by Barbara A. Black

Created on: March 04, 2008

Okay, so the craft is homemade, but does that mean it has to be 100% perfect? Are items built by machines perfect, without any flaws? NO, to both questions!

The whole idea of a homemade craft is that is ISN'T like every other similar item! As a homemade item, each one of its kind will be a little different from the others, even if they are built by the same person, using the same tools and materials, in exactly the same way. They WILL be different! Humans cannot turn out even two items that are exactly the same in every tiny detail. Machines can be calibrated to cut, glue, and nail to a great accuracy, time and time again. But let us remember that humans are NOT machines, so they shouldn't be expected to perform like machines!

My father made many craft items for his family, for several Christmases. Each year, he made different items. One year, he made all the women stationery boxes. Some of the boxes were square, and some were more oblong. He made them using the same two patterns, and most of them are similar in size, divisions inside, and in the fasteners he used. However, they have those tiny differences that none of us would notice unless we held our boxes side by side. But they are there, and he couldn't have kept them from happening if he had been 100% more careful than he naturally was.

I made "corner dolls" one year, and sold several of them. Each one was made using the same basic materials, in the same basic pattern. Yet each one was an individual doll, and looked different from the others even before they were dressed and their hair attached. The reason is that they were made by hand, not by a machine!

I had brothers and uncles and cousins who made items, also, and none of their items ever were perfect. Homemade crafts just cannot be perfect, because they are NOT made by machines! So the next time you look at a homemade item and find a flaw, just grin and say, "I know that you were made with love and patience, and not by some assembly-line machine!" And treasure that treasure that you have, because it is the only one of its kind in existence!

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