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?

Handmade soap and tropic skincare.

I’ve had some amazing jewellery from craft markets, and there’s a guy near me who does the most stunning woodwork. Another regular stall sells cotton bags of all sorts and they’re beautifully made.

But then there’s the other end of the spectrum which is wine bottles repurposed as a lamp or a duck made out of seashells - I mean, someone must buy it but it’s just not my thing. Just because you can make earrings out of LEGO or greetings cards out of recycled bits of printed circuit boards doesn’t mean you should.

Me too. I wonder whether that ‘12 days of Christmas’ thing for ££££ will come up again?

I had a friend that made cards. She took it up at night school and was thinking of selling them at her friend’s shop. Until she realised she’d have to charge about £6 each to break even. They were nice though, she did me a couple for birthdays.

Had another friend that did more sculptures and ceramics but she has closed her business as it wasn’t a steady income. From
what I saw her stuff wasn’t bad but not something I’d buy personally.

Craft stuff rarely earns enough to live on.

The people you see flogging 3D printed dragons are SAHM, or someone on UC trying to earn a bit extra.

It sold on the 5th of October

This reminds me of when my shitty relative (who did so many horrible things to me and my parents that it would fill a book) guilted us into visiting her "art" display at a local church/cafe, before she fell out with us for good (for nonsensical reasons). It was absolutely dire. Think thin paper bookmarks with handwritten notes saying "love life" on them, plus drawings of houses that looked traced from children's books and glitter covered sea shells. She'd also put a ton of printed paper quotes around the place about mental health and sadness. We kind of felt obliged to walk round looking at all the stuff whilst loads of older people sat at the cafe tables having their cuppas. Nobody else looked at it when we were there.

TBH I don’t ever want handmade cards, no matter how nice they are. I’d feel so bad binning them, but there’s no way I’d want to keep them!

The only handmade cards I keep, or ever want to keep, are those made by the Gdcs.

My local craft shop is this one. https://www.scottishdesignexchange.com/ it is great. Not everything to my taste but professional stuff, well made.

My ex once bought 50 plain plates and painted pictures on them

He was no artist-i could have done a better job and im too cack-handed to pick up the plate in the first place

He hired a market stall,displayed all this shite for £15 a plate and sold nothing

He had even painted some with a baby and a stork (that looked like a blob,a dirty hanky and a potato) but hadn't even thought of doing pink or blue-they where all sludge brown or dirty green

He ploughed on for another 6 months or so,lost a fortune and didn't make one sale

Shame really-he really thought he'd be a millionaire within a year

He just had no talent and certainly wasn't an artist

I'm all for shopping local and supporting small businesses but I'm not parting with my money for tat

Judging by this thread, there's a non-negligible number of mugs who will buy any old shit as long as it's homemade, so I would go for it.

Yeah, friend who did the cards just liked doing it and thought it would be a bit of pocket money. She didn’t need the cash, she only worked where I did for a bit of something to do after retiring from a high-paid role. We lost touch after I left but she would make birthday and Christmas cards for friends.

Other friend, it was her passion. Shame really. We go to Makers Markets quite often and most of the sellers we chat to have other regular jobs too.

I don't see £6 a card being a problem if they're good. It's about right for a decent card.

As a casual crafter that is running out of space at home for my stuff I wish there were similarly casual outlets for me to see if I can offload/sell any of it, lol.

Haha, I know this problem all too well.

I've got a lot better at throwing completed crafts away. It feels wrong and environmentally unfriendly but storing a load of stuff isn't doing any good either.

I frame and display my favourites and remind myself the joy is in the process, not the finished item.

I love hand-crafted artwork that hasn't been shipped in from China. My current favourite is https://www.instagram.com/kate.sampson.ceramics/.
I have seen plenty of others that I don't think are great quality but why give them a second thought?

People round here don’t have £6 to spend on a card.

All I'm going to say is stuff made of salt dough? Wtf 😒

I would spend £6 on a lovely hand made card with original art made by the person behind the table... but not some AI shite.

I like 3D dragons. If I need soap, what’s wrong with handmade? Same with a resin soap dish at least it’s not made in China
I also like knitted coasters and hats and scarves. My local library sell them, I imagine the knitter’s like knitting 🧶 and the pennies go to local charities.

You want to try living in Aberdeen
A couple of shops sell the och aye the noo tartan tat and obligatory helian coo on athing imaginable .
Cruise ship tourists their target market.

What I do get cross about is when people post on FB community pages to tell everyone to “support local businesses” and they sell this sort of tat. I don’t want it in my house / life and I can’t afford to support absolutely everyone.

There is a fantastic one in Canterbury and I’ve been to a few very good but expensive craft markets in East Sussex. But the smaller shops and markets around here are terrible, either very badly made things like wall art made from two hot glued pebbles, or low quality AI stuff from Shein. I don’t know how they make enough sales to have shops or stalls

Or they use AI posters.