Making vs Crafting | What's the difference?
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- čas přidán 5. 03. 2024
- I recently took part in an event for "makers" that included a few nervous fibre crafters questioning whether they belonged there. So today, let's chat about the difference between making and crafting, whether such a distinction serves any purpose, and where to draw the line.
And by "let's chat" I do of course mean "watch me talk at you for twelve minutes straight".
Blog post I mentioned from The Craft Sessions: thecraftsessions.com/blog/2018...
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Welcome to basically twelve minutes of me staring at you and rambling on. Sometimes the brain just needs to ramble, ok?!
Feel free to ramble to me anytime.
Just found your channel from your beginner's tutorial on blackwork embroidery, and I am absolutely loving your content! Really enjoyed this video as a multicrafter with a humanities degree and a technology curse who's married to an engineer with a 3d printer - I definitely agree with your view that maker vs crafter vs artist is a complex question of identity. It can seem pedantic and silly (it reminds me of the endless discussions of the difference between geek and nerd), but it's important when it comes to self perception and the resulting impact on self confidence. As with so many other things, I tend to advocate that people call themselves whatever feels right, and don't let other people's judgment stop you, but I do recognize that's easier said than done.
I also think there’s an argument that there can be a gendered divide between the way that the terms arts and crafts are used. Art = important = manly. Craft = low status = feminine. Where there is an overlap, thinking of some fibre artists, there’s often an unwillingness for their works to automatically be considered art. Thinking of the crocheted statues I saw at the Tate museum recently!
Really good point! The question of art actually came up in a more recent MakersHour and it was interesting to see people doing basically the exact same hobby but coming down on different sides re: whether it counted as "art" or not.
Another interesting thing about the gender thing is that often even in the "women's" crafts the people at the top of that tree (the celebs of that area) are often men. Sewing = girly. Famous clothing designer = often men. Flower gardening = girly. Famous gardeners = often men.
I appreciate this video because it helped me understand that I've put a gender divide on these words too so I can work on unpicking that!
I have 100% noticed this too! Hmph!
Brilliant. For me it depends on the project. If it's a something that requires lots of time and effort, it's crafting, if it small or easy or something I just had a go at, it's making. Also, your lil sheet ghosties are awesome. Xxxxxxxxx
Ok seriously Michelle at what point are you going to realise your awesome immense capabilities!! You're not a novice any more. You can knit socks, jumpers and even sew your own clothes! You've got skill lady and there's no need to be shy about it. Watching this while actually making a sock!! So I'm definitely a maker and this knitting thing is easy lol (still on the cuff but shhh)
I have to admit that I have used 'making' and 'crafting' synonymously with each other... You do raise some interesting points though!
Honestly that seems like a healthier approach than the weird gatekeeping of making one somehow lesser than the other!
The first definition of crafting makes me think the "manual" bit is important ie. if it's handwork it's crafting, and if it uses machines/tools then it's making. So knitting, crochet, embroidery are all done by hand and therefore crafting. Woodworking would be making (unless they are hand carving). I guess that would make sewing clothes by machine would also be making not crafting? Which I think does make sense to me. Fits the arbitrary feeling I have between the difference crafting and making.
I've started calling myself a maker, because I do so many different types of crafting and sewing and cosplay. And crafter just doesn't feel right to cover all of that.
The evolution of the term 'crafter' has been on my list of things I really want to dive in to for a couple years. I have some suspicions about when it started, but have yet to find good sources on it. But it would line up nicely with the gendered aspect of your theory here.
I've always referred to myself as a crafter, but it's deliberate and I use it in the classic sense, and I will refer to pretty much anything one does with one's hands as a craft. I think I have in the back of my mind that I want to reclaim the term to its former glory. Because what most people think of when they say something is "crafty" are specific categories of craft, like paper crafts or kids crafts. So your fast food analogy fits perfectly. Those are just categories in a broader crafting world.
I've never really used the word "maker" for myself, but I think it's that it feels somehow more detached from the activity. I'm a maker: I made a thing! Sure, true. I'm a crafter, I crafted it with my own two hands. Yes, that.
What an excellent and well-reasoned video. I really enjoyed it. Particularly as an academic exercise (my students are working on writing essays right now and it's got me thinking way too much about how to build a good argument, which you absolutely did btw). I totally watched it twice in a row just now. 😄
It's been rattling around my head for a couple of weeks every since that one MakersHour so I'm glad it made sense to someone else :D
I loved how you presented this video. I do feel that 'crafter' may have that almost lesser connotation associated with it, (to my utmost dismay) but what of the terms 'craftsman' and 'craftswoman'? When I hear something is made by a craftsman, I'm picturing an experienced person who has honed their skill, and not necessarily a quickly tossed together 5 minute project. Just a thought.
As a professional (academic) philosopher in a previous life, I absolutely loved this. Truly excellent analysis-amazing! Great food for thought!
This is interesting as it goes into the basis of sociology. When we think of trades and people requiring certain skills appropriate to enter into a specific class. We know that people in higher education or trade skills need to complete a specific portfolio or item in an apprenticeship in order to enter into the trade as a profession. In the “medieval times” we would consider guilds and the approval of a tradesman entering into a guild based on approval of a completed project.
Very nice video! I never thought about the term maker for myself but I would say I wouldn't mind seeing myself as a maker, crafter and of course designer! 🤭 It's "artist" that I always feel like I would never reach! 😅 Glad to see another video with a bit of Mastodon, I joined thanks to you and I'm really enjoying it! 🥰
Fediverse gang forever! I know what you mean about "artist", it definitely has connotations of great skill. But like, really it's just someone making art, however subjectively "good" that art actually is. So we can totally be artists if we want!
Shout out to makers chat folks!!!!
Thanks for going where few others have gone before …..l am a dabbler as to what strikes my fancy…..right now I am “making/creating”
biscornu/s for 2024 Christmas Gifts as legacy gifts for my GrandKiddos….from an old tablecloth of my Mother born 1929 and stash fibers ie DMC….and creating my own designs…. Some are full coverage….others are open areas for the eye to rest in cross stitch….at age 73 I am so happy and content….
I have often got the impression from your comments that you are, as they say, living the dream. And this pretty much confirms it! Who cares what words people are using when you're truly content with your life, eh?
Interesting video and I like where you ended up. I consider myself a crafter with my cross stitch. When I went to the glass making class and made ornaments, jewelry etc I thought of that as learning a new craft but also think it fits as being a maker. Difference being I knew what object I was attempting to make and we used the grinder (power tool). With crossstitch I start projects because I like them and frequently don't know what they will be made into when finished.
Glassmaking is definitely one of those that is hard to categorise! On one hand, ooh pretty = crafts. On the other you're dealing with potentially dangerous tools and heat and whatnot = making. Luckily if we go my diagram it gets to be both and we don't have to decide :D
Full circle. Used to be the big discussion was art vs craft. The term ‘making’ came about 2015 or so, artists and crafters both now calling themselves makers, and it was once put to me makers as a way the young reclaims their endeavors from those of us who came before them. So making vs crafting. Mmmm…. I make things. Don’t mind what you call me.
I hadn't even thought about it in terms of a newer generation trying to come up with their own terms, that's really interesting!
And yeah I'm totally with you lol, I make stuff, I'm happy making stuff, the terms don't really matter. But seeing so many people question whether they belonged in that makers chat just broke my heart a tiny bit.
This is so interesting! It also made me realise that we don't use these terms in Dutch. What is being referred to as craftsy, we call 'knutselen', which is translated to tinkering. A craft is an 'ambacht', a word that didn't lose it's serious meaning, buuut people are rarely referred to as crafters nowadays, that was something for when they were still organised in professional guilds 😅
However, what bothers me is that in my language, most crafting is referred to as 'hobbying', implying that it's always frivolous, relaxing, easy,... Unless you're doing something professional with what you're making 🙃 I reeaally dislike this
Ooh that IS interesting! So are lots of other hobbies also under this "hobbying" umbrella or is it just the ones we would think of as "crafts"? I am so intrigued.
@@TheGiddyStitcher It's mostly making stuff, not just fiber crafts but also more 'male' things like woodwork or painting miniatures. Other hobbies like playing sports or cooking are called by the actual activity someone's doing, somehow with the connotation that those are usefull things to do? 😅
Also, I think we could form a guild, and next time someone asks if i'm having fun with my silly little hobby, I can say: 'no, i'm actually an official member of an international guild of skilled craftspeople' 😏
I love your videos. You're so articulate and I like hearing what you have to say about stuff. Not a lot of people make videos *discussing* crafts and such. Always a pleasure to have your videos pop up in my feeds. Thanks for sharing! 💕
It just made me so sad seeing people not sure whether they belonged in the makers chat, I had to get it out of my brain somehow! Ranting at the internet is always a good shout in those situations haha :D
This is a really thoughtful video. I loved your research and how you presented how terms can be divided by gender "ideals." Great thoughts, thank you for sharing!
Thank you, I was worried it was a little too rambly but sometimes you have to dig around a bit to find your conclusion :D
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I think another relevant distinction that we make subconsciously is about the end product: does it traditionally belong in the home? Sweaters, dishcloths and tablerunners, vases and purely decorative items are typically connected to the "female sphere", whereas newer type products - regardless of function - don't have the same cultural baggage and therefore are free to garner their own labels. Perhaps it is mostly about new versus old? Wood working for example isn't a "maker" type project for me, it's definitely craftmanship. Granted, I'm not sure I'd call it "crafting" since this shorter form of the word is so connected to "sit at home and noodle around with something", which the typically larger scale of wood working projects doesn't quite vibe with, but to call a wood worker for a "maker" just seems to cheapen their work too. A maker for me is something quite new - maybe using old crafts in new ways and to make alternative versions of traditional items, but a wood worker or welder is a craftsman to me.
I definitely get the impression that the term "maker" was popularized by guys who got into 3-d printing and were looking for a more gender neutral (read: less feminine) version of "crafter". As a very thread obsessed crafter, I've also never felt the need for the word "maker"? I feel like I could definitely bring my yarn to a maker space, but since I don't need expensive machines, I have less of a need to go to one.
A much bigger discussion that I'm surprised you didn't get into at all (though I also get why it would make the video twice as long) is the arts vs crafts debate and how these words fit into that. I would see doing a cross stitch kit and 3-d printing someone else designs as the same category (craft) compared to designing a project yourself (art), but there are of course shades of grey in between, like modifying someone else's design or working with someone else's designs to make a point. (Also not trying to imply the craft version is lesser here, it's just a different skill being used.)
Oh absolutely I was a bit laser focused on these two terms just because of what I'd seen playing out at MakersHour, but there's a lot more could be said about the overlap between a lot of other related terms too! Art and craft are so intertwined in my mind I don't even really know if it's possible to do one in complete isolation from the other, but others almost certainly disagree :D
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Also, I find it odd that "maker" has a higher status - to me that word is so... childish? It reminds me more of "look mom, I made a thing" whereas crafting at least ties back to "ye olden days" of craftsmanship. The term "craft project" implies paper and glue and glitter to me, but I don't use the termn for any of my crative hobbies or projects either, so perhaps "crafting", "a crafter" and "a craft project" should be considered individually?
Interesting, I always thought crafts refer those kits and patterns anyone can assemble. Things like embroidery takes skill and years of dedication. I see myself a bit of both maker and crafter with touch of art. Art is like individual creative style to identify a person 's work but with the use AI generated art anyone can create highly detailed art. I prefer traditional arts like drawing and painting with collage. There's other terms like artisan refers craftsperson highly skilled in their field. Generally, open to interpretation. I'm also a tinker as I like to play with different materials and medium while design as I go along.
What I'm getting here is that "maker" is an umbrella term.
Pretty much sums it up! :D
For me makers n crafters r pretty much the same as musicians and painters r both artists
the diff from maker and crafter is Makers are the one who make the tools the crafters use going back a very long way male or female didnt matter back in say days of kings and queens black smith female would not be called a crafter she would still be a maker and yeah the women that sew the cloths are the crafter due to they are using the tools the blacksmith made for them to be able to I think everyone have lost their way when it comes to knowing where everything comes from Crafters and Makers was here way before any of use were alive so to be real no one uses the terms of anything right any more sadly
I'm pretty sure "makers" is a modern term - are you perhaps refering to craftsmen? That would make more sense historically.
@@ericathefae yeah maker is new and yes that is what seems everyone for got about it