apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Ha.. did everyone that went to the flea market end up in Pasadena at the art fair thing? I was there too! While there was some interesting work, most of it was a little weird and uninspiring.

I did enjoy the reggae beats of Culver City Dub Collective though.

I generally prefer handmade over digital perfection,but I also prefer real craftsmanship rather than just crafty. With handmade someone had to take the time to create each one, every detail required some conscious thought while doing it, and then each piece is subtly different.

I value what can be done with today's technology and I can admire the technical skill (and yes, I realize that these can be very time consuming as well), but I prefer the one-offness of handmade.

Laura, thats exactly what I did!

Rose Bowl, then onto Gordon Bierch (or whatever) for beers and a burger...saw a few arty things i liked, but over all i wasnt that into it.

I like handmade better most of the time because it takes more effort and skill and cant be reproduced with the push of a button!

handmade...all the way

I've just started studying and doing collage and wouldn't dream of producing it digitally, but I'm also not a fan of movies that have too much CGI either. Too much digital anything leaves me feeling cold and uninspired.

Handmade is a relative term -- If someone uses a sewing machine instead of sewing a garment by hand, is it handmade or machine-made? They are both handmade, just made with different tools. I do digital art (and sell it on etsy - minor plug here) and I consider it a form of handmade, though I prefer to think of it as "individually produced" rather than "mass-market" Although my pieces are currently open-edition, so I can produce as many as I want, I hope to be able to offer limited-edition pieces once I start selling well. Just because I don't paint my pieces by hand doesn't make them any less handmade. It takes a lot of time and a different set of skills than painting or drawing by hand. I do digital because it gives me the control and perfection I want -- it's the style I prefer.

I think there is as much craft involved in making something digitally as there is in making something by hand. After all, hands and computers are just tools! What matters is the result.

One person's handmade is another person's handspoiled, ie Kitsch.

Most of the etsy stuff is okay in concept, not so great in execution. A child's work is endearing in its mistakes, wabi sabi style mistakes are an artist's choice, but why defend ineptitude?

Digital collages and crafts are about the creator's choices and skills as much as work done by hand.

ditto mlt43 and palmetto. I have tons of respect for digital artists.

I love etsy, but I would say that it features a lot of artists taken with the sentimentality and preciousness of their pieces, rather than actual beauty, craftsmanship or usefulness.

My main reason for preferring "handmade" (which I define as not being able to create exact replicas of the same item) over digital is the idea that the handmade item is unique. I like the idea of owning something that's not absolutely identical to other items out there. However, if I don't see aesthetic/practical value in the item, it doesn't matter if it's handmade -- the fact that it is handmade cannot stand as the lone selling point.