when I'm working on that kind of project, it's frustrating that I have to stick with it, I can't go work on another project or something for ME
Yep, exactly. It's why I don't knit for sale (though I have made lots [literally dozens] of scarves and have sold some and bartered some and am still happy to do so). Knitting what interests me at any given moment allows me to enjoy the work - and it *is* work, whether a labor of love or whatever.
Same thing with music. I'm glad I have a day job that pays the bills, so that I can do music, my "art", on MY terms, and not have to play smoke-filled bars just to make the rent.
Trying to explain this to people who don't do and have never done any kind of time-intensive "craft" work, is indeed tough. Thinking about this, though, perhaps a couple of analogies would help... knitting is kind of like highway construction on a small scale - lots of prep time, materials gathering, building up bit by bit... all for something that people will drive over in minutes or seconds, without hardly thinking about the work that went into it.
Or, a shorter version: Rome wasn't built in a day. And a lot of it *was* built with slave labor.
Throughout centuries many beautiful things have been produced, not at a "fair" wage, but at a pittance if that, or by indentured people or slaves. That doesn't make them any less beautiful - but it does make it hard to calculate their "true" worth.
Bottom line: time is money. At least, in the world you and I inhabit.
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Date: 2006-01-19 09:14 pm (UTC)Yep, exactly. It's why I don't knit for sale (though I have made lots [literally dozens] of scarves and have sold some and bartered some and am still happy to do so). Knitting what interests me at any given moment allows me to enjoy the work - and it *is* work, whether a labor of love or whatever.
Same thing with music. I'm glad I have a day job that pays the bills, so that I can do music, my "art", on MY terms, and not have to play smoke-filled bars just to make the rent.
Trying to explain this to people who don't do and have never done any kind of time-intensive "craft" work, is indeed tough. Thinking about this, though, perhaps a couple of analogies would help... knitting is kind of like highway construction on a small scale - lots of prep time, materials gathering, building up bit by bit... all for something that people will drive over in minutes or seconds, without hardly thinking about the work that went into it.
Or, a shorter version: Rome wasn't built in a day. And a lot of it *was* built with slave labor.
Throughout centuries many beautiful things have been produced, not at a "fair" wage, but at a pittance if that, or by indentured people or slaves. That doesn't make them any less beautiful - but it does make it hard to calculate their "true" worth.
Bottom line: time is money. At least, in the world you and I inhabit.