When Is It Hand-Made, As Opposed To Machine-Made?

[Rayban]

My customers have never asked for my definition of it, they take my word for it.

[NVLeatherWorx]

Mine have never asked either but that is because I market everything I do as "every step of the process is completed entirely by hand and by the same craftsman, me. There are no machines of any kind used within my shop." And that only leads to the questions of how do you do that? Can you show me how that works? Which is never an issue because when I am attending any of the local and Regional fairs/shows I always have a complete mobile workshop setup and I am always working on something so anyone who visits my little corner of the World for that event gets to watch an actual craftsman working. It is kind of like an interactive sales environment and it is very successful for me.

Handmade is, as several have pointed out, an undefined term when it comes to our trade. One thing I do not ever consider handmade are those who market themselves as belt makers that make beautifully decorated belts that have a range of basketweave or other designs "embossed" in them. This embossing is done by using a belt embossing roller and the sole purpose of doing this is to create the mass-produced products for the sole purpose of big profits and no commitment to the client. If you can't do a simple basket stamp in an acceptable time frame, don't lie to the customer by saying that you make everything by hand. What did you really do to make this item? In the case of the belt maker, they took a pre-made belt blank (already had the snaps and buckle tongue hole cut), dampened it and ran it through a roller, let it dry, added some dye or stain, installed a $.49 buckle, and packaged it up as a handmade belt. In most cases they don't even finish the edges. That, to me is not handmade as it didn't really require you to engage in the crafting of it, you just ran it through some simple processes that a monkey can be taught to do, nothing else.

But that is just my feeling on this discussion. There are far more opinions out there and they would only make this conversation even more confusing. The only thing you need to ask yourself is this: if I were buying a handmade item (and that would be a truly handmade item), what standards and quality of craftsmanship would I expect? Confusing to have to answer your question with that very question, isn't it?

Good luck in your quest to determine your direction and I welcome to the real world of "what was I thinking?".

[Andrew Chee]

I think what Nvleatherworx says is good. One thing that bothers me is when I see things that are termed "hand made" and the quality is not very good (the edging is poor or the stitches are not straight and even) and people try to explain it away by saying its hand made. My personal opinion is that it should be made better than what some factory in china can make them. Otherwise, why not buy it from the factory in china? It'll certainly be cheaper.

Andrew

[JLSleather]

Just guessing from many listings I've seen lately, apparently "hand tooled" is widespread- 'hand carved' is not. I guess if click a shape, emboss a design in a press, this is still "hand tooled" as long as you had a TOOL in your HAND when you edged it, or set the snaps, etc. Perhaps that's marketing poop, or perhaps that's as far as the conscience will allow some to go. You don't have to look far .. there are links to Etsy shops every third page around here.

Now, each his own. I don't even sweat it - people have been full of it since before i was born. I just concern myself with MY stuff. If someone asks, I'll tell them how I did it. No charge. You don't have to buy the book.

I have a machine, but I'll saddle stitch it if requested. I don't have a clicker press, though I haven't ruled that out and think if I clicked the shape, it'll still be my work. I could go on, but the ones who might listen already know ...

[Samalan]

In the book bluesteel&gunleather page 224&225 John Bianchi on custom holsters " The myth of Custom Made" Written as only the world's Foremost Authority on holsters could tell it!.

I too agree it is a complicated question. I used Nike as an example only because they are a huge company. My example of this is just that your desctiption of what you do is an acurate description of a Chinese factory construction if you simply remove the word "I". Some of the best seamstresses in the world work in factories. Leather is clicked for consistacy and speed, exactly like many of us do for our "handmade" items. What about the fact that the leather you used to make the item came out of a factory instead of being tanned by hand, that would make your item at least partially factory made. The thread we sew with is made in a factory too.

Sadly, much of the "factory" made items far excede the quality of many "handmade" items. I have had leather people tell me that you can not expect the quality of handmade items to be as good as factory items. I do not agree with this,but admit that it is often true. In my opinion, if my work is not better than a factory item I am wasting my time.