it feels good to make things
why we should all return to craft
This week I made a lot of things.
I’m prepping for two holiday markets, and spent many hours cutting and printing and taking my creativity from the screen to the physical world.
I made holiday cards and hand printed bandanas.
I made prints of my digital artwork and small zip bags with printed patterns.
I also made collage kits - little compilations of colorful cutouts and shapes, old magazine photos, and scraps. I had so much fun compiling these and had to resist the urge to glue and keep every single one.
On Monday I was invited to a knitting club, where I picked up yarn for the first time since 8th grade and with the help of kind friends, knit my first ever very lumpy and mistake-ridden beanie.
I am now one Michaels trip and 20 rows deep into my next beanie, and I can feel my hyper fixation flaring its wings. Knitting season, here I come!
All week long I‘ve had a folding table set up in my studio, compiling all of the things I’ve created as I prep for the holiday markets. It serves a practical purpose - practicing my display and visually gauging inventory - but the truth is that it has filled me with immense, impractical joy. I keep catching myself walking into the room and just standing there staring at all of the things I’ve made. I even put my beanie on the table (not for sale) just to see all of my creations from the week in one place.
The thing is, it feels really good to make things. I think this is the root of why artists do what they do - why humans do what they do. We love to make things.
But I notice that today, individuals are making less things. As a society we are mass-producing more items than ever. But it is becoming increasingly rare to sit down make something with your hands, especially an item you will use.
Craft has become something of an activity phenomena, rather than a practice with a practical output. When was the last time you made something you actually use?
As mass production has increased, so has the blight of perfectionism. I see the line of thinking - why should I spend 18 hours knitting a lumpy, mistake-ridden beanie when I could have the perfect one arrive at my house tomorrow with one click?
The answer is because you will love the lumpy hat much more. And loving things is important.
A response to over consumption has been a push to be less materialistic - to devalue things as a society. But I think this push has only made the matter worse. If we do not care about items, what does it matter if we throw them away? I propose we place more value on things. What if we were more materialistic? What if you only had things you actually loved?
Objects hold memories, especially objects you or someone you loved created. The set of thick-bottomed mugs I made when I took ceramics classes in Jackson. The scarf that my dear friend Sarah knit me. The custom dining table my husband Andrew built us, designed mostly for Dungeons & Dragons and creative pursuits. The hand sewn journal of paper, maps and drift wood my friend Sophie gifted me. These items, I cherish, and will likely never discard.
The beauty of making things is not that you will create the perfect thing, it is that you will make something for you. Something you designed and imagined and brought into reality. Let yourself be an amateur, learn along the way, make mistakes and keep going. That is how you create an object you will love.
As we enter the second half of December, I hope you remember that you can make things - imperfect things, beautiful things, silly things, and even useful things. I hope you give lots of handmade things to people you love, and to yourself. We could all do with a bit more crafting and a lot less buying.
with love, Kika
Upcoming holiday markets:
The Wylde Beet: Saturday, Dec 14, 10-3pm
The Burrow Sun Valley: Sunday, Dec 15, 1-5pm
Yess! I've been thinking about how we often say we care too much about STUFF these days but also how we need to CARE MORE about our stuff these days? You summed this up so well!
great post!