For one, this book discusses craft & community in ways I’ve slowly been discovering and loving!  ”The indie craft community is the most supportive group of people I have ever encountered. Makers share their resources, do collective advertising, promote one another’s work on their websites, do trades, and share skills. New community members are always greeted with nuturing and encouraging words, advice on running a business, and tutorials on how to get started with a project.” (preface)   

I also resonated with the Craftifesto!  It says that Craft is powerful, personal, political, and possible.   A few favorites are:  ”Craft is Powerful:  We want to show the depth & breadth of the crafting world.  Anything you want you can probably get from a person in your own community.”  ”Craft is Personal: To know that something is made by hand, by someone who cares that you like it, makes that object much more enjoyable.”   Imagine if more people valued and supported handmade items!  I think it would add more depth to our lives.  You’re not just buying a card from Walmart (made in a factory far away) but something you made yourself or you chose to purchase from a living breathing artist you may have even met in person!  Beautiful!

The book also interviews crafters from around the country.  I found interesting Sabrina Gschwandter’s take on why handcraft is so popular.  She thinks it’s a reaction against things such as our hyper-fast culture, increasing reliance on digital technology, the proliferation of consumer culture, and even war.  Other reasons may be because people have jobs where they only do one specialized part of a project and with crafting they can see a project through from beginning to end.

Good things to think about.  Probably more to come from this book!