Buy Handmade

Okay, I'm coming off a serious creative binge and my room (not quite worthy of the 'studio' designation at the moment), is a disaster area. Prep for the DC Craft Mafia's holiday show on Saturday had me working overtime, while keeping up with Polly Scoots online and mailing out yummy packages to my awesome customers.

The result: it's time for some serious organizing. And while I'm at it, I need to find a home for my six foot tall ficus who will be wintering inside. What does all this have to do with the handmade pledge badge up above?

Dealing with the mess makes me a little batty. Since I've told myself I can't make anything new until things are in order, and putting things in order for long stretches of time really isn't all that enjoyable, I thought I'd remind myself of the bigger picture and part of the reason its all worthwhile--handmade really is better.

There's nothing I find scarier than flying into a new city and, on the drive from the airport to your hotel, realizing that the plane could have touched down in just about any city U.S.A. and looked just about the same. How long would it really take you to figure out you weren't where you were supposed to be? That the pilot headed north instead of south? That you AND your bags landed at the wrong airport?

How do you tell where you are when the strips malls, chain restaurants and suburban sprawl lining the highway look so much like what you passed on the way to the airport? Mega box stores, outlet malls, brand-name hotels, chain restaurants--it's all the same, same same.

How much different, how much more unique would the landscape look if only there was a place to buy handmade? If you didn't have to hunt for the quirky, arty neighborhood in the revitalized area downtown to find something truly unique?