Crafting can be great. But beware: crafting can also go spectacularly wrong. Fortunately for the benefit of those of us who might become so proud of having made something, anything, all by ourselves, that we are oblivious that the result is an aesthetic travesty, there are websites making a valiant attempt to document the legion of ways in which crafting can get totally out of hand. Before you pick up those needles or scissors or fire up the kiln or soldering iron, check out: Glitter Gone Bad; Handmade Gone Wrong; What Not To Craft, Homemade Hilarity; and Kraftomatic. The sturdy souls at CraftFail (previously) deserve special credit for documenting their own crafting mishaps, and Regretsy (also previously) and Etsy WTF will help you choose wisely from among Etsy’s hand-crafted wares. [more inside]
posted by orange swan on Nov 22, 2009 - 65 comments

The Good, The Bad and The Etsy. A blog highlighting the Good, the Bad, and the Etsy. [via mefi projects]
posted by Greg Nog on Jul 24, 2009 - 30 comments

Macramé: the craft that spawned a million eyesores As every family has its black sheep, so must the world of crafting have its irredeemable craft. Meet macramé, the ugly stepsister of crafting. In my recent search for a basic pattern I could use to redo a couple of old lawn chairs, every click revealed some fresh new horror. I searched on, thinking surely there must be at least one or two examples of attractive macramé products somewhere on the world wide web, but apparently not. There was nothing but bad jewellery, bad home décor items, bad chairs and really bloody awful owls. I tried approaching the technique with a designer’s mindset, seeing ugly things not as an end in themselves but as a design challenge. How could the patterns be improved? How could the technique and medium be used to produce something beautiful? Perhaps it was just the macramé cord and not the technique that doomed each project to aesthetic hell? But in the end, the craft defeated me. I declared it hopeless, decided to do my two lawn chairs in a plain cream and then retreat from the field before some disaster (possibly one involving a flaming owl) struck. However, that is just my opinion. Perhaps I just don’t appreciate that some people really need that homemade Christmas tree, or the perfect belt to wear while impersonating Elvis.
posted by orange swan on Jan 31, 2006 - 62 comments

Knitting Pattern Hall of Shame This site appears to be where all the really bad patterns get held up to all the ridicule they deserve. I’ll be kind and say that these designers must have meant well. After all, there must be a certain demand for that perfect pattern to make for the gay pride parade or your favourite knitting fetish bar or to get one through those days of abject self-hatred. Every designer has trouble remembering that not every woman is 5’10 and 115 pounds. And it’s really kind of heartwarming that they try so damn hard to sex up knitting. But knitters, before you make any of these, please remember a few basic rules: one’s knitting project should not land one on an endangered species list, give one retina burn or a heightened cholesterol level, or house more than six people. And if your boyfriend dumps you when you give him this for Christmas, rest assured that you’ll get custody of it. (via MonkeyFilter, courtesy Melinika).
posted by orange swan on Oct 27, 2005 - 27 comments