your loved ones of where you will be all Saturday morning.

Or maybe that's not the best idea.

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Father's Day Showcase | Gift Guide for Him | Father's Day Gift Guide | A Dude's Perspective

Etsy Finds: Make More Men's Clothing, Please

2008-06-04T10:23:00-05:00

When I first discovered Etsy, I thought to myself "how brilliant, I can shop online for cool handmade clothes and I'll never have to set foot into another department store or mall ever again." Unfortunately, this isn't the case at all. Etsy is saturated with women’s clothing and jewelry, but when it comes time for a dude to go shopping for, let's say a pair of denim jeans, well — guys, you may not have a huge range of options. However, I do like these Men's Organic Denim Tight Boot Cut Jeans from justbeorganics.

I did a bit of research and found a few items that I believe are suitable for my style, although I would LOVE to see more variety in the men's clothing section on Etsy. With that in mind, I am encouraging everyone I have met through Etsy who sells clothing to begin targeting the men... Who knows, this might be a better niche that you have ever dreamed of. (Make men's clothing! I repeat, make men's clothing!)

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Father's Day Showcase | Gift Guide for Him | Father's Day Gift Guide | A Dude's Perspective

Fix Up Your Ripped Jeans

2008-05-21T17:43:00-05:00

Last weekend as I was making the roof of my apartment into a squirrel-proof fortress, I ripped the knees of my jeans. After wearing the shredded dungarees around for the rest of the day, I decided I wasn't the type of guy who can rock the ripped denim. The jeans fit me perfect and it seemed such a waste to let them go, so I decided to fix them up. After some research I came up with this solution to my ripped jean dilemma.

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If you have a different way of reparing your jeans, leave a comment or even better, make a video about it, upload it to Youtube and post a link in the comments!

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Crafting, Consumerism & Cooptation: Materializing a Utopian Idea

2008-02-09T21:00:00-05:00

If you don't make it yourself, are you just a consumer — consumer in the dirty sense of the word?

I recently read Jean Railla's guest post “What Would Jesus Sell?” about Rev. Billy's Church of Stop Shopping, Morgan Spurlock, the Handmade Pledge and Etsy. Rob Walker — the author of a New York Times Magazine piece Handmade 2.0 about the crafting movement and Etsy — posted Jean's article on his blog Murketing:

"What Would Jesus Buy is the suitably ironic title of the documentary produced by Morgan Spurlock (of Super Size Me fame), which follows the antics of 'Reverend Billy.' As the head of the Church of Stop Shopping Reverend Billy, a character developed by the New York City actor Bill Talen, preaches an anti-corporate theology with an authenticity of feeling and full gospel choir. In the film, Reverend Billy is up to his old antics–exorcising demons at Walmart Headquarters, taking over the Mall of America, and finally crashing Disney Land. His objective? 'To save Christmas from the Shopocalypse: the end of mankind from consumerism, over-consumption and the fires of eternal debt!'
I wonder what Reverend Billy would have thought about the handmade pledge sponsored by Etsy, Craftster, Craft Magazine and others this past holiday season: 'I pledge to buy handmade…and request that others do the same for me'...

...But I can’t help thinking: Isn’t shopping, no matter how wonderfully crafty and politically correct still, well, shopping? Can you escape the so-called sin of consumerism by buying handmade?'” [Read the whole post]

Jean then goes on to pose important questions about the crafting movement and its relationship to the act of buying. This topic fascinates me and makes me uneasy too. It's something I often think about. If you're just a buyer on Etsy and not a seller, are you somehow less empowered? Are you less talented? Are you not *really* part of the community? And Jean pushes this a bit further by begging the question: If you're selling things at all, are you selling out and therefore opting in to a consumerist society, albeit one a shade better than simply shopping at the massive chain stores crowding out small businesses all over the globe?

Can the act of shopping have meaning?

I think it does. I speak for myself here, both as a buyer and a seller, and as someone who has had the chance to really observe what happens on Etsy on a day-to-day basis (because I'm an admin at Etsy, yeah, so I guess I'm pretty biased!). What follows here are some of the questions I often ask myself when reflecting on Etsy's role in the larger capitalist society.

I, for instance, make movies (or rather I used to before I decided to take a job at Etsy); my filmmaking collaborator and I sell our doc Secondhand (Pepe) in my Etsy shop. I'm personally sending it out to the few that buy it, asking for their feedback after they watch it. Why am I selling it? In part because I went into debt making the thing and I'd like to make back at least a token amount of the money I spent! But I also listed it because it's an amazing experience to get those comments and criticisms from people I've never met face-to-face. My listing fees buy me access to a larger audience. The sale price of my movie covers the cost of making the DVDs, if not the time and money spent on the production of the film.

The world needs people to make things. Yes, I suppose Etsy could have been started as a website where makers give away their handmade things or do barters and swaps. But what about people who really want to make a living from what they make and do it part-time or full-time? In order for that to happen, creative people need buyers. Otherwise, they'll have to make do with some sort of day-job, probably something that is not their passion.

To play devil's advocate with myself: why taint people's DIY impulse with money? Why not shoot for a higher goal? Why not aim towards a folk culture where art and craft function not as commodities to be bought and sold, but rather as objects that have deeper meaning and are passed freely from person to person according to usefulness or significance? Then there wouldn't be any arts "professionals." Anyone could make something that benefited society, as long as they practiced the craft to the point where it was beneficial and accepted by the community. In order to have the time to practice that craft, the community would support the person and guide them by passing down ways of doing things from those masters that had come before...Actually at this point, what I'm describing starts to sound similar to what I see happening on Etsy a lot of the time: in a way, the Etsy community is a platform for people to support learning — and the line here between professional and amateur maker is often blurred. There are fulltime Etsy sellers who have experience and have dedicated their lives to making and selling what they make. But the amount of informal learning and eye-opening that goes on with newbie sellers on this site is remarkable. That's a vast resource that is supported by the fees and other revenue streams on Etsy.

Another devil's advocate question that I sometimes ask myself: I feel great when I need something and I buy it from Etsy. For example, I need a notebook for work, so why would I ever go to Stapes and not buy a recycled one from an independent seller? The consumer's choice is obvious in this case. But what about those cute earrings I saw on Etsy? Or that little crocheted octopus? I don't need these. Right now, a little red octopus is staring blankly at me from where she sits on my desk. I don't think she knows the answer. But then I think of the seller RubySubmarine from whom I bought it. I like to think that by buying from her, I was doing my part to enable her to be creative, to support her as she tested her knowledge of crocheting, to talk with her about why marine life is so crazy interesting. Or when people compliment me on my angry octopus skirt by aorta, I tell them to go to her shop (yeah, there's a special place in my heart for the octopus). I feel like in a tiny way, I've become a patron of the arts or a supportive member of a folk community. Or maybe this is something new and different and complex.

[tote by weatherandnoise]

There's meaningful expression in the objects that I wear and that I have around me: I'm showing people that I support independent artists and I value things that aren't produced in a sweatshop or in a polluting factory, etc. I'm also proud to be a seller. This meaningful expression translates a utopian idea into something material. That's the power of art and culture: it's a physical expression of an idea. I seriously think about these things, and I think most Etsy buyers do too. And if some of them don't, then part of Etsy's mission is to spread the word (now I sound like the Reverend)! Etsy is not just a black and white site where people coldly pass money and goods back and forth. Etsy is also a place where this discussion can take place. Etsy brings us together to talk about consumerism and craftivism. Only if we don't talk about it will the handmade movement be co-opted by consumerism. What we stand to gain by talking about it, alternatively, is enormous: we can spread the word about the values underpinning the handmade movement to many, many people. (Now, that's evangelical!)

Seriously, there are other shades of grey. In real life, making a utopian idea a reality is sometimes messy. "Buy something because you love it, need it, it will haunt you if you don’t. Buy art because it makes you think every time you look at it. Buy things that are beautifully crafted because you appreciate the design, the workmanship and using something that is so well made will enrich your life. There is a lot of handmade crap out there… along with all the manufactured crap," says seller Mimi Kirchner aka mck254 on her blog post about the Handmade Pledge. Mimi pointed me to the comments on her post. kristin "feel[s] there are great reasons to buy handmade when and only when the crafter or artist truly loves what they are creating and it shows in their work. if the handmade item was made to just make a buck…i think that will show in the work as well and i would not care to buy that." Karen B. feels that buying handmade "is a way to slow down the consumerism/design for disposal mentality so ingrained in today’s world. I would apply your thoughts about buying handmade to anything one buys: do you need it, is it good design, does it speak to you, will it enrich/enhance your life….?" And "do you need it" begs these questions, "Does art matter? Does craftsmanship matter? Does the personal connection between buyer and seller matter?" These things do matter and that act of buying something handmade from the maker has symbolic value. But it also has a direct impact on our lives. It gives us compensation for our labor and also a sense of participating in a movement.

When I boil down all my questions, I realize that DIY and the handmade movement — and what I see going on in the Etsy community — is conscientious participation. And if you're a buyer of handmade things, you are participating by supporting independent artists, crafters and makers. It doesn't feel like rampant consumerism. It feels like you're making a difference. Making things and using those things — if it's going to be a sustainable movement — can't completely exist outside the marketplace.

Please let me know what you think in the comments below.