Handmade items in big demand

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Clint and Lacey Loumaster of Lenexa, Kan., met in an advanced calculus class. But the husband and wife share more in common than a prowess for complicated math.

They make things with their hands.

Clint works with wood, especially exotic varieties such as zebrawood, with its dramatic stripes reminiscent of the hide of its namesake animal. He turns knotty raw-wood-looking bowls as well as writing pens, bottle stoppers and vases. Lacey fuses glass to create platters, jewelry pendants and night lights. She also hand-draws rock 'n' roll instruments for the glass swizzle sticks she crafts.

Together, as gifts for their parents, the couple made decorative boxes that combined his wood skills and her colorful stained glass. Their family treasures the boxes, and friends are constantly encouraging them to make things.

"The word's definitely out on handmade items," said 29-year-old Clint, who learned woodworking from his grandfather. "There's a new appreciation for unique instead of mass-produced."

Faythe Levine of Milwaukee has documented the contemporary handcraft movement in the film "Handmade Nation: The Rise of DIY, Art, Craft and Design." The 65-minute documentary shows artisans and craft fairs in 15 cities, including Austin, Texas; Atlanta; and Portland, Ore. She also co-wrote a book with the same title.

Levine followed crafters, mostly women in their 20s and 30s, who use traditional handiwork methods but mix them with modern aesthetics.

One example is Jenny Hart of Austin, who launched the design business Sublime Stitching to bring back embroidery. The company's stitch kits have the tagline: "This ain't your grandma's embroidery." Indeed, the patterns are more tattoo, less lace tatting. Included in the 50 themes are sushi, roller derby and skulls — no geese or bunnies in bonnets. Hart's work is in the collections of celebrities including Carrie Fisher, Tracey Ullman and Elizabeth Taylor.

Levine thinks the ongoing handcraft surge is part of a socio-political movement. Women are combining the handiwork their stay-at-home mothers and grandmothers did with commerce. Therefore, women now can be stay-at-home mothers on their own terms, making money on what not too long ago were viewed as common domestic tasks. For example, knitting and apron-making have become hipper and more popular.

"It's a movement that's continuing to grow," said Levine, whose own plush owl craft became so popular she couldn't keep up with demand. "Making things is environmentally friendly, and that's important to more buyers who want to support local people and their businesses. For the person making it, it's empowering, such a great feeling, even addictive."