But ... But ... It's Not Like It's Work! (Craft Freebies)

[ladyknight1]

My husband home-cures and smokes bacon. He has a custom spice blend he uses for the cure. We share, but this is a week long process and many hours of work!

[faithlessone]

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not crafty. I can write, and I do write a lot of middling fiction and some truly awful poetry, but when it comes to arty things, I am lost. I can't draw, knit, sew, paint...

I had a housemate at uni who was completely the opposite. He was a fantastic artist - he did these amazing anime/manga style drawings. He also had a few tattoos that he had drawn himself, including a really beautiful portrait of his younger sister.

He used to get hounded by people demanding that he draw things for them - tattoo designs, birthday cards, portraits etc. One girl actually gave him a massive piece of poster paper (probably about A1 sized) and told him to fill it with images from her favourite anime series! No one ever offered to pay him for his time or for the use of his markers/pencils, which were incredibly expensive.

I think some people just don't get how much time/effort/materials beautiful things take.

[snowflake]

Yes! Yes! Yes!  I have experienced all of these!

Can you knit a baby layette for me by next week?  Most of the time they offer to pay but are horrified when I point out that even using cheap K-mart yarn it's going to cost more than if they bought something.  This is because I wear self-knit sweaters and people assume I do that to save money.  I actually do it because they last and look impressive at work.  Most of my sweaters (with good yarn bought on sale) cost in the $100-$200 range.  Why?  Because when it takes me 50-100 hours to knit something, I'm not exactly keen on wearing it out in a year.  I have a few sweaters made of good yarn and I can expect to wear them 20-30 times per year for ten years.  Even if I paid myself $10 per hour, I can wear a sweater that is worth around four figures.  Yes, I do make much, much, much more than that professionally.  No, I can't compete with some poor person in Bangladesh who gets supplies in bulk and barely makes enough to feed themselves.

The other thing is beginner sewers who borrow my sewing machine "for a few days."  Sure, I don't have time to sew any more (other than mend and take in clothes to fit my odd-shaped boy).  But I don't want it to disappear for three months. 

I've even done the "writing" thing.  I used to love writing groups and then got tired of people who said, "I have an idea for a story."  Because most of the time it was a girl-meets-boy "except, I want the heroine to be smart and sassy instead of passive."  Wait, you want me to write Pride and Prejudice for you?  You do know it's out of copyright? 

That's not to say I'd never do a favor for someone.  I had a friend whose daughter was expecting a child with a fatal heart disease.  I made a free white blanket for him and was very humbled that she thought my work was good enough to wrap him in.  (He was buried in it.)  You can bet I dropped everything to make it.  She gave me a nice gift certificate to a restaurant and offered to baby sit for my kids.  The truth was that with the gift and the baby-sitting, she still ended up paying me $5 an hour.  But I felt like it we were trading nice gestures as friends and it wasn't me being paid.

Bethalize, I don't mind using my mad cheesecake baking skills.  (If I have the time.)  I love to eat my cheesecake and I'd like to have someone ELSE eat the rest.   

(Sheesh, this thread makes me sound totally vain like I can do anything!  I just have a few skills that I have been working on for 30 years of my life.  I still can't make soup to save my life.  It always ends up funny.) 

[Lynn2000]

I do think it's tricky, though, because it can feel really good when someone says, "I love what you do and would like you to do it for me," you know? I don't want to discourage that. Just the people who rudely demand very specific things on a short timescale, for free. (Or really any variation on that--offering to pay does not make it okay to rudely demand.)

I'm very conscious of not pushing my crafts onto other people. I mention them, I display them, and people who are interested usually say something probing like, "Do you ever sell these?" and I'll say, "No, but I do give them away to people. Would you like one [already made]?" But trying to be low-key in my tone and body language, so they don't feel like they have to say "yes," if they were just trying to make conversation.

[TeamBhakta]

(Sheesh, this thread makes me sound totally vain like I can do anything!  I just have a few skills that I have been working on for 30 years of my life.  I still can't make soup to save my life.  It always ends up funny.)

ot: Try this recipe. This is the only soup I've made that comes out right. The changes I made: Upped the broth to 2 1/2 cups, added more than the 2 Tbsp of tomato, and added garlic + balsamic vinegar while cooking the chicken.
http://www.publix.com/aprons/meals/PrintableMeal.do?mealId=669

[nayberry]

My husband home-cures and smokes bacon. He has a custom spice blend he uses for the cure. We share, but this is a week long process and many hours of work!

if you wouldn't mind, that sounds wonderful!!


Snowflake - soup i can do, roast dinners are great, gateaux are simple but birds custard or soft boiled eggs not a chance!!

[Thipu1]

Back in the bad old 1970s, I took several courses and was quite skilled at doing paste-ups. 

At that time, paste-ups were literally paste-ups.  This involved coating boards with wax, coating the backs of images with one-coat rubber cement and cutting them out with X-acto knives.  You also needed a haber-rule to spec type and headlines had to be done with transfer lettering.  It was a laborious process but it was also satisfying when things turned out well. 

I started doing it for a club to which I belonged.  The front page of the monthly newsletter always had a splashy graphic notice about  the next meeting's program.  That part of the newsletter was my job and I was imaginative about it. 

I was flattered when someone in the club asked me to design a 16 page brochure for her business.  She was also willing to pay.  WHOOPEE!!!

Not quite.

Two days before the job was due, she wanted to add a photograph to page three.  At the time, that meant that pages four through sixteen had to be literally taken apart and recut to make things fit
properly. 

I did it but it took me all night to do so.  I did get paid but I never took on a job like that again. 

[snowdragon]

My specialty is "deconstruction."  I can take something apart, make a pattern out of the pieces, and then make a new garment.  It's handy when you have that favorite whatever that you could never find again, but it's wearing out.  Just take it apart and then make a new one!

  I would for pay someone a pretty penny for someone to do that for me !

[nutraxfornerves]

In one of my incarnations, I inspected plant nurseries (I discovered that I had to specify "plant;" otherwise, people assumed child care). I had to become familiar not only with plants, but also with insects, fungi, and horticulture in general. 

I developed a great deal of sympathy for doctors who get buttonholed about bad backs and heartburn. It seemed liked every time I visited someone's home, they trotted out the half dead houseplants. Everyone else is enjoying drinks and appetizers in the living room, and I'm out in the back with the host looking at the roses. I hated to refuse, because it might reflect badly on my employer, a government agency. "I don't care if she's not officially working, I'm a taxpayer, grumble, grumble..."  Yes, people did say such things.

[mime]

Had this discussion a few years back:

Guest:  that is a beautiful [Shaker-style sofa] table? Where did you get it?
MsChip:  Chip2 made it.
Guest:  he made it?
MsChip:  He selected the wood, went to the shop, hand-oiled it, everything.
Guest:  do you think he could make me one?
MsChip:  let's find out....

I ran the numbers in my my head and....

Me:  $500 probably.
Guest:  what?! No! It can't be that expensive!
Me:  the wood alone would probably run at least $300-350. And I'll need a couple of router bits, and a couple of drawer knobs to match the species, and some hardware to make some jigs....
Guest:  that's outrageous!
Me:  that's a conservative estimate.
Guest:  but you've got wood just laying around.
Me:  not that species. I used the last big piece to make this basket.
Guest:  ooh! That's pretty! Can I have it?

I'll end the story by noting that I have little patience for people who just don't get it.

Oh my! this made me laugh out loud. My hobbies produce things in a much lower price range than that. For someone to expect something from you that is so expensive is just... wow.

And $500 for a handmade sofa table sounds like a bargain!

[snowdragon]

I made this a while ago http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://farm1.static.flickr.com/158/369401065_27eb23826c.jpg&imgrefurl=http://januarysstitchingblog.blogspot.com/2007/11/sampler-teresa-wentzler_10.html&h=500&w=375&sz=181&tbnid=aGs54EqKxxjdGM:&tbnh=91&tbnw=68&zoom=1&usg=__AqxrznEFmfegIbjvDxj69NCdvGE=&docid=Dx-q8tvOWeImwM&sa=X&ei=OMbIUam7MYXJ4AOwoIHABA&ved=0CFkQ9QEwBw&dur=55

  took it to Michael's to get it framed...and heard from a child in back of me 'Mommy, Can I have that for my room?"  and the mother agreed. She sauntered over looked at me and said " Allison wants that."

Me: " I want it too, and because I stitched it, I am keeping it."

Mom: "Allison wants it, and she gets what she wants."

Me: I used XXX pattern, DMC threads, and it took me 6months to do. good luck doing it for her!"

Mom: " I will just have yours, my older daughter works here and she'll bring it home."
 
  I did not end up leaving it and it still sits,rolled up in a tube because I won't risk it again. Someday I will have to take a course in framing and matting.

[ladyknight1]

I stitch Teresa Wenzler's work as well!

[nuit93]

I made this a while ago http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://farm1.static.flickr.com/158/369401065_27eb23826c.jpg&imgrefurl=http://januarysstitchingblog.blogspot.com/2007/11/sampler-teresa-wentzler_10.html&h=500&w=375&sz=181&tbnid=aGs54EqKxxjdGM:&tbnh=91&tbnw=68&zoom=1&usg=__AqxrznEFmfegIbjvDxj69NCdvGE=&docid=Dx-q8tvOWeImwM&sa=X&ei=OMbIUam7MYXJ4AOwoIHABA&ved=0CFkQ9QEwBw&dur=55

  took it to Michael's to get it framed...and heard from a child in back of me 'Mommy, Can I have that for my room?"  and the mother agreed. She sauntered over looked at me and said " Allison wants that."

Me: " I want it too, and because I stitched it, I am keeping it."

Mom: "Allison wants it, and she gets what she wants."

Me: I used XXX pattern, DMC threads, and it took me 6months to do. good luck doing it for her!"

Mom: " I will just have yours, my older daughter works here and she'll bring it home."
 
  I did not end up leaving it and it still sits,rolled up in a tube because I won't risk it again. Someday I will have to take a course in framing and matting.

As someone who has also done a TW piece, I would be LIVID if someone had the gall to say that to me. 

It's also making me nervous, since I get my stuff framed at Michael's and I'm wondering if they have a procedure for making sure personal pieces don't just "disappear".

[dawnfire]

My specialty is "deconstruction."  I can take something apart, make a pattern out of the pieces, and then make a new garment.  It's handy when you have that favorite whatever that you could never find again, but it's wearing out.  Just take it apart and then make a new one!

my sis has a similar skill, she can deconstruct without pulling apart of the item. I can sew, do a basic pattern but she takes it to another level.

[dawnfire]

My husband home-cures and smokes bacon. He has a custom spice blend he uses for the cure. We share, but this is a week long process and many hours of work!

if you wouldn't mind, that sounds wonderful!!

It sounds delish. hubby raves about home smokes bacon/ ham. hubby and his mates would go out hunting wild pigs and take it back to one of his mates places for curing and smoking. everyone who helped got some of finished product.