The Crafty Princess Diaries

Tammy Powley’s Crafty Weblog

Crossing Into Crafting Professions…Some Thoughts

| 5 Comments

Recently, I have come across a number of sources discussing crafting as a profession. Over at the YarnCraft weblog, there’s a podcast discussing how to sell your yarn crafts. Then I saw that Jennifer Perkins has a post on a similar topic as well as some information concerning a Crafty Business Seminar she will be running. Finally, I discovered that CraftyPod has a podcast about Crafting for Money vs. Passion.

As I listened and read these, I could really relate. While I still enjoy making jewelry, the approach I have since doing it as part of my living has changed from when I did it strictly as a hobby. In fact, even writing about jewelry making versus primarily selling finished jewelry is different. When I make jewelry now, everything is a potential project. I feel compelled to take notes and snap pictures as I work rather than just “play.”

Compare this to crochet and sewing, two other crafts I’m pretty active with, and it’s a totally different experience. When I crochet, I tend to do it in front of the TV in the evenings as a way to relax and not feel the urge to snack so much. It’s my time to “chill,” so the idea of selling a finished piece or writing up instructions never even come to mind. When I’m stitching something up in my sewing nook, I rarely take notes; I just do it, enjoy the experience.

Now this is not to say that I don’t enjoy the experience of making jewelry, but my mind-set is totally different. Jewelry making is a job, a fun job but a job, and crochet and sewing are true hobbies that I do just for fun.

Anyway, listen/read the links I provided at the beginning of the post, and then come back here and give me your take on all of this. I am not saying one is a good thing versus a bad thing, but they are different experiences that I think are worth discussing and pondering.

Author: Tammy

Welcome to the Crafty Princess Diaries, my weblog and site where I get to blab about my passion for crafts, primarily jewelry making, and my crafting career. My name is Tammy Powley, and I decided to call my blog the Crafty Princess Diaries because of this very dorky picture I have of myself and because my husband often refers to me as β€œthe princess and the pea,” which is just another way to say that I tend to be particular sometimes. Along with this weblog, I have a number of jewelry making books published.

5 Comments

  1. Thanks for including me in this roundup!

    I totally agree about how the mindset changes when crafting is work. I craft in all kinds of media, and I experience exactly what you describe: every craft is a potential business option. I’m always making notes and working out processes, and rarely just playing around. This is both great and unfortunate.

    Luckily, I remain just bad enough at crochet that I couldn’t ever sell a crochet project. So I can still use that craft as relaxation!

  2. You are welcome! Your interview was so interesting, really made me think, as most of your podcasts do.

  3. Great post, I can so relate! πŸ™‚

  4. Too true. You make some excellent observations. I don’t enjoy crafting any less now that I do it for profit, but my priorities are certainly different. I’m market-driven or even deadline-driven now. To me the biggest difference is that I frequently craft to the point of exhaustion rather than set a project aside to come back to later. Still I feel very blessed to be able to “work” at what I still consider “play”.

  5. Pingback: CraftyPod » Blog Archive » Craft-Linky Goodness

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