THE GENIUS ART OF THE HANDMADE < THINK ABOUT IT >

HANDMADE

I came upon this term, & stopped in my tracks. Put the brakes on.

I read this word & came to a complete contemplative standstill.

 HANDMADE / MADE BY HAND

I thought about this manner of how some things are made.

& come to realize that this way of making, is a, thing, of the past.

A few insights into what it means : to be handmade :

MORE MECHANIZATION / MORE DEHUMANIZATION

MAN-MADE THINKING vs.

MACHINE THINKING

Our evolution has slowly replaced the making by hands with the making by machinery. And these daze not only the replacing of the making but also, now, the replacing of the thinking from man made thoughts to machine made thoughts. It is becoming an all-encompassing takeover. More & more levels of mechanization which is creating much more overall dehumanization.

MECHANIZATION CREATING

MORE DISCONNECTION

The implications of the turning of the big machinery as substitutions for what was once human fueled is colossal & unfathomable. Immeasurable. Incomprehensible. The slow withdrawal of human powered resourcefulness to mechanically driven is disconnecting us all. Isolating us. Separating us. Pulling us apart. Dividing us.

LESS TACTILE SENSATION /

LESS STIMULUS

Handmade is touch fueled. Tactile. One of our five main senses. Who we are as human beings. Touch is contact. Connection.

Neurons firing. Stimulus. Activation. Energizing. Vitalizing. We perceive the world via touch & with our hands.

MACHINE MADE :

FASTER, CHEAPER &

MORE GLOBALLY DISTRIBUTED

Handmade takes more time. An advantage of machine made grants humans more free time. Another benefit of machine made is lower costs. Assembly line mechanization streamlines the process by making multiples, spitting things out quickly & cheaply. These two advantages come with a different price tag, tho. The by-products of mechanization is:  less beings coming together, working together, being together, products are no longer individually unique, & each item from production lines is stamped out to a market that is now global, not local, & so far removed from the maker. Products made so efficiently & effortlessly they are distributed to every corner of the world. The world becoming completely homogenized as a result of this mass marketing of the quick, the cheap, the easy, & the distant. May I include the ugly, too ? Homogenize means make similar. All uniform. Possibly, do we believe these so-called side affects are favorably overall ?

OTHER NAMES FOR MACHINE MADE :

The value of machine made is cheap. What real value do we place on these things. Merely a dollar value ? On Stuff. Everyday ordinary paraphernalia. Gadgets. Junk. Whatchamacallits. Doohickeys. Gee-gaws. Trinkets. Tchotchkes. Knick knacks. Thingamajigs.Thingamabobs. Gizmos. Doodads. What’s-its-name. Whatnot.

You know, all dat everyday ordinary commonplace shit.

THE QUALITIES

OF HANDMADE :

Think upon the alternative to mass productions.

Think about handmade for a moment.

What that is. What that implies. What that means.

What that evokes.

I believe this way of making is precious, treasured, valued,

& hallowed. I know it is no longer a viable part of the world.

I realize handmade is my favored option for how I approach things & have made it a large part of my entire life. My preference. My tendency towards doing. By hand. By the making of things with my very two own hard-working hands. The greatest single ingredient that handmade things hold inside them is soul. I think we need not let go or “lose touch” with handmade. Handmade makes us who we is.

HANDMADE

CONNECTION TO GENERATIONS :

Handmade is one of a kind. Handmade is the creating of precious treasures & keepsakes. The objects one holds dear & cherishes. The inherited passed down gold thru ancestors. The tradition, the ways, the custom customs that we carry from generation to generation. From the dead to the living, a cord of connection of a one of a kind object from a one of a kind of person. Handmade is hand crafted. The value of handmade is priceless. Peerless. Unique. Special. Rare. Beyond compare. Second to none. Without equal. One-in-a-million. Valuable. Think about all those well-known historical works of art : handmade masterpieces.

HANDMADE

CONNECTION TO WHO CRAFTED :

Handmade holds the hands of the being who crafted it with the now in time holder of that crafted object. These handmade creations hold the maker’s essence within them.

I wear an amber beaded necklace almost every day. This is not just any necklace. This amber beaded necklace is solid 14 karat gold & diamonds. This was designed, formed, and given to me by a great friend. A beautiful woman that generously gave her works of art to all. To wear, adorn, & make one feel pretty oh so pretty.  When I wear this amber beaded necklace I gain personal strength because I think about the maker who handmade this amber beaded necklace. Handmade because her hands are here inside the amber beaded necklace for me to hold. A reminder of someone. A token of remembrance. A loving personal memento.

HANDWRITING :

ANOTHER FORM OF HANDMADE

Hand-writing is a thing of the past now. Handwriting is so very handmade. Who writes down words with a pen or a pencil anymore ? Are kids even taught how to write in school ? Are they only trained on a keyboard now ? I don’t know. Does anybody still use or know what a pencil is ? Does anybody write cursive ? Does anybody even knows what cursive is ? I used to practice calligraphy with an ink pen. You know like what you see on old historical documents. I hold dear a handwritten poem written by a friend long gone. His hand is on that page. A hand that I can still hold because it was handmade by him. A handwritten letter from my Uncle Elwood. A treasure from him.

LIVELIHOODS BY HAND :

I have consistently concentrated my entire life on handmade. Deliberately choosing that way as the best way. My livelihoods all included by working with my hands. Hand printing photos using enlargers, developing trays, & loading processors. Also, hand-printing etchings & hand-spinning, hand-dyeing yarn to hand-knit garments that I sold at the Seattle market or in my own shop. My pastime includes hand-building a cabin, the interior & above decks of a sailboat, installing wooden floors by hand, hand-painting canvases, & hand-clapping every song of all my father’s music concerts. Mom used to hand-sew our clothing, the curtains, our coats, the upholstery. Playing the piano & pump organ by hand & by heart. I gave my hand in marriage.

RENAISSANCE MAN :

REVIVAL OF LOST ARTS

I know this old soul individual good friend that makes a lot of his things. Hand crafts work benches, intricate spice racks, outdoor fire pits, makes his own drinking glasses, for real. I would say he reminds me of Leonardo daVinci because he is so well versed in so many different skills. He would be known as a Renaissance Man. He is one-of-a-kind. Priceless.

IN SCHOOL :

LEARNED LOST HANDMADE ARTS

I remember as a third grade pip squeak tyke having “colonial days” in school. Ok, lets see, it was 1963, right about that time. Our teacher had us making soap by hand, making candles by hand, making a stitchery sampler on burlap showing all the different kinds of stitches, we baked homemade bread. We recreated all these lost arts. I was literally hooked to the making of the handmade just like a hand hooked braided rug. I was so taken with learning these old school skills. Then Mrs. Gray, my third grade teacher, took me under her wing and showed me how to knit during lunch hour. She wore matching hand-knit skirts & jacket sets every day that she had created. I found myself hero-worshipping this Mrs. Gray teacher. I can still see that day. The news came over the intercom announcing that JFK had been shot. Mrs. Gray ran out of the room crying. The school secretary came in & covered for Mrs Gray for the rest of the day. Mrs. Gray read us the Mary Poppins book long before the movie came out. Mrs Gray deeply influenced me. We both had hair down to our butts, hers always in a bun. I continued always to forever have some on-going knitting project from that day in the lunch room until now, 60 yrs later. Thank you Mrs. Gray for your heartfelt hand-made influence upon my little pointed noggin & my hands making things hands. I believe she instilled this quality of handmade-ness into my being by her hand-making soulful example.

DEGREES OF THE MAKING BY HAND : CHOICES

In the kitchen & cooking, where one can choose a bread making machine or hand kneading the dough of the bread that you will be sharing with your loved ones. I would much rather grab a rake, get some exercise & rake by hand than submit the whole world to the deafening obnoxious sounds of a leaf blower. I choose to hand write a thank you card than tap on a few plastic keys & instantly send an instagram, text, email, a twitter, a twat, a group chat, a ChatGPT, a zoom a gloomy doom. Making breathing varying musical sounds with the hands upon instruments versus plugged in electronica mechanized staccato precision metered even percolations. I could be branded as an old fashioned prehistoric square. Antiquated. Archaic. An Anachronistic old fool. A has-been vintage old geezer. You know, old hat. So be it.

COMMUNICATION DISCONNECT :

LETTING GO OF EACH OTHER &

THE LETTING GO OF LANGUAGE

I see a strong correlation between the letting go of handmade & the letting go of each other’s hands. And I do mean everybody here. We the people, as a whole. The trajectory of the world’s populace is overall becoming more separated, more distant, more divided, & more apart because of the machine world that has slowly evaded our lives our skills our communications our thoughts our minds our beings our souls. Disconnection at large. More loner tech soles. Less partnerships, less friendships, less companionship, less kinship, less warmth, less sensory experience. Less face to face. Less hugs. Less handshakes. Less waving hello. Less waving goodbye. More quick more hurry hurry rushed more easy more fingertips tapping plastic keys type answers to all of life’s questions all without human being contact. And, also, this method as a substitute for real life contact. Friends are now somebody you “like.” By designation of a vote in (un)social media. These are your friends now. And the way the manner in which you speak now with each other is with a goofy substitute emoji symbol. Thumb’s up. Smiley face. LOL. All this saves precious time. All this does is distance us. Impersonal generic blips of too much in a hurry to take the time to be human. A collective widespread usage of unspecific insincerity. An elimination of language. A loss of real true deep communication. An extermination of expressiveness & personal individuality. Who you is. Really is. Is You, like all the rest ?

HANDMADE HUMANITY :

MORE HUMAN & HUMANE :

Handmade humanity. Takes a little more time, uses a little more cerebral thinking, takes a little more effort, may cost a little more to show up, is much more personal, & gives meaning & worth to life.

I now shake your hand for reading this hand-typed plastic keys yes I know, finger tips tapping essay. I share words & language & thoughts in this manner via fiber optics, yet my day to days to daze are filled with heartfelt handmade interactions with color nature beings life & living.

Did you know that there is a word : bespoke : bespoke implies a custom-made, one-of-a-kind item. Handmade is to be spoke.

HANDMADE SPEAKS VOLUMES.