I’m really enjoying my pine cone heart wreath that I made earlier this month in celebration of Valentine’s Day. I was looking around the web for craft ideas and came across a similar item available for sale on etsy. Not wanting to pay the listed price tag and having a plethora of pine cones on my hugely overgrown pine tree/bush outside, I decided to go DIY. This looked easy enough that I could do it myself.
Thankfully, this particular project turned out great. I was pleased with the end result and I was able to complete it for less than half the list price of the online version on which I based it. But, somewhere into my third hour of hot gluing the pine cones to the frame, I was reminded of other DIY projects that didn’t fare so well.
Back in my heavy-duty crafting days, when I was single and had way too much time on my hands, I would go around to various craft fairs and exhibitions and take it all in. Often, I’d come across an item of interest, but the price tag would turn me off. “I can make that,” I’d say, and vow to produce said item for myself. Sometimes, the ideas worked, sometimes they didn’t, but they always provided an adventure.
My roommate at the time shared the same disease. One fall, we traipsed through a local woods and yanked huge grape vines out of the trees to make wreaths for the holiday season. I can still see us dragging thirty-foot long tangles of vines down the street to our apartment. That project succeeded, but the yard reindeer we attempted the following year – not so much. We’d seen them at a craft fair that fall. “We can make those,” we said. “It will be fun,” we said. And course, we’d planned on making an entire herd. The easiest part was finding the logs and branches. Figuring out how to drill holes, insert logs at the correct angles and getting the pieces to stick (and stay) together was another story. The legs kept falling out, the heads toppled off when the deer fell over and the antlers snapped apart. 
We finally called in reinforcements. A friend, who was a carpenter by trade, came to the rescue with his arsenal of power tools and helped us drill, nail and hammer the creatures together. Ultimately, they made very nice Christmas gifts, but perhaps they served a better purpose in teaching us a lesson – some things are better left to the experts.
While I believe it is good to explore our creative side and challenge ourselves by experimenting with new things, it is important to be aware of our limitations and embrace the skill and craftsmanship of artists around us. I may be able to assemble a beautiful floral arrangement, piece together a quilt top and even build a garden retaining wall, but I will never be able to capture the essence of another person on canvas, turn a hunk of clay into a beautiful piece of functional pottery or transform a burl into a gorgeous wooden bowl. So when I come across a beautiful piece of craftsmanship that I can never replicate for myself, it is time to give credit AND money where it is due.
While we may balk at the price of an individual piece of art or craftsmanship, think of all the time, materials and expertise behind that work of art. The artist has spent hundreds if not thousands of hours studying their craft, honing their skills, experimenting with materials, etc. to find what works well and what doesn’t, how to create a piece that withstands the test of time and wear and tear and how to create the most aesthetically pleasing work possible. They are experts at their craft and the price listed on their work reflects that expertise.
So, explore, create and be adventurous and if it falls apart – support an artist!
And if you love handmade pottery pieces, please check out my niece’s work at www.etsy.com/shop/DevittCeramics.