A Learning Experience

As a group, we've found that there are many different people, motives, places, and benefits involved with the crafting community.  As far as people go, craft fairs seem to be composed of mostly older, predominantly white women.  Younger people of all walks of life seem to focus their efforts within the consignment and internet crafting community, due to the ease of use and freedom to sell goods without requiring a physical presence, allowing more available time to work a day job or produce more goods.  Many different motives drive these people as well.  Some craft to unwind from the outside stresses in their lives (typically, younger to middle aged people who have a primary job outside of crafting), some, craft as a hobby and a social link to people who share their interests, some craft to produce things to help others, and some produce crafts simply to make a profit for themselves.  Whatever their motives, though, crafting always comes with benefits; it can put one's mind at ease, make an impact in another person's life, help create bonds within communities, preserve cultural traditions, or even just allow someone to make a decent living.  For all of these reasons, and despite the fact that it is no longer necessary for survival (in a 1st world country, at least - there ARE still many impoverished or primitive communities around the world that rely on crafting as an important aspect for everyday survival), the crafting community still remains, and always will be an important part of human life.  It sets us apart from any other organism on Earth, and we should never take that for granted.  This project has been an interesting look into the crafting community, and a rather unexpected learning experience for all of us.  Also, for me personally, it has encouraged a further curiosity in me, and I hope to spend more time crafting in the future...I may quickly become one of those people who use it as a healthy outlet for stress relief. :)
To everyone out there who has followed us on our little journey, I hope you enjoyed yourselves and hope you were able to learn something as well. Thank you for reading!