Small textiles gripe
At a birthday party on Saturday, I was spinning on a drop spindle (as I do, in public, with downtime to fill). Two obviously clueless types sat down with wide-eyes, starting with the "what are you DOING??!" and so I started slowly, because I had a feeling ...
...I had a feeling they weren't a receptive audience. I was right. Woman A was captivated with, "It's like cotton candy!" repeated ad nauseum, for my wool/silk/bamboo blend. She continually exclaimed, "No one ever does this anymore, anywhere!"
...even though I politely said, "You'd be surprised how many people do spin. Like my friends who spin..." which was then drowned out again by, "No one ever does this! it's like you're using cotton candy!" Okay, Woman A, I get it. You've never seen this before.
Woman B understood immediately that I was hand-making yarn but asked if I did any weaving. Okay, reasonable question (along with "what will you DO with it?!" or "do you knit?" or "do you crochet?").
And while I do some minimal weaving, I have gotten better at explaining that SPINNING is my passion and I really just make yarn. Woman B continued with, "I'm looking for someone who does weave!" and when I said I might know some people who do commissioned custom weaving, MAYBE...
She explained further. "...Because I have this jacket and every time I go out at least 4 or 5 people ask me where I got it and how they can buy it, and I would need someone to weave it and then I could make the jacket, and I could easily sell it for SIXTY OR SEVENTY DOLLARS!!"
That's when I BRAVELY did not roll my eyes at her.
Simply wrapped up the conversation with, "yes you could probably find a local weaving guild in your city and you COULD ASK, but let me warn you that custom weaving on commission is MUCH MORE expensive than you think it is."
And then I added, "Oh sorry, I don't think I know anyone who would be available for that kind of project."
OMG SAVE ME from people who undervalue hand-work and custom commissions. Seriously. VALUE YOUR ARTISTS! #handspun #handwoven #dropspindle #SpinningInPublic #textiles #crafty #PayForArt
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