Transforming Traditional Crafts
Originally, CRAFT magazine was supposed to be a one-off craft-themed issue of MAKE magazine, featuring some of the cool but "craftier" DIY projects that enthusiastic readers sent in.
For instance, Ph.D student Leah Buechley from University of Colorado at Boulder sent us photos of her programmable LED tank top that flashes the Game of Life. This project definitely has the elements of a MAKE project- it involves soldering, LED technology, and programming. But there are also craft elements that don't quite jibe with MAKE's harder--edged sensibility; it requires a sewing machine, sewing skills, fabric, and a pattern. And unlike the projects in MAKE, where the end result is more about function that form, it's essential for this project to be as aesthetically attractive as it is useful.
We also received a bunch of simpler projects that made MAKES's DIY tech flavor but, again, also involved "craftier" skills, materials, and an emphasis on the visual outcome. Some of these include hacking action figures, knitting steel medieval armor, making notebooks out of floppy disks, and building lamps out of vintage kitchenware.
While we were putting our CRAFT issue together, we became aware of the exploding craft movement taking place all around us. This DIY renaissance embraces crafts while pushing them beyond traditional boundaries, either through technology, irony, irreverence, and creative recycling, or by using innovative materials and processes.
Crafters are creating websites like Craftster, Get Crafty, Crafty Chica, The Anti-Craft, The Church of Craft, Sew Darn Cute, Hobby Princess, Extreme Craft, The Craft Mafias, The Switchboards, SuperNaturale, and KnitKnit to build community, exchange ideas, and sell their projects. They're also networking at real-life craft/DIY fairs like Bazaar Bizarre, Renegade Craft Fair, Swap-O-Rama-Rama, and Felt Club.
When MAKE had it's first Maker Faire in San Mateo, Calif., last April, we were blown away by the attention our special craft areas received. An excited crowd swarmed our craft demonstrations (like how to use a Gocco printing machine), our tech-geek-meets-haute-couture fashion show (featuring Diana Eng's amazing clothing), and craft booths that offered handmade treasures such as reed switch necklaces, skull-patterned baby clothes, one-eyed monster dolls, espresso-charged soap, and scads of other items.
It was during the Faire that we decided to turn CRAFT into its own quarterly magazine - a sister publication to MAKE. This first issue of CRAFT has over 20 projects, including how to make an LED shirt, how to embroider a skateboard, how to convert a dud pair of shoes into awesome knitted boots, and how to make a felted iPod cocoon.
Beyond projects, CRAFT is also filled with features on topics such as crocheting math equations and the fascination with knitted robots, zombies, and other creepy-cute creatures.
The new craft movement encourages people to make things themselves rather than buy what thousands of others already own. It provides new venues for crafters to show and sell their wares, and it offers original, unusual, alternative, and better-made goods to consumers who choose not to fall in step with mainstream commerce. Crafting empowers people by allowing them to create something useful. If you need something, just make it yourself. And make sure you check out craftzine.com for more crafty resources.
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