That's the thing with handmade items.
They still have the person's mark
on them,
and when you hold them, you feel less alone.
-Aimee Bender
Those words. They're perfect. They resonate strongly with me. It's the reason, I think, that I drag home old furniture. The reason I search out pillow cases with wobbly stitches at thrift stores. It's why cakes from bake sales taste better than the store's... why cuttings from a neighbor's yard take root as nursery plants wither... and why uneven, thick bars of hand-poured soap clean better than bargain brands.
It's why I like to keep knitted and sewn and stitched and carved and painted things around me: they are real. Someone made them. They have a life that other things don't have. When you turn them over in your hands, you see soul. Not MADE IN CHINA.
I live in a community where handmade hasn't quite taken hold. There are no CSAs here. No one's going off grid or urban gardening or championing the small guys. The big box stores are crowding in by the dozens and folks are thrilled. And yet, the undercurrent of real still grabs some of us and pulls us down into the vast, deeply connected world where people make, grow and create.
Pull, current, pull.
There are more handknit dish cloths in my shop today. For those who have purchased lately, thank you. Thank you for your patronage and kindness. For those looking for a small way to support the handmade movement, here's a discount for you: enter code HANDMADE at checkout for 10% off your order, and bonus savings for additional Balm and Honey purchases.
Here's to handmade. Here's to all who create, and to all who support those who do. Here's to filling our lives and home and hearts with things that are real. -Brin
3 comments:
I received my beautiful wash cloth. Love Love it!! Thank you!
I loved your words in this post. Beautifully said and so very true. I love giving cast-off things new life. Our cabin is filled with flea market finds.
I love this post. So beautifully written and I agree with every word. For Christmas, my aunt gave me a beautiful bar of hand crafted soap she picked up in her home town. It was delicious smelling, but the way it made my hands feel...oh, it was heaven. And do you know how long that bar lasted? SIX MONTHS! I used to balk about paying $4 for a bar of soap, but when they last that long and feel so good and you've seen the hands that made it? Worth every penny. With each passing day, I find more value in quality handmade items, rather than the few pennies saved by buying at the big box stores (though, I could definitely argue that having to constantly replace the cheap stuff doesn't save us anything!)
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