Posted by nellie_3000 on 2004-12-11 02:59:59
Post Subject:
I'll be honest, I am an artist, a crafter, a knitter, a flutist, a calligrapher, a gardner, a sewer, a muralist, a cook,...I know how to do all of those things, and yet I don't get paid any kind of decent wage for ANY of it. I get paid 11.00 dollars an hour to telemarket to people during their dinner hour about refinancing their mortgage. My husband and I wish I made more money. I get small art jobs here and there, but mostly no one wants to pay real money for the amount of time and effort that truly goes into art/craft making. My mother in law says its the craft stores that make the real money in the craft industry, not the crafter. (She is a crafter herself)
On average, crafters make .33 an hour. The point is, I don't know how to make significant income doing the things I am good at. Society doesn't care. If they did, I would be making 11.00 an hour knitting scarves. Sometimes I feel like I am one big collection of "hobbies" and my one big marketable skill is that I know how to telemarket, and America hates telemarketers.
Anyway, not to have a pity party for myself, the one shred of hope I have is this: One time I called a calligrapher in the area and asked her if she needed help. She invited me over to her house into her studio. There, she told me she makes all her income doing calligraphy for wedding invitations, certificates, etc... this is my dream, to start my own calligraphy business, because I'm damn good at it, and I hope that I can be a sucessful business woman and artisan at the same time. I would like to stop feeling bad for who i am.
