Poll Results -- Crafts and Your Economy

Sorry for taking so long to post these results. December's poll question was:

How has the economy affected your ability to buy arts and crafts supplies?

Forty-six valiant artisans answered the poll, and here's what you said:

• 1 (2%) Buy? I'm selling my supplies to pay bills
• 3 (6%) All purchasing is on hold indefinitely
• 20 (43%) Making do with what I already own
• 18 (39%) I'm careful w/my small discretionery income
• 8 (17%) I can still buy items on my wish list
• 4 (8%) I haven't felt the pinch yet
• 8 (17%) I'm taking advantage of some great deals
• 1 (2%) Things are better than ever for me

Wow. Four out of five respondents are either not buying, or being more careful about what they can afford to buy. However, being one of the "every cloud has a silver lining" clan, I think it's wonderfully freeing and creativity-enhancing sometimes to make do with what we have. Somehow, limiting our choices to the materials we have on hand can simplify things and enhance productivity.

Another observation -- what would the poll results have been if I'd posted it THIS month? All last week was news of more massive layoffs. Supposedly, this has actually been good for the craft industry and artisans, according to a well circulated New York Times article. But that was the holidays, and now it's just cold outside (ok not so much here in New Mexico...I'm trying to be empathetic here).

One solution keeps springing to mind:

Recycled art. It's amazing what you can make with intriguing reused materials, like game pieces, book pages, unraveled sweaters, and cool things you find at yard sales or, in my case, in the back of my closet! I once cut apart an old pathwork silk robe from India and covered manila tags with the thin patterned silk. I also like to make envelopes out of heavy magazine pages and inserts out of old file folders.

I hope we can hang in there and keep on crafting. Well, I know we can.