craft blog as domestic fantasy
By Heather on Monday, July 31st, 2006
Keeping a craft blog is not easy. I just published a post over at Whipup.net that I had been composing for a little while for tips on starting a craft blog. One of the comments so far mentions how you should talk about yourself and your life on your blog… and I think this is an interesting point… I think there is a certain amount of utopian-vision in a craft blog, and an idealized domestic fantasy. Is it all bad?
In a ‘bad mood’ moment, Scratch Craft boldly said she was jealous of the ‘big craft blogs’.
“I have just decided that I hate, no loathe, crafty girly blogs. I’m starting to question what was it about those blogs that made me want to start my own. I get so jealous of the big craft blog girls, they make amazing things and maintain the site. And of course you read their profile and it’s some stay at home mom, which just makes me wonder where do they get the time?”
I know what she means about the SAH (stay at home) craft blogs. I’ve lived in a house with four children, and I know what turmoil that is, so you have to wonder how they can do it all? I suppose in other ways I’m jealous too. I would love to be raising a family, and decorating a house and generally nesting… but that is not the direction I pointed myself in so many years ago.
I work full-time, study japanese, live in Japan (so try to do required touristing), live with my boyfriend, try and cook and bake at home, make the place homey, socialize as often as i can, and try to veg as much as I can, and I write on a couple blogs…. so it’s hard to balance it all. I crochet in all the little cracks and spaces in between but I’m not as prolific as I would like to be.
And on top of that posting online takes alot of time. Before I make a post on a topic, I look online to see what others might have said, so I can link to them. All this ‘research’ takes alot of time.
And on top of that, I’ve probably been too impersonal and dry, and created some utopian vision of creativity and making things. It’s all too much to bear.
Through Michelle of Green Kitchen I saw this article Touch the Spindle wrote about the way craft blogs show a kind of smoothed over image of life.
“I notice, as I read through several (million) blogs out there, a dearth of, well… reality. Is it the nature of craft bloggers (especially the “popular” ones, you know who they are) to just kind of skip over the sticky bits of life? I wonder about what is really going on sometimes…maybe we blog to create a world we most desire, or as an escape, or (in my case) as a way to re - invent ourselves as we would prefer others to see us. Is everyone really so skinny, happy, satisfied, creative and fulfilled? In any case, there’s a lot missing about messy relationships, addictions, resentments and other darkness. I think the silence is deafening.”
I thought that was very true. The craft world is more product-focused. I guess for me, I see this blog as a showcase and focus for my crafting specifically, so I don’t have alot of other personal info on it as well. I can see now that I don’t want to be projecting any image of a perfect life in anyway.
But I don’t know if I feel that comfortable sharing personal intricacies. I don’t want to share trials and tribulations of my family and friends (since it’s not my business to share). I am a person here though, and I do try and share my process here… I just don’t know what the boundaries should be.
If anyone has read my blog and thought I was projecting some kind of domestic fantasy, I promise I didn’t mean to. 
August 1st, 2006 at 12:13 am
I’m sure I am not going to be the first person to reply and say that most of us probably feel exactly the same way you do and it is great that you are writing about it. I think the thing about craft blogs is that we mostly write about, well, Crafting! And yes, I get jealous of the popular crafters with their amazing projects and SAHM multi-tasking capabilities but I try not to compare myself too much to them. My blog has gotten away from crafting lately but once things in my life are a little more settled I plan on getting back to it - but like you, I don’t feel comfortable writing about the trials and tribulations of my friends and family because it isn’t really my place to do so. I would feel like I had to get their approval to do so and it is easier to just keep it to myself. Also, I don’t want to write something in the heat of anger or frustration that could possibly hurt someones feelings - that’s what my paper journal is for, to work out those frustrations and not air them out for all to see. Of course, I doubt anyone would call my blog a domestic fantasy but some people have comment on the fact that my husband and I seem to never fight and love each other way too much (as if there can be a “too much”) and it isn’t that he doesn’t drive me nuts occassionaly but I made a promise to myself years ago that if I had a problem with him I would tell Him and run to my blog and tell everyone else first. (And by everyone else I mean the 6 people who read it).
Great entry. It’s nice to know that there are others out there who feel the same.
August 1st, 2006 at 2:23 am
I am glad you wrote this post and the post over at Whip Up, too. I often read posts full of self-doubt from various crafty bloggers who wonder why they continue to keep a blog. I think that setting goals for your blog is really the most important thing. Putting forth an image of domestic bliss aka Martha Stewart is an important goal for some people I think. I think that for me my crafty blog is all about documenting what I’ve made and what I’m thinking about making. Taking pretty pictures is nice, too, and a bit here and there about my family, but really it is a record of what goes on in my studio. Blogging keeps me crafting and crafting keeps me blogging.
August 1st, 2006 at 2:27 am
What a thought-provoking post. I think a lot of the “big” blogs, with the styled photos, downloadable patterns, etc., reflect on the pressure to Martha Sttewartize every aspect of life. This “new domesticity” of every room looking like a photo shoot and a vase of sparse-but-artful flowers on the kitchen table is just as demanding as the “old domesticity” of aprons and high heels. Maybe this comes from crafting being a way we can express control over an aspect of our environment, showing the world the parts we are most proud of, instead of the parts where the threads are all unraveling, metaphorically. Maybe it’s part of that old competition between women, a virtual, subconscious “my house is better/cleaner/cuter than yours.”
I find myself conflicted between the “look at me and what I did” aspect of blogging and the incredible community-building of blogging. Maybe being impersonal detracts from the community. But I think you’re right, each blog author should only share what they feel comfortable sharing. Which is kind of the way it is in real life, there is always one person who will talk more than the others. A blogger’s personality comes through their writing, even if they don’t tell us about the time their second cousin’s roommate’s uncles dog did that one thing to the rhododendrons!
Erm, sorry about commenting in novel form! Thanks for the thinking material.
August 1st, 2006 at 3:51 am
Heather,
This is a very interesting topic. I always struggle with how much of myself or the people around me should I write about in my blog. I usually try to focus in my projects, try to show what I made or what I’m making to see what other people think, I often get good ideas about how to finish projects that I am still working on and that I don’t know how to finish. As I said in Whipup, I kind of like to talk a bit about myself here and there because I like to know a bit about who I’m reading, it just seems more familiar to me…but as you mentioned, is it all real? is it just the image you want others to believe? well I am not sure about that, probably, I guess we all select what we say and don’t say about ourselves, so that’s already a bias image, but in my case I always try to be true to who I am. I’m am definetely not related to Martha Stewart ha! Funny thing Heather, I just posted today in my blog about my life in Japan.
August 1st, 2006 at 6:11 am
i love this post. i struggle with that, too. and i struggle with deciding whether i should get something completed or photograph each step. i usually choose the work, and lots of stuff never gets posted because of it.
i love the sticky bits in blogs, which is why i mess red current’s blog so much. she wrote intensely and wonderfully about her happiness and hard times being a wife and a mom. it always felt real.
August 1st, 2006 at 7:28 am
I think about some of these things every time I go to post. How much to share, what to leave in or out. I worry that I am not a very ‘open’ blogger.
Also, since becoming a SAHM I have felt alot of competition, through the blog world and the real world. The “raising a family. and decorating the house, and generally nesting” is so not the world I know. I envy the lifestyle and capacity of those cafty stay at home mums aswell. I am still at a loss as to how they do it, I would still love it if I could reach their crafty capacity but I am afraid that my life is mostly just about getting through another day. Domestic goddess I am not but thank you for helping me feel a bit more normal!
Great post!
Great post!
August 1st, 2006 at 7:32 am
oops!
“Great post!” was only supposed to be typed once……comment goddess I am obviously not either.
August 1st, 2006 at 8:11 am
What you wrote in this post is stuff I have said to my boyfriend so many times about what I refer to as the “craft blog mafia”! Not only are they predominantly stay at home moms, but most of them had art/design related careers before choosing to stay at home. It’s sort of funny for someone like me to try to compare my crafts to theirs when I work full time in a field very far away from art/design.
August 1st, 2006 at 10:15 am
Thanks, Heather - well said! I’m getting so fed up I’m thinking about ditching the blog altogether, but I’m taking most of August off before I decide, and then see how I feel. I mean, I don’t share my inner life with my friends and family, I sure can’t do it on a blog.
August 1st, 2006 at 1:13 pm
I want to thank you so much for this post! I am a big craft blog reader (I don’t have one) and if often dawns on me that either I am a lazy slug and a slob, or some of these blogs are a bit glossed over. I do think it’s possible to strike a balance between sharing intimate details of your life and acting like everything in your house has a custom made crocheted cover and butterflies fly around you as you tend to your three super well behaved kids.
I know they are crafty blogs, obviously focused on crafts, but we want to be able to relate to these people, don’t we?
(I’d secretly love to know who everyone is referring to when they talk about the ‘popular’ craft blogs!)
August 2nd, 2006 at 1:49 am
wow-so much here to think about and comment on. .
I do think that everyone has a different style and that respecting that all crafters blog in the way they feel comfortable doing so is so important. I personally don’t dig using a lot of photos of myself or my kids on my blog-I didn’t feel that way at first, but I do for right now-and it may seem less personal, but I have to trust my gut an this type of thing. . .
I know that for me-being a stay at home mom while tring to work as an artist-the blog had been amazing and wonderfully supportive-but it is hard to know that others dont’ feel that way or that competition/popularity seems to be a undercurrent.
All I know is what my reality is-which is that I love knowing I can share and communicate with other crafters who are over the age of 4 during the day. . and that’s right there is enough. (and craft mafia-yikes!! that’s pretty harsh!)
August 2nd, 2006 at 9:52 am
thank you all for the really interesting comments, and showing a wide range of thoughts. also, thanks amy for saying that. i was a bit taken aback too, ‘mafia’ LOL. but i guess because i echoed the singling-out of the SAH blogs in the quote, i brought on the topic.
i probably would not have used those words myself, and in fact, my point is more- how do people manage the time? i’m glad that hilary (from wee wonderfuls) mentions this in detail in her FAQ, i guess she really was asked this alot. where do you find the time?
like rose says… i don’t think i can share alot of personal things. and if that makes the blog seem cold, i’m sad.
in my way, i think that my own blog here, makingtime, is literally about making time for making things. because i’m living a full life and i never say ‘no’.
actually what i wanted to say with my post here was, is it all that bad to have one place to show off your work, and have it be nice, and stress-free? and maybe a little slice of utopia?
August 2nd, 2006 at 10:37 am
Living in Japan you can imagine that I am happy about this one place of mine where I can try to let it look different than at home. I so much regret that I have no other place where the things I make look as good as on my blog. At home they just drown.
Utopia? I don’t know. I think it’s very natural not to show the ’shady sides’ all the time. Most people close the door to their bedrooms when they have guests (at least in Germany, where I am from) - also a kind of utopia?
Interesting post!
By the way, I don’t think you’re sounding impersonal and dry.
August 2nd, 2006 at 11:21 am
fantastic post, thank you. i struggle with this, and now post much less often because of it….
i go back and forth on how i feel about the ‘utopian’ blogs, and on how much personal info i want to read/write. i think it depends on the blogger — some, i just like to go and look and learn, some write in a way that i really enjoy, and i guess there are a few who do both.
and i’m with alex, you definitely don’t sound dry or impersonal!
August 2nd, 2006 at 1:42 pm
I really like this post. I guess because it relates to what I’ve been thinking about recently - is there a ‘look’ to the popular blogs that somehow mine lacks? Is there a sorta ‘domestic goddess steriotype’ that we’re ummm ‘meant’ to aspire to? Because even in my imaginary perfect house, in an imaginary perfect life, it’d still look pretty much student grunge & have too much clashing red & orange & no beige, no pastels nor other recommended colours
August 2nd, 2006 at 8:17 pm
I came here via Whip Up, and I want to say how much I enjoyed to read this post. It is written brilliantly. I often wonder about those crafters, they seem to live a beautiful life, with a beautiful family, home and plenty enough time to create and design. Those blogs make me addicted to read more and more about their life-style, it often seems to be the “dream” living and most desireable for me. On the other side they make me feel so tiny, my own simple knittings and sewings so meaningless compared to theirs, and when I am posting I always think “who, the hell, is interested in all this rubbish things you are thinking and doing”. And to be surrounded by all this busy blogs, I often feel very lazy and without any fantasy. But I LOVE all this blogs, they inspire me, they make me want to use my own creativity, I like the way they are writing, the way they show tutorials and the way they tell their personal thoughts, inspirations, designs and recipes. Yes it would be nice if they also let us now a bit about the messy behind their blogs, but I also love them for their perfect world, they make me try to improve my own world to a better and brighter one with more happy moments to recognize than without them. And I also love this community with so many helping hands and friendly words, advices from wonderful and talented women I would have never got to know without blogland, encourage and the feeling, that I am not the only one who loves to do things by hand. And I am thankful that they find time enough to post so much, to share with us and let us be proud again about often forgotten female, domestic “arts”.
Thank you for writing this post and reminding me, although it´s often time consuming, how wonderful blogging and posting is.
Greetings from Germany,
Suzi
August 3rd, 2006 at 1:54 am
:) Lest anyone think that we are ALL trying to portray Utopia, I for one am proud to show my messes and lack of organization to the world. Allow me to direct you here:
Mess, Disorder, Scatterbrainedness
August 3rd, 2006 at 4:00 am
Very thought provoking post, and even more thought provoking comments. I think that too many of us spend too much time comparing our insides to other people’s outsides. As a craft blogger, SAHM, and artist with a looming deadline, I use my blog to share my trials and tribulations and connect with like-minded people I might not get the chance to meet in my regular life. I find it has helped me tremendously to get out of the vaccuum I often work in. I also know that my real life is all about the messy parts, so I don’t want or need to share that with the general public. My blog is about my art, not my relationships; and I suspect, based on the comments here and the “squeeky clean” blogs, that there’s a lot of similar thinking out there. I close the bedroom door when guests come over, and I crop out the mess I haven’t cleaned when I blog. In fact, that’s how I find the time to blog — I forgo many household chores!
August 3rd, 2006 at 4:44 am
Finally someone has said what I’ve been thinking. Some of the popular crafty bloggers just seem to be able to do it all with very little effort, and since I’ve lived a lot longer than many of them, I know it doesn’t always work that way! They don’t have any more hours in the day than anyone else but maybe they do have some kind of help. I can’t imagine trying to sew, knit, craft, keep an eye on one or more kids, while running a household, and sometimes a business without one of those things suffering just a bit. I don’t like my life to be so smooth that there are no exciting bumps in the road! Too much organization can be very dull. I’ll take my unorganized, sometimes unproductive life any day because I have the luxury of failing or succeeding. I enjoy blogging for the fun of it, and for “meeting” lots of interesting people. If and when I do anything crafty I like to share it but other times if I haven’t done anything then I just “talk” about life in general. A blog has each person’s own individual stamp on it, and mine might be a bit smudged around the edges!!
(Thanks for visiting my blog. I went through the whole month of July and couldn’t find a previous comment by you so I hope I answered. When comments don’t have a way to reply through email then I usually do it in my own comments section.)
August 3rd, 2006 at 10:05 am
I really love this post. I love it because it addresses so many things which I know I grapple with when blogging. I try very hard to balance the crap which goes on behind the scenes, and the cathartic nature of the work I do. I can’t labour the point though, in each and every post, about how amazed I am whenever I do get something finished, or that I was so happy to have 2 hours in my week that I could craft. It’s incredibly hard to get the time and space to do it in my life, but I make the choice to find that time, somewhere. Every now and then I do try and post something which suggests the mess behind me - the child left alone with chocolate milk, the piles of mess around me, the fact the house hasn’t been cleaned. I do think it’s important that side of things is shown - I am human. I try and do that throughout my life - I tell the truth about motherhood, about the stress of work, about a child who is sometimes nice, and sometimes a pain. Not everything is positive, or cute. To pretend otherwise is a disservice to every woman out there.
August 3rd, 2006 at 2:41 pm
Sure, craft blogs can be espcapist fantasies–for reader and writer both. But that’s the nature of the beast. This is, for many people, a highly-edited form; a non-fiction that rides the brink of fiction. You tell the good and keep the bad or unhappy for the people who know all the back story.
For me, my weblog is a way to show what I’m making and sometimes how it gets made. Lately I’ve been feeling an impluse to let on what the rest of my life is like and that’s difficult–negotiating privacy with myself. On one hand are many sweet and kind and interesting people I’ve had the pleasure to ‘meet’; on the other is the dignity of having my separate, ‘real’ life. The conflict, the weariness, the despair–if it comes rigth down to it–are the points where I stop writing. I never regret the chummy, funny, sweet stuff. I might, the others.
And as far as having time–being a grad student might have helped with the flexy schedule, but I think it’s mainly not watching t.v. and never going out. Sigh. Is it too dark and dorky to admit my favorite Friday nigth activity is sewing from 5 p.m. on?
Thanks for this post! Hope the discussion can continue as civilly as it has.
August 3rd, 2006 at 8:02 pm
Oh my goodness so much thought provoking stuff written here and in the comments. I totally agree with what everyone is saying. For me blogging is about creating community, it’s a place to share ideas, get comments on what you’ve made, compliment others, get inspiration and share materials etc. I’m a SAHM and have been for over 12 years now and if I didn’t make things I think I would go nuts. It’s something that I do for myself and I certainly don’t do much else for myself. But it’s lonely just making things by yourself and in the absence of having a group of women sitting around the table all making, chatting, sewing the blog fills this. It’s my replacement for just that. Now around the table you would share more personal stuff ofcourse but I’m conscious that the blog doesn’t have a safety zone. It’s open to anyone and I mean anyone. You could google post-natal depression and be led to something that I posted and whilst it may be great for that person I’m a bit nervous that anyone can read my stuff.
When I first started I decided to have a boundary of not sharing too much personal stuff (cos I can be apt to do that) but I decided that it was OK to share my feelings about things sometimes. So I wrote about the lonliness of being in a nuclear family but otherwise I generally blog about what I’ve made. I don’t want anyone reading my blog to think I have the perfect life because I don’t. I argue with my husband, my daughter’s hormones are playing havoc and there’s a lot of shouting and screaming, I’m overweight and unhappy about that, I feel guilty about neglecting the children to write my blog or make things, I shout too, the kitchen floor gets mopped about twice a year…… Do other people really want to know all this? I read blogs for their creative/craft content and if I can find out a bit more about that person fine but I don’t want to know too much either.
I also think that we suffer from the ‘perfect mother’ syndrome too. Most of us don’t feel like we are the perfect (earth) mother but we think that other women are so we knock them to make us feel better or certainly to stop us from feeling inadequate.
You’ve certainly made me think though about why I blog, what I want to share and the image I’m projecting. Thanks.
August 4th, 2006 at 12:05 am
I think the truth lies somewhere in between. i agree, it’s very difficult to read blog after blog coming from (very talented) women who seem to have the perfect life - but i’m sure a lot of them are just like most of us - just don’t want to share the “nasty bits”. i know i don’t talk about a lot the problems i need to deal with these days. haven’t we all seen a blogger take a hiatus or “disappear” because she/he had stuff to sort out they wanted to keep for themselves? blogland is so huge it’s natural for many of us not to want to share. i really don’t think anyone is trying to “fake” a perfect life, especially not in order to piss the rest of us off.
yes, it sometimes seems like some bloggers have really got it going for them, creating lots of stuff non stop, and have a perfect husband/kids/house/studio. but i doubt that’s th reality 100% of the time. if there are any craft bloggers out there who really do “lie” about what’s going on in their life - i think they’re missing the point behind blogging - they’re not truely being themselves.
August 4th, 2006 at 5:46 pm
oh… thank you very much! this was real an opening in my mind! i’m not a stay at home mum but want to dive in the craft world too!
i’m a mum of two, we both, me and my husband, work four days in a week, so that my children only have to go two days in a week to the kindergarden!
when i’m at home with them a can’t do any craft, i simply don’t have time for. home is first , with cleaning, shopping, cooking and the most important playing with my children.
i have a nice job as an urban designer but sometimes wish to be a stay at home mum and craft all day long, but how in gods name is that possible? do the ‘big crafsters’ have helpers or live in a lie? you cannot race your child in front of the television, a clean home 20 minutes a day, right?
i’m only able to do some craft at night and not every day! i’m still fascinated about the so named big crafsters, i just wanted to see the all picture, a real schedule, how do they manage!
regards
August 5th, 2006 at 5:37 am
thanks, heather, for the whip-up post. obviously it stirred up a lot of thoughts and emotions for many, myself included.
i have to speak up for the stay-at-home-moms, though. not all of us are at home purely to make things, and not all of us have design degrees from pre-kid lives. And, as Amy said, there doesn’t have to be some sort of competitive undercurrent- if you don’t identify with what you see, dig a little deeper and look for another blog that suits you better.
I visit the high-traffic craft blogs for inspiration. I don’t ever feel challenged by them to have amazing pictures (my camera stinks!), produce craft every day (3 kids during the day under 4!), or be skinny (HA!). I love that they share their talents and ideas with me, and so I visit. To each his own, so the saying goes.
August 6th, 2006 at 1:31 am
I have just read your blog, then re-read mine and I think I made me sound like a domestic goddess, but i’m not!!
I talk about scrubbing the floor (it was filthy but didnt mention that in the blog!) baking buns (I eat too many and it shows, definately didn’t mention that!) and showed pics of things i had made (but didnt show pics of the mess i had left behind, cotton thread literally stuck to carpet, fabric “artistically” over every surface. In fact no clear surfaces anywhere. But I don’t blog that. I only blog once its clean and sparkly!!
Perhaps we blog readers like to believe there are domestic goddesses out there when really we are all not!! Time to read between the lines OR always aim for domestic goddess status and enjoy the fact that blogging can make you feel like that! What ever the truth I love crafty blogs and I love showing what I do because it helps make me actually do stuff. feel free to visit my blog paper-and-string dot blogspot dot com and be safe in the knowledge that i am not a goddess but in fact am slightly lazy, eat too many buns and live in a crafty mess!!!!
August 7th, 2006 at 4:49 am
I probably should read the comments before commenting myself, but that takes time (consider this apologies in advance).; ) I think crafty blogs are meant to be just that. I assume (and perhaps I shouldn’t) that many out there have separate outlets or blogs for talking about the personal, messy details of life.
August 7th, 2006 at 7:18 am
Hey, thanks for quoting me. I thought I was the only one!
And frankly Scarlett, I don’t give a damn if I can’t fit into a skirt made out of a pillowcase.
Thanks again.
A.
August 8th, 2006 at 7:03 am
This post, and all of the comments following, have been extremely insightful and great to read. I love hearing everyone’s opinion! Lots of good stuff here. I was going to put in my two bits but thought I’d just write a wee post on it for my own readers (but mostly just for myself). Thanks a lot for putting this out there!
August 9th, 2006 at 2:10 am
Great post!
As a person who doesn’t keep a very chatty blog myself, I don’t mind that others don’t share a lot about their personal lives. In fact, I prefer it. Having said that, I do appreciate bloggers who show the chaos and screw-ups along with what inspires them and, finally, the beautiful or interesting things they make.
I don’t know, there is something a bit off-putting for me about everything presented on a blog being “styled” to nth degree–that’s fine for a magazine, but my favorite blogs are about process, not visions of a fantasy lifestyle. I find the latter are attractive at first, but, before long, I start to drift away because they’re about as exciting as looking at a catalog–no matter how pretty, it just gets stale.
August 11th, 2006 at 6:24 am
I feel like letting out a huge sigh (in fact, I did) after reading this post. I spend so much time browsing through crafty blogs and saying “Why can’t my life be like that?” but now I realize…my life probably is like that…on the surface at least!
It’s hard to remember that not every one is what they appear to be on their blogs. Even I tend to come across as a well put-together working (outside of the home) mom with all my t’s crossed and my i’s dotted. Bah.
Thanks for this post!
August 11th, 2006 at 6:48 pm
Interesting post although I have no wish to be a domestic goddess.
I chose to craft and blog because it stimulates the creative side of me which my techie job does not afford.
It is equally challenging to work and find the time to craft/blog.
Who cares if what you craft is not “as good” or if you are not happy divulging personal stuff. To each her own, I say. Blogging is for yourself first and foremost. The best blogs are the ones where the author her/himself is most comfortable with.
Just to add to amanda’s comment:
“predominantly stay at home moms, but most of them had art/design related careers before choosing to stay at home”
— Okay, I am a newbie craftster so my observation could be wrong but it also seems like they either have a partner who is a computer whizz or a photographer.
2 cents and happy blogging and crafting to everyone.
August 16th, 2006 at 7:41 am
Just went back and read the other comments on this post. I suppose I could have just as easily inserted the word “clique” or “club” in my comment instead of “mafia.” What I was trying to convey is the sense of “insiderness” and “outsiderness” that is evident in any/all communities including the craft blog community. And I just commented on the demographic that seems to dominate the “popular” blogs.
Hell, I’m probably just jealous…
September 29th, 2006 at 9:38 pm
I’m with Alison on this issue - it is hard,mostly to find the hours to puruse art/crafty things - but I make the decision to find that time. I just don’t want to bore everyone else with the details everytime I have something new to “show off”! (look at me , LOOK AT MEEEEE!!!!!!!).
I don’t mind giving a glimpse of some of the mess of my everyday life but I don’t feel the need to throw open all of those doors on the not -so -under-control areas of my existence.Just enough so you can understand why that jumper has two left sleeves…..
I quite like your idea Heather, of my blog being my own little piece of Utopia …..my blog, my choice!
I continued this rant over at my own Utopian blog..didn’t want to bore you silly here because I could go on for hours…thanks for the thought provoking post
September 29th, 2006 at 11:20 pm
Wow, this post was great as well as the comments. This was the kind of thing I was struggling with before the summer. Then all summer I did not have access to a computer, and it was so refreshing.
Just like summer during high school. The pressure of fitting in, keeping up, and taking gosh darn “perfect” photos was lifted. But what I came to realize, is that I want to blog for me. A personal journal of mine, for me. If I get any comments, any lurkers that is okay, but for me it is a web log for me. I love the fact that my family and friends that don’t live next door can share, but this is a personal accounting for me. Well can I say the word me again! hahahahaha
There is no doubt of a “clique” out there. But you hold the power to be knowing that, by surfing. Heck that is how I wound up here. And I surf because it gives me inpsiration, and sense of community, even if I stand on the outside of the playground.
And whether you choose to accept the perfect “natural light” pics of stuffed animals, resting on coordinating fabric, next to a yard sale coffee mug, as a depiction of a perfect life, perfect SAH mom, with perfect children, constantly wearing handmade clothes, and doing the perfect crafts……as a perfect life, well is up to you.
I think I have said enough. This topic doesn’t seem to go away, but I have found some peace, and I hope others do too. Try to enjoy what you do, enjoy what you see and be true to yourself.
October 4th, 2006 at 10:19 pm
Here’s a thought…Maybe, there are different types of crafty bloggers in this world?
Do we all have to blog about the same things equally just because we all enjoy similar crafty endevours?
Maybe some people blog just to INSPIRE what they have created and to receive feedback and comments….and even sell the odd creation!
Maybe some people like to blog about the wonderful crafts they are ATTEMPTING to create, but end up blogging about the ins and outs of their day because that’s just life.
Maybe some people like to blog about their day/family/life and when they have a little extra time they post a beautiful picture of something wonderful or not so wonderful that they have created, regardless of how good a photo it is.
Is this tall poppy syndrome that I am detecting?
I visit all types of blogs. At the end of the day (literally) it doesn’t make a difference if someone has a design/art backgound or is an accountant.
I love those high end bloggers with beautiful images/crafty creations. They inspire me.
I love those regular ‘look at what I did last night’ blogs. They also inspire me.
I don’t care if people have help with their kids in order to create something wonderful or if people stay up ’til midnight finishing a WIP after potty training their kids, doing shcool runs, working part-time and getting up at 3 because their child is teething. Both can be equally inspiring blogs to look at.
Life is different for us all. Some people have more hours in the day and others have less. I personally would prefer more, but I’m not going to get jealous over someone’s blog!
IF someone can be successful with a skill or ability regardless of what their life entails or how they choose to share the details with the rest of the world, then go for it.
This has been a interesting topic, thanks for getting us thinking.
October 5th, 2006 at 7:09 pm
I agree with Tiel above. Blog envy is a waste of time. And why should we judge what other people do or how they do it? Isn’t this the beauty of the internet? Freedom of speech? Ok, if somebody annoy us we could always choose not the ‘read’ them anymore, right?
There are no rules. Blogging it’s meant to be fun. I do it because it kicks me up the ass and gets me doing things otherwise I wouldn’t do. I learn from other people, I feel inspired by them.
Let’s not be petty and simply enjoy all the beautiful things out there!
December 19th, 2006 at 11:33 pm
I completely agree with Monica and Tiel’s comments. There is no “mafia” or “clique”! This is just in the minds of the un-polished bloggers who are feeling inadequate if their blogs don’t match up to the high traffic blogs.
I do think it’s jealousy. Its like the celebrity thing - they look perfect and seem to have everything and you get normal people slating them and finding joy in pointing out their flaws (like circled sweat stains in trashy magazine photos!) to make themselves feel better.
I adore many blogs, both polished and slap-dash. It’s up to you how you do your blog, you just do it the way that makes you happy!
December 24th, 2006 at 6:31 am
Thank you for this post! All the comments are truly interesting and fun to read. When I first started blogging I found myself jealous of people like Heather Bailey and Hilary Lang, but I realized that actually I’m all the more inspired to achieve my dreams the way they have, and because of the way I am creating my life, I give myself the opportunity to create my craft and craft my dreams. We all have skills and gifts and they are expressed in different ways. Maybe my photos won’t ever look as good as Heather’s (who I think gets help from her photographer husband) and maybe nobody will ever want to make a softie from one of my softie patterns, and maybe I’ll keep posting my blog and not receive comments sometimes, and that’s fine. We have to remind ourselves why we blog and why we read blogs, and that’s the only way we’ll ever find satisfaction and fullfilment. I actually kind of feel sad for “Touch of the Spindle”: maybe many of us really ARE “so skinny, happy, satisfied, creative and fulfilled.” Maybe many of us don’t have any “messy relationships, addictions, resentments and other darkness” to write about and that’s why these things are not found in some our blogs. If she wants to be exposed to those things, she can watch daytime tv and come back to reading blogs when she’s had enough of that. Personally I think that the happy Martha Stewart-esque girly blogs are bringing light and inspiration into an all too dark world.
May 1st, 2007 at 7:46 pm
I totally know what you mean. I find myself wondering how they do it all. But on the other hand, all those blogs are truly beautiful and inspiring, in a way that smaller-time crafty bloggers (myself included) can only aspire to. That inspiration has been valuable to me.
I also appreciate the lightness of the blogs and the lack of personal information. I mean, really, who wants to read some rambling rant about some fight with her husband over washing the dishes? None of these celeb-crafters would claim that their lives are full of constant joy and sunshine. But they chose to devote their blogs to the positive, and not air their family’s private struggles on the internet. It’s a craft blog, not Riki Lake.
It’s important to remember that these people are only choosing to showcase very certain, filtered areas of their lives, and as such, their blogs are only representative of those aspects, not of their whole existence. I assume that they get frustrated with their children, break the needle in their sewing machine, and get pap smears, but I don’t really want to hear about it.
I agree with Alison - a bit of brighteness and sunny domesticity is a good thing these days, taken in the right context.
May 18th, 2007 at 4:52 pm
How ironic… I haven’t written in my blog for ages because I was feeling uncomfortable about it and not ‘good enough’… and frustrated because I work outside the home and can’t create all the time, or be bothered to photograph it… sometime I don’t even have anything nice to say!! I found this blog because I was looking at my blog stats and did a search on keywords that had been used to find mine. I think the world presented by many ‘popular’ blogs is idealised and that’s why I like them. But my world is not ideal and rather than beat myself up over it and try to compete I’ve been staying away from the computer and going to gym and stuff instead. It’s no accident my husband and I call my bloglines feeds craft porn - it’s addictive but ultimately frustrating and unproductive
Thanks for your honesty. Andi.