Magickal Realism

We’re witnessing a great big fancy revival of DIY culture and spirit. Anyone “hip” has to get their little hands dirty creating something to wear, or taste, or to furnish - and this is great. Sometimes it saves money. Sometimes these little diy-ers discover hidden talents. And I know that many are taking away the satisfaction that they are somehow subverting “the system” by not putting their money in the hands of others (well, directly - there’s still money changing hands for materials, and some straight to the very organizations they’re trying to subvert.)

But along with the DIY spirit comes the dark side, because all things have at least a double-edged nature: what I would call DIY Greed, or more aptly, DIY arrogance. Sounds harsh, doesn’t it? I know. Please hear me out:

So DIY-er has had great success making pipe cleaner chains, and has decided to take this to the marketplace. That’s great. It’s certainly a developed skill that no one else has.

While at the marketplace, this new pipe cleaner chain business owner perceives that the fuzzy-wuzzy-weebit makers are doing brisk sales, and that they seem to unload a LOT of merchandise. DIYer then decides, in a fit of desire for the money that s/he believes the fuzzy wuzzy weebit maker is making, to then sell fuzzy wuzzy weebits.

So the DIYer goes out and buys Weebit Making for Dummies.  But the Weebits made according to those careful instructions keep tipping over. So this pipecleaner chain whiz goes tromping over to the original Weebit Maker. “How do you get them to sit up straight?”

Now, this Weebit maker, unbeknownst to the Pipe Cleaner Kid, has spent eight years training those Weebits to sit up straight. It’s taken wire, bribery, even electroshock. At long last the Weebit found the secret to making good, upright Weebits - and between the time, and the expense of the material, it’s cost that person around $5000. Weebit maker is only recently seeing a return on this initial investment. And all this goes through his/her head as s/he stares at the Pipe Cleaner Kid, wondering what the hell to say to this demand for hard won information.

Eventually, instinct wins: Weebit Maker says no.

And the result is that Weebit Maker immediately has a full-on-tantrum coming from the Pipe Cleaner Kid. The Pipe Cleaner Kid fully believes that s/he is owed the information,  that in a free society it should all just be shared and given freely. Pipe Cleaner Kid will not run a Google Search. Pipe Cleaner Kid will not visit the library and read some books on the information. No, Pipe Cleaner Kid wants it straight from the Weebit maker, the Weebit maker’s own business, time, and effort be damned.

¹

This is the parable of artisanship, and respecting artisanship. This is also where the DIY spirit and the artist-making-a-living-spirit diverges. It is not possible to be good at all things. In a free market economy, even a small one that allows for bartering, it is not necessary to be good at all things. It is, however, a duty to honor the talents of others and to recognize that when it comes to the exchange of money, goods, and services, that it is better to get it well earned and slowly than fast and sloppily by selling a product that is cheap and may eventually hurt someone.

I’m seeing this sort of thing happen a lot to my soap-making colleagues. Someone on Etsy sees a few soapers that are selling with great success, and jump on the bandwagon. “It’s easy!” they tell themselves, frequently buying a kit. What most don’t know is that there can be thousands of dollars and hours spent in making soaps that lather right, that are safe for the skin, that are the right texture and weight. Even those who use soap molds run into trademark issues with the molds available, and sometimes they are forced to add the skill of soap mold making.

More than one has told me about an acquaintance, witnessing their hard-won success, who decides “well, I’ll make soap too. It’s fast money!” The original soapmaker than has all sorts of trouble with product line imitations, demands for trade secrets, and a complete disrespect for the work that s/he has put in to making his/her soaps.

This isn’t the stuff of anti-competition. That’s another topic. This is the stuff of undervaluing a skill. Essentially, the “DIY spirit” can loop right back around to “Wal-Mart thinking” where all things are cheap at the price of someone else’s poverty. Stepping into the arena of bath and body, or any other art form, without practically revering it, devalues the people that have already put all the work in, and leads in the end to a shoddy product.

So when it comes to crossing the line between DIY and artisanship, remember: it’s about money earned, not money grabbed. Money earned slowly as people put down their investments in quality has a profound impact on changing our culture into a place that is sustainable for the earth, ourselves, and our neighbors. But making money “grabs” by doing something “fast and easy” just because you see someone else making money at it only enhances the poverty and mis-distribution of resources cycle.

Do what you’re good at, or what you’re passionate about. Take your time. Do it right.

1. from the defunct show Daria. Used without permission, just great amounts of fan worship. [↩]