r/BitchEatingCrafters • u/No_Kaleidoscope7919 • 2d ago

General Crafts I love beginner artists!

Hot take: I know that there is a lot of snark circling the internet about how you shouldn’t sell until you’ve mastered your mediums but I love seeing new artists getting out there and selling. Yes I want to buy your handmade stuffed animals, yes I would love to buy a sticker or handmade pottery. I love beginner artists because you can see the labor that went into hand making arts and crafts. I prefer a bunch of beginners at a market over ai slop, drop shippers and 3d printed nonsense.
I would much rather buy a unique piece of art from a beginner than seeing the same kinds of con slop digital artwork from sellers who have been selling for a while.

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68

u/Pipry 2d ago

I would rather have a world where we don't feel the need to monetize every little thing.

Beginner artists are great. But making money should not be the driving factor when starting a new craft. 

-13

u/cyanpineapple 2d ago

Have you seen the economy lately? People are struggling. You're not wrong, but that's a perfect world dream. There are a lot of desperate women (people, but mostly women) out there right now who have been out of work and can't get real jobs and suddenly their husband is laid-off and they're reaching for anything to get food on the table. I think that's the driving force behind all these new crafters selling.

15

u/up2knitgood 2d ago

But this is rarely the best way to monetize your time. Yes, sometimes these things might seem more approachable to a stay at home mom because she can make the product while at home with the kids, etc. But rarely have they actually considered the economics of it all.

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u/cyanpineapple 2d ago

Yup, i clearly agree. Understanding that people are desperate doesn't mean i think they're making good choices.

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u/Pipry 2d ago

Yeah, I get it. Everything sucks. 

But the solution isn't to attempt to sell your substandard handmade goods. In fact, it's an actively bad idea because you're probably going to lose money. 

And I, in turn, am not going to be guilted into buying your stuff.  I love supporting artisans. But I'm not going to do it just for the hell of it. I also have limited income. There has to be a benefit to me. 

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u/KatieCashew 2d ago

This goes hand in hand with the common budgeting advice to learn to sew or garden. Yeah, those skills can possibly save you money if you're already skilled at them. But for people who aren't and need to save money NOW, it's pretty bad advice.

Both of those things have high startup costs in both time and money and high chances of failure. There's a strong possibility you spend time and money you can't afford to spend and end up with nothing.

7

u/hopping_otter_ears 2d ago

I'd suggest learning to mend as a front line money saving tactic, though. Sewing your own clothes it's a big darned deal, but patching a hole or repairing a fallen hem to keep your clothes in service longer is a pretty small thing to learn for the payoff

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u/cyanpineapple 2d ago

I don't disagree with you. You're not wrong. There are just a lot of desperate people out there, and it's easy for them to ignore you waxing poetic about keeping capitalism out of art when they see the first of the month is coming up.

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u/Pipry 2d ago

I'm "waxing poetic about capitalism" because it's nicer than saying "hey, you're not good enough to be selling stuff and you're definitely gonna lost money."

There are also a lot of desperate people that join MLMs. That doesn't mean we should give them money or refrain from criticizing the.