Quote:
Originally Posted by FizzyWater
My mother used to embroider...by hand. Then she bought a sewing machine to do it and thought she might be able to make some money from her hobby. She found that - if she tried to apply a living wage to it - no one was willing to pay for what it was "worth" (measured in terms of her supplies, her time, her expertise and care). So she still does it, but for family and for fun. I don't think she tries to sell anything any more.
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And
jewelry is so expensive these days. 
The living wage problem is a huge problem, partly because as a society we just don't pay people enough so that they can then turn around and pay artists enough. Even if we went to a system where all books were $35 by law, it wouldn't help the artists because the consumers (who are still underpaid) would have to consume fewer books.
We need to pay people enough that they can then turn around and pay artists a fair, living wage. Since I'm currently employed as an engineer with pretty decent pay, I try to engage in "trickle down" as much as possibly by buying indie books and all my accessories on Etsy, but it's not easy. (And it scares my husband, who wants to know what I intend to do with 400 new books per year and why the $50 scarf on Etsy was necessary when one can get a scarf at Walmart for $5. "I'm helping the economy, honey," I say.)