Thursday, June 26, 2008

Bird (Craft) Watcher

I feel some crafters and buyers are getting fed up with the bird trend. Some blogs lately stated "[at the National Stationery Show] there was an aviary design around every corner (if not every single booth!)*" or " [at the Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn] if I saw one more screen-printed organic cotton t-shirt with a silhouette of a bird I was gonna scream.*" I am sorry you feel that way. I personally believe bird motifs fit right in, especially in the crafting world. If you do a tag search for "bird" on etsy you get 1847 pages for your results, while you type in "dog" and only get 1291. While the majority of pet owners, 79% are dog owners, compared to the small 13% of pet owners that own birds**.

Birds are fascinating and beautiful. They conjure feelings of awe, peace, and freeness. Birds are hopeless romantics, with their dances, displays, love songs, and gifts of sticks and twigs. Many are monogamous and stay with their lover for a lifetime. They are not needy or dependent. And you can tell by their mannerisms, they are smart and proud, yet still introverted. If you think about it, birds are very much like your average crafter/artist.

I hope the bird trend doesn't die. I want to see bird motifs everywhere I go. I want every shirt to be a screen-print shirt of a bird.


*www.goodyblog.com
** http://www.cyberpet.com/cyberdog/articles/general/crawford.htm

4 comments:

Just A Stay At Home Mom said...

very true! I love printed birds! Super cute!! (Keep me away from the real thing! haha!)

Great blog!

Sew Bettie said...

I also love birds - and the sub-category bird trend of owls.

Anonymous said...

Bird watching is a hobby (or should I say passion) that is increasing yearly. Hopefully that means too that more people will be inspired to create using birds as a theme. Perhaps those that have become tired of the bird theme will be replaced by fresh new talents. I also agree with you totally that we have much to learn from birds. Thanks too for your great blog!

Anonymous said...

i agree with you -- i love bird art & lately have been finding so much wonderful bird art in the craft community.