This is a simple question with a complex answer.

The following words are from an essay entitled “A Balanced Yarn” written by Lexi Boeger of pluckyfluff.  You can find the full version in her artfully written instruction book entitled Intertwined:  The Art of Handspun Yarns, Modern Patterns, and Creative Spinning. While this particular essay pertains specifically to handspun yarn, the message easily translates to any handcrafted items  made with care, precision, and skill.

~ A Balanced Yarn ~

by Lexi Boeger

Handspun yarns are made by conscious beings, not unconscious machines.  This imbues them  with an internal energy, giving them character and uniqueness.  Each yarn is a reflection of the individual spinner who made it.  It is this quality that makes handspun yarn so amazing to work with.  As you work through a skein, you can see, inch by inch, the decisions that the spinner made.  It passes before you just like a story.

Though a spinner’s individuality is reflected in a yarn, the process the yarn goes through reaches beyond the individual spinner.  The spinner is just one stop on a journey, one in which the yarn is perpetually destined for new hands.  When you wrap yourself in a scarf made with handspun yarn, you can trace each stitch the knitter made.  This connects you to the knitter though his or her work, just as the knitter is connected ot the spinner through theirs.  The yarn passed through the knitter’s fingers just as it passed through the hand of the spinner; the fiber passed through the hand of the spinnner just as it passed through the hand of the person who dyed it, and so on through the hand of the farmer who raised the animal, sheared it, and washed it.

This phenomenon joins togther hands through a single strand that stretches across spaces and through time.  The yarn becomes a bond that connects separate people into a collaborative group, all working toward a common creation.  The final form that the yarn takes is not the work of one artisan, but the synthesis of many.

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

The work of an artisan is not slave labor.  It is a statement against slave labor.  It honors and embraces the spirit of both the creator and the soul for whom the item was intended.  It is more than the act of putting pieces together and giving it a fancy name.  It is a sense of intention merged with years of dedication and skill that has culminated into the item that you see before you.

Does handmade make it good?  Not necessarily.

Here are a few basic aspects to look for and to consider when shopping for quality handmade items:

• What kind of fabric has been used to create this item? Ecologically sound fabrics such as hemp, soy, low water immersion dyed, bamboo, and organic cost significantly more because the pesticide-ridden cotton industry has destroyed the market for sustainably raised crops.
• What kind of techniques have been employed to create this item? Was the fabric dyed by hand?  Was it cut by hand?  Was it designed by the person who is selling the item?
• What kind of reputation does the seller have? Positive feedback and happy clientele are worth their weight in gold.
• Are you buying the item online from a carefully written description with clear and accurate photos? These elements take a significant amount of time to create as well.

Pay attention to the details.  The purpose of websites like Etsy and Artfire is to make it easy for small, independent artists to find the people who are willing to pay extra for items made with integrity from carefully selected materials.  If it doesn’t make your jaw drop, it probably isn’t for you.  And if it does, then you better be ready.