to think that locally made "craft" shops are dire?

[HotGrapefruit]

I really REALLY try to support local businesses, but we have a few of these local 'craft' shops that have popped up, with home-made nonsense from local people, and they are without exception all terrible.

Honestly, it's the sort of thing that if my children brought it home from school I would put in the bin in a very short period of time.

I feel awful for thinking it, because I try to be very positive about these things, but everything is terrible. And all mixed in with weird 3D printed dragons that are just EVERYWHERE these days.

What do people buy from these shops? Or are they all terrible, without exception?

YANBU, I really want to like them but everything is either really generic (like those 90s style beaded bracelets) or unbearably twee (those wooden seagulls for the bathroom on stilt like legs)

Haha, you are right though. Always multicoloured. What is that about?

SO true. But there are also local 'socials' which occur in the evening where middle-aged women drink prosecco and paint bright acrylic highland cows.

If Orwell had put that in 1984, everyone would have guffawed.

We have a pop up shop with a different business everyday.

Some of the homemade crafts are really good but there can also be a pile of overpriced crap. I'm a knitter/crocheter and loathe all the 100% acrylic hats and scarfs - use wool people not plastic.

The worst are the homemade baking people as you never know how many cats/dogs/snotty children have been 'helping'.

I like them 🤷‍♀️

I love highland cows but wouldn’t like them in acrylic, or a small statute of one wearing a football jersey

I think the nice canvases of them or the bronze ornaments are lovely. Life is too short to be ultra tasteful all the time. And I find houses where everything is stylish and not-at-all-common to be too try hard

Nothing wrong with that if you like them.
But they are always AI slop. The person flogging you a tote with a rainbow cow on used ChatGPT to generate it, and got someone else to mass produce bags with it on.
Nothing handmade or crafted about it.

No different the those awful 3D printed dragons that are everywhere too.

Well at least they’re paying taxes and working I suppose (I hope, anyway!)

Weird thing to shoehorn in, but oh well.

My friend and I are planning to give everything up, to run away to the seaside to sell pasta necklaces and forage for nettles to make wine. Do you think this isn't a sound business plan?

Our local shops are very nice, some very expensive but it’s not rubbish they are selling.
Our local craft Fayre, about 4 a year, are awful.
Full of painted wine bottles with fairy lights, resin soap dishes and home made wax melts.

There's a weekly "indoor market" in a church hall near me, selling just the sort of stuff you describe.
They pay £25 per stall p.w., I don't know how they can make any money.

Can’t wait for this thread to come along, it’s a festive highlight

I imagine it varies greatly by shop. A few truly talented people could make a big difference.

I'm not likely to go in one anyway, because I (rightly) assume they'll want more than I'm willing to pay. Also, I'd rather make 'arts and crafts' type things myself.

Fucking crafts.

Endless crocheted coasters, knitted cacti, socks that are shapeless bags made of itchy rope, tchotchkes made of glued-together seashells. Lumpy vases and mugs splattered with glaze. Naff earrings like the ones I made for 50p at the DIY bead bar when I was 9, but selling for £40. Candles that smell of Toilet Duck and rennet.

I’m all for people doing crafts to relax and express themselves but I can’t imagine who wants this stuff.

I’m also sick of the wheedling pressure from school mum(‘preneurs’) to buy their knick knacks. Nobody asked you to make this shite, it’s not my problem how long it took or how much you spent on materials.

Yes! The decoupaged wine bottles with lights in. Some are not even decoupaged.
Sorry, but I wont be paying £15 for an empty Bombay Sapphire bottle with lights from Poundland.

Come to Pembrokeshire. You'll either be instant millionaires or end up living in a yurt on a cliff edge.

YANBU, it’s 95% tat. Christmas craft fairs are more tat.

I love my seagull on a stick

I actually don't mind a seagull on a stick, but I expect they are really made by poor children in India...?

It is like the little bottles of sand and shells you can buy in seaside gift shops. It even says on the label that the sand is from China.

Things like handmade notebooks, lampshades, jewellery, pottery, stained glass, wood carved items. Plus art of all types.

Sometimes there are bits I don't personally like, but the tat level is low.

There are some crafts around here which are not to my taste, e.g. garden gargoyles and art made from scrabble tiles, clothes pegs and epoxy resin.

But there's also a school mum who makes professional quality cakes and another woman who makes fantastic ceramics. I looked her up online and she has a good office job and makes ceramics as a hobby.

That’s what makes them so fun to visit though!

Ah, scrabble tile "art". I have not seen them in a while 😂

Resin stuff is all the rage for lazy crafters too.