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So what is Craft ?

Posted on Monday, June 18th, 2007 at 9:00 pm by Bob.

Some of you may or may not know we run a Craft forum

CRaftville Board
I have just spent the last hour reading and deleting posts off it which in my mind are nothing to do with craft!!! Like Craft Fairs, it is being invaded by the “I import CRaft goods from China”… “hello we’re a Craft manufacturer in Hong Kong”……”I sell Yankee Candles….”… OK they’re all valid things to sell but they are NOT Craft and people who exclusively sell this type of thing are NOT craft workers….. feel free to disagree but they just don’t fall within my definition of crafts….I blame a lot of so called Craft Shops which sell cheap imported, massed produced items which they pass off as Crafts……
And now this trickle of bought in goods at Craft Shows seems to have turned into a flood….. I know many Organisers are struggling to fill stands but some of the rubbish they
bring in to do it sometimes beggars belief……I DO like having craft materials at craft shows… I think a lot of people visiting the shows might well think about taking up a craft themselves and I don’t know many card makers who could survive at shows without selling some card making materials… and anyway the ones I know who do this ARE crafters who can demonstrate their craft as well as sell the items for people to do it themselves.

What HAS to stop is the passing off of mass produced goods as craft, it is unfair on the visiting public and its unfair on the real crafters.

Going to finish this by listing a few sites which belong to friends who I promised a link to…. please feel free to ignore it if you want :-)

Craft Links Hugh searchable UK crafts database. Free links for all crafters.
Ideal Envelopes Envelopes and more for crafters
Ali-Craft Card making and papercraft Materials
Craftville UK Craft portal

2 Comments to “So what is Craft ?”

  1. steve Says:
    October 23rd, 2007 at 10:39 am

    Hi Bob

    I have a similar problem keeping the spam at bay - in my inbox. As an online gift retailer, I receive dozens of approaches a week from China. What I really want is more UK crafts people who make creative giftware to get in touch. Especially those who want to turn their art into a part- or full-time business.

    I spend hours every week trying to find these people, but they very rarely approach us. That’s why in desperation we launched a £1500 competition to find a new UK designer-maker supplier. Perhaps someone at Free Craft Blog would like to take a look and tell your crafters about it. Here’s the url: http://www.pretty-somethings.co.uk/2007/10/1500-prize-for-best-new-hand-made-gift.html

    All the best

    Steve

  2. Bob Says:
    October 28th, 2007 at 5:02 pm

    A good way (off the net) would be to visit some of the larger craft fairs (Living Heritage?) and (with the organisers permission) approach some of the crafters there.

    If you have a leaflet you might find organisers would be willing to put it in with their brochures which they are sending out at this time of year. Perhaps in return for some publicity on your site.

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