What is handmade and how to make money on it

Handcrafted items are becoming more and more popular, and handmade items are less and less perceived as a hobby for bored housewives. Nowadays, needlework is an independent direction of freelancing, which can bring in a good income. If you are an excellent knit or drawing artist and dream of turning your hobby into a profession, this article is for you.

What is handmade

People have been making something since ancient times. At first it was a necessity, because it was necessary to dress in something, to eat from something. Subsequently, crafts became a way to feed themselves and their families.

One of the areas of handicraft is folk arts and crafts, where things made by the hands of skilled craftsmen have not so much practical as aesthetic and cultural value. The activity called handmade originates from folk applied art.

Anglicism handmade has become so firmly established in our lexicon that the meaning of this word is clear even without translation:

Handmade is handmade items, as well as the process of creating them.

But is a carpenter or locksmith a hand-made craftsman? This is manual labor. It is believed that this process must be creative, and things must be unique.

If a carpenter makes ten stools a day, one pattern at a time, it can hardly be called handmade. But if he manually saws out a stool with one-of-a-kind carved legs, putting a particle of his soul into it, then yes, he is a hand-made master.

Larisa Ambush quilling master Since childhood, I loved to draw, knit and do various crafts. I remember the enthusiastic eyes of my parents when another product was born, invented and made by me. Usually, each thing was not done according to a template, but in a completely new way. I liked to experiment and find non-standard solutions for making ordinary things. With age, this hobby did not disappear, but grew into a small business: since 2010 I have been doing quilling.

In the industrial twentieth century, there was almost no demand for handicrafts. Why tinker with something if you can buy it in a store? Interest in handicrafts was temporarily revived only during the time of total Soviet deficit. Women sewed, knitted and embroidered en masse in order to somehow dress and decorate their homes.

In our culture, handicraft was known as a purely feminine affair, designed to while away the evenings after work. The fascination with macrame or beads was not taken seriously. Unlike Western culture, where handicrafts are valued a priori, and people who create them are considered creators.

It was from the West that the fashion for hand-made in the XXI century came. Tired of the same type of industrial items, people are increasingly buying handmade things.

Handmade is a way to declare your individuality and show your aesthetic vision of the world.

Thanks to the Internet, needlewomen are no longer bored housewives, but are turning into real business women who are well versed in sales and marketing.

Pros and cons of handmade

Like any activity, handmade has its positive and negative sides. Let's start with a fly in the ointment.

The main disadvantage is quite expensive consumables and tools. At first, hand-made requires a lot of investment, and sometimes it is difficult for people to explain why some kind of "trinket of two ribbons" is so expensive.

Oksana Verkhova is a master of wedding accessories People sometimes look at a beautiful and elegant thing and think: “Pfft, I'm making this one myself!”. In doing so, they forget that simplicity is usually the result of hard work. Manual work takes up a lot of time (sometimes you don't sleep at night just to be on time), which you could, for example, spend with your family.

However, hand-made has more advantages, besides, they are much more significant.

Handmade contributes to the realization of the creative principle of the individual. Such work is unlikely to ever get bored and turn into a routine.
Arts and crafts promotes the development of thinking and fine motor skills. Manual labor fosters patience and accuracy in a person.
Handmade craftsmen, as a rule, are freelancers, therefore, they can work from anywhere in the world in a convenient mode.
Handmade involves continuous self-improvement. Customers need to be regularly surprised with new ideas.
Constant communication with clients and colleagues contributes to the development of communication skills, and feedback on work allows you to objectively assess yourself and give you self-confidence.

But, perhaps, the main advantage of hand-made is that it brings a good income. The main thing is to build a portfolio and get the first orders.

Larisa Ambush quilling master From my point of view, this type of activity has more positive aspects than negative ones. Handmade helps to relax, to show imagination. You are always in a good mood, you enjoy your work, and it brings substantial profits.

Where to buy materials

Beads, ribbons, paper, glue, paint, accessories - all this is necessary for handmade. Needlework supplies are by no means cheap, so craftsmen have been accumulating them over the years.

Most often they are purchased in domestic ("", "", "", and others) and foreign online stores. A typical problem for domestic stores is that in order to receive free shipping, you need to purchase a large batch of goods. The problem with foreign stores is that the payment is made in foreign currency, and sometimes the parcel takes a very long time.

Oksana Verkhova, a master of wedding accessories When I was just starting out, there were almost no shops with goods for creativity in my city. Now they are at every turn, but prices are too high there. Therefore, groups with joint purchases and AliExpress are very helpful. But parcels from China take a long time, and sometimes, when you realize that the parcel will not arrive in time, you have to run to a regular store.

Where to get inspiration

The Internet has played a key role in popularizing hand-made products. If earlier needlewomen had to buy thematic magazines and exchange homemade patterns, now everything is on the Web.

For example, you can find inspirational ideas on Pinterest. As soon as you enter keywords in the search box, you will be presented with a huge number of boards with various master classes.

There are many communities on social networks, both in hand-made in general and in its individual areas (patchwork, decoupage, beading, and others).

For beginners and not only YouTube is a great help: on channels like Etsy, Craftsy, Creativebug, CreativeClub and personal channels of craftsmen, you can see firsthand how this or that product is made, and get a lot of valuable advice from practitioners.

Large English-language DIY sites:

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As for Russian-language resources, a huge number of useful links have been collected. But perhaps the most popular are the following handicraft sites.

Site	Peculiarities
	This online magazine contains a huge amount of information about needlework. The site has a fairly large community. Communication and exchange of experience takes place mainly on the forum. On the site, you can leave orders for craftsmen, as well as take distance courses on needlework.
«»	A site about creativity for children and adults, which contains many master classes and examples of finished works. There you can find the literature you need, chat with other masters, and take online courses teaching various techniques.
«»	This is an Internet club for craftsmen and craftswomen, where you can read useful articles, watch master classes, post your work and participate in competitions.
«»	It is an online magazine for handicrafts lovers with a focus on knitting and crocheting, cross stitching and sewing. But there are also master classes on scrapbooking, weaving and other creative hobbies. Communication mainly takes place on the forum.
«»	A site similar to a well-known social network in name, interface and essence. Here you can also post your work, like and comment on others.
«»	A community of active and creative people. On this site, you can create your own page, upload photos of your products and share your achievements on the forum.
	This is a depository where electronic versions of magazines on sewing, knitting, embroidery and other types of needlework are stored in various languages. The publications can be viewed online and downloaded to your computer. You can also subscribe and promptly receive information about the appearance of a new monthly in the repository.

If you have other interesting portals about hand-made or its individual directions in your bookmarks, please share the links in the comments.

Where to sell works

The main question tormenting the needlewomen, who have already got their hands on and are ready to realize their work, is: "Where to start?"

Oksana Verkhova master of wedding accessories Since childhood I have been drawing and making something with my own hands. Graduated from art school, entered the university with a degree in Graphic Design. I went to work in my specialty, but, having gone on maternity leave, I realized that I wanted something even more creative. At first I did work for friends and relatives, just to get my hands on it. At the same time, I photographed everything and posted it in my VKontakte group - this is how the first orders appeared.

If you seriously decide to make money by hand-made, we recommend drawing up a business plan and registering on specialized trading platforms.

The most famous of these is Etsy. It is an e-commerce platform for creatives created in 2005 by photographer and artist Rob Kalin. Etsy currently has over 800 online stores with over 15 million in assortment.

In 2015, the company went public, during which it raised $ 267 million. The site is insanely popular all over the world. Many people make a decent living through Etsy.

Larisa Ambush Quilling Master I sell my work on Etsy. My store was created on May 25, 2015. Its range includes both graphic quilling paintings and digital lessons. Anyone can buy my work and leave a review on the purchased product. This increases the rating of the store and the popularity of the products. The better and more unique the product, the higher the likelihood of a positive review. The higher the rating, the more sales.

According to experts, Etsy is perhaps the best platform for hand-made craftsmen, since, unlike Amazon and eBay, they have a clearly defined niche. You can also exhibit your products on:

(German site focused on the European market);
(an American resource where more than 66 thousand artists from all over the world exhibit their works);
(This Australian site attracts with the fact that you do not need to pay a commission for the first fifty works);
(a Canadian platform that unites more than two thousand sellers, on whose windows there are more than 30 thousand goods).

In Runet, the most famous trading platform with hand-made goods is "".

The site was launched in January 2006 and today it is the largest Russian-language portal of its kind. As of December 2015, the catalog of goods of the "Fair of Masters" consisted of over two million works.

The portal is not only a trading platform, but also a community of people interested in handicrafts. There you can read articles about design, creativity and art, track the latest trends, study master classes, exchange experiences with other craftsmen, and even purchase consumables.

Is it possible to earn handmade bread and butter and sausage? Here's what our experts have to say.

Oksana Verkhova, a master of wedding accessories Handmade, distracts from the routine and brings a lot of positive things to life. It's nice when your work is praised and recommended to your friends and acquaintances. But I am not yet ready to quit my main job - it’s a little scary to plunge into it headlong and not be fully realized.

Larisa Ambush master of quilling It is possible to earn a living by hand-made, although it is not easy. At first, it is necessary that you have some other job or financial support, because the first results will appear only after a long and hard work. But it all depends on your hard work, perseverance and talent.

The French sculptor Auguste Rodin believed that the world will be happy only when every person has the soul of an artist. In other words, when everyone finds joy in their work.

Handmade is just such a field of activity. Crafts are no longer an outlet for bored housewives. This is an interesting business niche with quite tough competition and high earnings. Thanks to the Internet, handmade is available to any creative person. There would be a desire!