It's that time of year again. The time we're inclined to lavish gifts upon the ones we love and care about.

ANYONE can go to Amazon or WalMart or what have you and buy something thousands of others (prolly hundreds of thousands) are going to buy and give to someone. Nothing says 'I think you're really special' like some item there are millions of copies of.

Seriously, consider getting people handmade gifts this year. Here's why:

1.) A handmade gift is UNIQUE...like every single one of us
2.) Purchasing a handmade gift supports an artist...not a corporation. We use the money for food, clothing, bills, etc. It makes us happy. It tells us people still care about art.
3.) You can hand that gift to the person intended and be like 'YO....this shit? This shit was made just for you and I went out of my way to find something truly special.
4.) Seriously...artists need love. Corporate big box jerks can buy that shit in the form of cocaine and hookers.
5.) NO REALLY...YOU MIGHT GET LAID IN A NON-STANDARD FASHION IF YOU GIVE THAT HOTTIE A HANDMADE GIFT
6.) plz halp....artists need money....plz...alms for the arts? plz?


Ok so...I know, this may be overwhelming. Just where can you find handmade swag? WELL LOOK NO FURTHER, I AM AN ARTISAN CRAFTSMAN. (more on that below)

Great places to find handmade awesomeness:

Here, on DA. Go look in the Artisan Crafts galleries. Hunt down the artist, engage, and profit. There's many awesome people on Deviant Art making shit that is the fucking coolest ever handmade stuff.

Etsy: BUT BEWARE....Etsy likes to pass off shitty mass-produced crap as handmade so DO YOUR RESEARCH. Go to the seller's page and message them. Talk about their art. See if they have actual handmade stuff or like... 1000 shitty brass owl pendants made by chained and castrated boys in Taiwan.

Your own community: We are everywhere...look on your local craigslist, on community pin-boards (those strange things with all the flyers and business cards pinned to cork board. This is how we used to communicate before you damned kids ruined everything with the internet), and keep an eye out for craft fairs. You may be lucky enough to live in a place that has a Maker/Artist cooperative. These are usually awesome old factories and warehouses that have been converted to little farms where artists hold-up together, hide from society, and make some really awesome shit. No really, these cooperatives are fucking cool....visit one if you can. You can see real live artists in their natural habitats.

Also...if there's typos in this, idgaf...I've had too much coffee and the kiln is calling me.

NOW FOR THE SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION!

BUY MY SHIT. I MAKE COOL SHIT. I CAN MAKE YOU COOL CUSTOM SHIT. YO, HERE'S SOME OF MY SHIT:



<~~~NAKED LADIES


Where can you find these? Just where can you request something made CUSTOM just for YOU?
Right here:

MY SEXY-ASS ETSY

(that I share with my boyfriend, he's pretty cool, too)


So thank you for reading this over-caffeinated rant and please please please consider helping out an artist this holiday season.