What would you change?
I'm talking scrapbooking related, but heck, everyone has different things that earn priority seating in their lives.
There are a lot of things that I would've done differently:
1. I would've avoided the online communities when I went searching for scrapbooking inspiration. I didn't start to doubt myself until I logged onto the .net for inspiration (I was a lone scrapper, so I had nobody to scrap with and no place to go to advance my skill set). CONSEQUENCE: I wouldn't have met my 2 best-est friends, Dorkfish and Chick'n Louver and that would've been really bad because they have been a stabilizing force in my scrappy life...mind you, neither of them are any more stable than I am...but it's nice to have company every once and while.
2. I would've forced myself to engage in scrapbooking at the many scrapping stores in my city.
I'm not a big people person (my cynical nature, for some, is hard to swallow), but I think that forcing myself to acclimate to the 'real scrapper' environment would've served as a much better support force than the faceless online communities. Yes, I would've had to bring ear plugs and aspirin, but eventually I would've grown numb and been able to overlook the hen house chatter.
3. I would've remembered that my creative spirit needs no justification other than my own. I loved my pages when I started scrapping. Every stinkin' last one. It wasn't until I started perusing the online arena that I began to view my creations with a critical eye. I judged myself because of a criteria for design set by people who don't know enough about me to dictate how I "should" scrap.
4. I would've left the online community (had I still been stupid enough to join it) as soon as I experienced my first creative block. That block lasted 3-4 months long. I was afraid that I wasn't good "enough", but never asked myself what I was trying to be good "enough" FOR! I spent 4 months of my life in turmoil over not being who GOD didn't intend for me to be. How could I have thought that anything good could come out of a venue that views praise as a validation for your continued existence within it's walls?
5. I would've stuck to the basics as far as tool purchases. I would've definitely gotten a Silent Setter, simply because most of my scrapping was done after my kids went to bed, but the majority of the rest of my tools...they would've never made it to my door unless I knew without a doubt that there was true value in possessing them. I would've definitely had my testosterone levels checked frequently in order to head off any tool buying frenzy.
6. I would've stayed away from Design Teams Calls, Contests, and anything else that inspired competition instead of unity. Seeing the favoritism and unethical practices did little more than further solidify my insecurity about my artistic ability. Why anyone thought that bringing interpersonal competition into the memory preservation crafting arena was sadistic and/or money hungry. Scrapbooking is about individual celebration of life...who, other than you-know-who, has any business passing judgement on that?
7. I would've only bought what I needed for a certain project. The fruits of my bulk buying has only proven to be an albatross...3 years later. I would've been more in touch with myself and hopefully picked up on how the need for validation fed into my desire to have everything that my 'peers' said I should. All I had to do was take a peek at my hundreds of yards of fabric and thousands of pony beads to come to grips with the fact that I am a pack rat hoarder...maybe that type of in-your-face intervention would've saved me thousands of dollars and tons of space.
8. I would've beat myself with my own frying pan if the thought of following trends had entered my mind. Trends are another person/persons interpretation of what is "in". Scrapbooking is about memory preservation...it doesn't really need to follow any trend scale because...well, your memories aren't trend based. I prided myself on being an independent, free thinker and yet I knowingly drank the Kool-aid...and asked for seconds. If I could do it all over again, I would've found a doctor that was willing to perform a voluntary frontal lobe lobotomy before I allowed myself to run off the cliff like many lemmings before me.
9. I would never have purchased a strap hinge album. I can think of a lot of things that I could do that would be far more entertaining than trying to remember how to reassemble my scrapbooking album. Taking an alcohol bath in a shallow tub full of scissors and cleaning my ears with Drano top my list of 'better things to do".
10. I would've remained true to myself. I would've learned to ask myself if "I liked my layout" instead of focusing on how it would be received. I almost lost my desire to tell the story because of my misguided focus on the layout design...I will never allow that to happen. Trust me, my family would quickly get tired of "getting" that I "cherished" my kids, husband, pets, garden vegetables and camera.
11. I wouldn't have bought photo editing software. I didn't need it for the first 8 months of scrapping. In fact, I didn't need it until it was suggested to me that I get it in order to broaden the possibilities of layout design. I have painfully neat hand writing, I'm not tooting my own horn, but I didn't need a computer to journal and I would've ordered reprints instead of fooling around with the color management on my computer.
12. I would've never bought a large format printer. Yes, I HAD to get it in order to give myself the ability to print directly on my card stock...but I've done that all of 3 times...so why did I blow that $300? Oh yeah, I didn't have any frying pans handy and lobotomies are considered illegal where I live.
13. I would've made scrapbooking a hobby to share with my kids. Instead of spending so much time scrapping alone and desiring moments of lone scrapping, I would've taken advantage of the memory making opportunity that sharing one's love of scrapping can afford. There is nothing that curves your spending that watching your hard earned dollars go up in flames when your kids get ahold of it.
14. I would've never even introduced the use of acrylic paints into my scrapping sphere. I have over 60 bottles of paints...70% of them have never seen action...and never will. The good thing is that I've dabbled in painting, so I may eventually use them. The bad thing is, that I'm now lying to myself... again...and most of my paints will probably wind up on Ebay before the weeks complete.
15. I would've searched out objective product reviews before buying. I don't mean the reviews/advertisements that inundate CK, MM and the other popular magazines. I mean real reviews. The reviews that would've told m that Heidi Swapps rubons were schizophrenic, that the die and notch tools were optimistic wastes of money that would've been better allocated for payment for the aforementioned frontal lobe lobotomy, and that the odds of getting your money's worth out of those huge boxes of zig markers were slightly less than the odds of my getting smacked in the forehead by an airborne leprechaun who'd been catapulted from the land of Liliputia (that's Gulliver's favorite island if you don't know what I'm talking about). I would've been more aware of people trying to blow sunshine up my poop chute and taken evasive action accordingly.
**********
I find it funny that many of my biggest regrets stem from allowing myself to get involved int eh faceless machine that online scrapbooking has become. I can honestly say that wouldn't want to give up the online arena, again, because of my 2 sister/friends, but I would definitely keep my eyes open and my backside guarded. I am sure that there are a lot of things that I would strive to do over, but these are the ones that strike me as most important...at the moment.
Friday, June 15, 2007
Monday, June 11, 2007
The Tools That Took Over Scrapbooking...
No, I'm not making suggestions for a sequel to the new Transformers movie set to hit theaters next month. I'm pondering the absurdity of the tool market in scrapbooking and why it exists on such a large scale.
Remember when all that was needed was primarily a pair of scissors (deco if you feel the need)?
Then remember when all that you needed was an eyelet setter, a hammer, scissors and a paper cutter?
Oh!Then remember when you needed a silent/quick eyelet setter, scissors , paper cutter, some punches, a cutting board and creative cutting templates (coupled with an xacto knife)?
Some where down the line, all you needed was a top of the line 12" paper cutter, eyelet setter(the quieter/quicker the better), precision blade scissors, acrylic stamp mounting blocks, embossing heat gun, die cutting machine, color wheel, corner rounding punches, a digital camera w/ killer zoom capacity and adhesive machine.
I pretty much gave up the fight when I discovered that I needed a precision, 12" rotary paper cutter, silent eyelet setter, precision titanium blade scissors, magnetic stamps, acrylic stamp mounting blocks, a die cutting machine (preferably electronic), an artist quality color wheel, adhesive applicator machine, a brayer, a wheeled paper press (for making your own corrugated paper), embossing plates, special rubon applicator sticks,paint brushes, notch and die cutters, centering ruler, sewing machine, spring loaded metal die press, layout templates, edging rulers, a digital SLR camera, wide format printer and an Ott light.
Nowadays, the savvy scrapper adds the elusive tag curler, pink irons, mini conclave type ovens (for those shrink works), paper distressing razors, an eyelet setter than can punch a hole through 1/8" of galvanized steel, 12" electronic die cutting machines, glass cutting board(s), professional grade, multi-purpose, 12+" paper cutter system, light box, Digital SLR camera (with enough bells, whistles, and lights to create a studio with), layering tools, doodle stencils, and the list, unfortunately goes on and on and on.
*******************
What the heck is the industry playing at? Or better yet, why are we playing at it with them?
Has anyone else noticed that as the industry reveals new, funky ways for us to snazz up our layouts, they inevitably, without fail, introduce a process that would require a specialty tool to execute? Perfect case in point: The new Making Memories Tag Curler. I'm sure that when the brain storming event at MM netted the lovely cured metal tag, there was somebody pulling up the rear with the formidable Tag Curler in response to the "how the heck do you get the tag to curl like that?" question.
The question is, do we really need it?
Maybe you do. Personally, I don't. Is the idea cute? Yeah, of course it is! Is it something that I would use in my paper crafting? Yeah!...maybe 3 times before I realised that it is much easier, less costly, and probably safer to simply take my galvanized steel punching eyelet setter and make a hole through which I could quickly route a piece of ribbon that would serve to securely attach said tag to said paper project.
Clover has been making mini irons for quilters for quite some time now. Unfortunately, the mini hot plate received little fan fare until someone ingeniously added pink to it's color scheme and slapped a scrapbooking label on it. The beloved travel iron was slated to a mundane existence that only seemed worthwhile during the infrequent occurrence of that thing called uh...travel. That is until someone thought it would be groovy to make it pink and, once again, slap a scrapbooking designation on it's chassis.
Here's another question. While the new tools that come out for men (and their testosterone laden hobbies) are marketed with the idea of getting your money's worth of use out of them in mind, the tools that are slated for the fidgety scrapbooker rarely take that efficiency route. Why is this? Don't believe me? I have 4 words for you: Basic Grey Notch Tool.
Need more proof? Making Memories Tag Maker
In essence, what is happening is that all of the manufacturers are running out of places to stick the money that they are making hand over fist and we are rapidly running out of scrap space real estate in which to store this stuff!
I thought we'd learned our lesson from whole rubber/acrylic stamp thing. I guess I was wrong. Though I don't blame myself for that. I don't buy rubber stamps anymore. I bought 6 of them once and it quickly dawned on me that I would probably use each of them 3 or 4 times before they became annoyingly repetitive. I once aspired to have a wall of stamps like you see in the mags. My mil has one of those...and most of them are covered with a fine layer of dust. Seriously, how many times are you going to use that Bee Happy stamp? I don't care how cute the darned bee with the hat is, I'm not going to use him enough to get my money back!
I know my comment about the portable rubon sealer got a few chuckles, but mark my words, if HS doesn't come up one to combat her less-than-stellar-quality rubons, somebody will!
The question is...how many people are going to fall for it, hook, line, sinker and pole?
I get that the industry marketing industry is working hard at keeping things "new" and "fresh" for the scrapbooking spirit. I get that lots of progress can be found in change and innovation. I guess the question is, does scrapbooking really need the type of change and innovation that results in wasted dollars and space?
Remember when all that was needed was primarily a pair of scissors (deco if you feel the need)?
Then remember when all that you needed was an eyelet setter, a hammer, scissors and a paper cutter?
Oh!Then remember when you needed a silent/quick eyelet setter, scissors , paper cutter, some punches, a cutting board and creative cutting templates (coupled with an xacto knife)?
Some where down the line, all you needed was a top of the line 12" paper cutter, eyelet setter(the quieter/quicker the better), precision blade scissors, acrylic stamp mounting blocks, embossing heat gun, die cutting machine, color wheel, corner rounding punches, a digital camera w/ killer zoom capacity and adhesive machine.
I pretty much gave up the fight when I discovered that I needed a precision, 12" rotary paper cutter, silent eyelet setter, precision titanium blade scissors, magnetic stamps, acrylic stamp mounting blocks, a die cutting machine (preferably electronic), an artist quality color wheel, adhesive applicator machine, a brayer, a wheeled paper press (for making your own corrugated paper), embossing plates, special rubon applicator sticks,paint brushes, notch and die cutters, centering ruler, sewing machine, spring loaded metal die press, layout templates, edging rulers, a digital SLR camera, wide format printer and an Ott light.
Nowadays, the savvy scrapper adds the elusive tag curler, pink irons, mini conclave type ovens (for those shrink works), paper distressing razors, an eyelet setter than can punch a hole through 1/8" of galvanized steel, 12" electronic die cutting machines, glass cutting board(s), professional grade, multi-purpose, 12+" paper cutter system, light box, Digital SLR camera (with enough bells, whistles, and lights to create a studio with), layering tools, doodle stencils, and the list, unfortunately goes on and on and on.
*******************
What the heck is the industry playing at? Or better yet, why are we playing at it with them?
Has anyone else noticed that as the industry reveals new, funky ways for us to snazz up our layouts, they inevitably, without fail, introduce a process that would require a specialty tool to execute? Perfect case in point: The new Making Memories Tag Curler. I'm sure that when the brain storming event at MM netted the lovely cured metal tag, there was somebody pulling up the rear with the formidable Tag Curler in response to the "how the heck do you get the tag to curl like that?" question.
The question is, do we really need it?
Maybe you do. Personally, I don't. Is the idea cute? Yeah, of course it is! Is it something that I would use in my paper crafting? Yeah!...maybe 3 times before I realised that it is much easier, less costly, and probably safer to simply take my galvanized steel punching eyelet setter and make a hole through which I could quickly route a piece of ribbon that would serve to securely attach said tag to said paper project.
Clover has been making mini irons for quilters for quite some time now. Unfortunately, the mini hot plate received little fan fare until someone ingeniously added pink to it's color scheme and slapped a scrapbooking label on it. The beloved travel iron was slated to a mundane existence that only seemed worthwhile during the infrequent occurrence of that thing called uh...travel. That is until someone thought it would be groovy to make it pink and, once again, slap a scrapbooking designation on it's chassis.
Here's another question. While the new tools that come out for men (and their testosterone laden hobbies) are marketed with the idea of getting your money's worth of use out of them in mind, the tools that are slated for the fidgety scrapbooker rarely take that efficiency route. Why is this? Don't believe me? I have 4 words for you: Basic Grey Notch Tool.
Need more proof? Making Memories Tag Maker
In essence, what is happening is that all of the manufacturers are running out of places to stick the money that they are making hand over fist and we are rapidly running out of scrap space real estate in which to store this stuff!
I thought we'd learned our lesson from whole rubber/acrylic stamp thing. I guess I was wrong. Though I don't blame myself for that. I don't buy rubber stamps anymore. I bought 6 of them once and it quickly dawned on me that I would probably use each of them 3 or 4 times before they became annoyingly repetitive. I once aspired to have a wall of stamps like you see in the mags. My mil has one of those...and most of them are covered with a fine layer of dust. Seriously, how many times are you going to use that Bee Happy stamp? I don't care how cute the darned bee with the hat is, I'm not going to use him enough to get my money back!
I know my comment about the portable rubon sealer got a few chuckles, but mark my words, if HS doesn't come up one to combat her less-than-stellar-quality rubons, somebody will!
The question is...how many people are going to fall for it, hook, line, sinker and pole?
I get that the industry marketing industry is working hard at keeping things "new" and "fresh" for the scrapbooking spirit. I get that lots of progress can be found in change and innovation. I guess the question is, does scrapbooking really need the type of change and innovation that results in wasted dollars and space?
What goes around...well, it comes around...sorta
Can anyone think back to the scrap industry 2-3 years ago? I can. I remember it because it was all so new to me. I was thirsty for knowledge and hungry for growth. I absorbed magazines as fast as my modest budget could afford me the opportunity to purchase them. I was so hungry that I'd even buy huge lots of older mags just to find out what I'd missed. Those were the good old days. Well, sort of.
Today, I'd be more inclined to take my magazine money and purchase a book on decoding the feline horoscope than to waste it on a CK, MM, SS, or ST. I'm sorry, the thirst has been quenched sufficiently enough to allow me to be the master of my own growth. Where as I used to avoid the magazine racks because of my inability to walk away from a scrapbooking mag, now I waltz past them with a devil-may-care attitude and dare the scrappy offerings to try to pique my interest...they've thus far failed miserably.
I had the 'opportunity', I'm using that word VERY loosely, to pop into my local Scrapping store last week. I got a doctor's appointment time mixed up and showed up an hour early, so I figured I'd pop across the parking lot to see if anyone stole my idea for a rubon sealer/dryer...no such luck. Shucks Darn. Anyway, I popped over to the store and after perusing the aisle after aisle of product that did little more than hurt my eyes and head, I headed over to the magazine rack.
Dun dun dun! I was surprised to see that the owner didn't have many copies of CK, MM, SI or ST. I figured that since the new issues had come out a little bit ago, that her sparse inventory was a result of the popularity of the magazines. Until I went over to her clearance bin. There I found many copies of several popular magazines greatly reduced by 50%...but alas still sitting there. One of the girls working there informed me that they were actually 75% off but that she hadn't gotten around to making the change on the stickers yet. Now, I'm not talking about last Christmas' issues, I'm talking about April and May issues. I'm not talking about 2 or 3 copies, I thumbed through at least 6-10 of each. This, in my opinion, was something worthy of investigation.
So, I gathered a couple of magazines (people will talk if they think that they have your money in their pockets, incidentally) and I searched out the helpful little sprite. I asked, with as much wide eyed naivete' that I could conjure up without getting nauseous, why there are so many magazines on clearance and provided the pretense that I only wanted the latest and greatest inspiration. She assured me that I was certainly getting just that and that the only reason that they'd made it to the clearance bin was that they weren't selling that well. The store sales of the scrapbooking mags had lagged so much that the owner was decreasing her order quantities and even considering only doing idea books. Information in hand, I put those wastes of tress back where I put them and scurried off to my doctor's appointment.
A person might be inclined to believe that the decrease in magazines in a store could be easily translated into an increase of money saving subscriptions. BUT, the rumors of declining subscription sales has been going around the mill for months now. One might even be inclined to believe that the popularity of online galleries has contributed to the lessened interest in scrapbooking magazines. I would be more inclined towards the later than the former.
I gave this some serious thought while I sat in the doctor's office fiddling my thumbs. It's all about economics now isn't it? Supply, demand, cost, all of that. The only problem is, that where as in the textbook economic model, demand for an item and the amount of supply of that item would effect the cost of that item, the industry tried to milk us for more than we were willing to pay, supplied more than we had a demand for and many times, ignored to cries of the consumer, instead opting to provide products that catered to a demographic that is in the minority. The result, in my opinion, has been the further decline in scrapbooker interest. I am not the least bit surprised that things are happening the way that they are, and I don't see how anyone is going to be able to fix it at this juncture.
This phenomenon is being repeated in the product sales area as well as magazine sales. Look at it:
I think it's a tug of war and I think that it's one that the industry will eventually lose. Why? Because we (people) have been scrapping for a lot longer that there have been magazines to tell us how to or an industry to dictate trends to us. Why? Because the magazines are afraid to stray away from the money earning potential of the tried and true 'artists'. Because the manufacturers only focus on the new and different while giving little credence to the tried and true. You'd think that if these two entities would switch business models, they'd somehow survive the impending implosion. If the manufacturers would focus on maintaining the interests of the tried and true while periodically presenting new techniques/styles as 'something new to try' instead of a "must- do trend", they might just see a return of their customer base...once we use up all of the rest of the stuff that they've crammed down our throats. If the magazines would embrace the true meaning of 'variety' and 'fresh face' then perhaps there would be some regenerated excitement about each publication. Instead of people shying away because of the confusing or uninspiring offerings, people would flock to them in order to garner a drop of inspiration from their true peers. If the magazines would publish all levels of scrapper, there might just be an increase in consumer interest based solely on the fact that there is a little bit of something for everyone.
Will all of this happen? I'd rather not hold my breath...people have died doing that. Do I want the industry to implode on itself? No, of course not, I plan on running out of stash some day. I do want the marketing execs to wake up and smell the desertion. All of this should be a wake up call for someone...but it's probably not going to be because there is no money in that. No, the money is in the hornswaggled masses who gladly gobble up all that the industry shoves down their throats. I'm sorry, I'm just not that hungry anymore.
Today, I'd be more inclined to take my magazine money and purchase a book on decoding the feline horoscope than to waste it on a CK, MM, SS, or ST. I'm sorry, the thirst has been quenched sufficiently enough to allow me to be the master of my own growth. Where as I used to avoid the magazine racks because of my inability to walk away from a scrapbooking mag, now I waltz past them with a devil-may-care attitude and dare the scrappy offerings to try to pique my interest...they've thus far failed miserably.
I had the 'opportunity', I'm using that word VERY loosely, to pop into my local Scrapping store last week. I got a doctor's appointment time mixed up and showed up an hour early, so I figured I'd pop across the parking lot to see if anyone stole my idea for a rubon sealer/dryer...no such luck. Shucks Darn. Anyway, I popped over to the store and after perusing the aisle after aisle of product that did little more than hurt my eyes and head, I headed over to the magazine rack.
Dun dun dun! I was surprised to see that the owner didn't have many copies of CK, MM, SI or ST. I figured that since the new issues had come out a little bit ago, that her sparse inventory was a result of the popularity of the magazines. Until I went over to her clearance bin. There I found many copies of several popular magazines greatly reduced by 50%...but alas still sitting there. One of the girls working there informed me that they were actually 75% off but that she hadn't gotten around to making the change on the stickers yet. Now, I'm not talking about last Christmas' issues, I'm talking about April and May issues. I'm not talking about 2 or 3 copies, I thumbed through at least 6-10 of each. This, in my opinion, was something worthy of investigation.
So, I gathered a couple of magazines (people will talk if they think that they have your money in their pockets, incidentally) and I searched out the helpful little sprite. I asked, with as much wide eyed naivete' that I could conjure up without getting nauseous, why there are so many magazines on clearance and provided the pretense that I only wanted the latest and greatest inspiration. She assured me that I was certainly getting just that and that the only reason that they'd made it to the clearance bin was that they weren't selling that well. The store sales of the scrapbooking mags had lagged so much that the owner was decreasing her order quantities and even considering only doing idea books. Information in hand, I put those wastes of tress back where I put them and scurried off to my doctor's appointment.
A person might be inclined to believe that the decrease in magazines in a store could be easily translated into an increase of money saving subscriptions. BUT, the rumors of declining subscription sales has been going around the mill for months now. One might even be inclined to believe that the popularity of online galleries has contributed to the lessened interest in scrapbooking magazines. I would be more inclined towards the later than the former.
I gave this some serious thought while I sat in the doctor's office fiddling my thumbs. It's all about economics now isn't it? Supply, demand, cost, all of that. The only problem is, that where as in the textbook economic model, demand for an item and the amount of supply of that item would effect the cost of that item, the industry tried to milk us for more than we were willing to pay, supplied more than we had a demand for and many times, ignored to cries of the consumer, instead opting to provide products that catered to a demographic that is in the minority. The result, in my opinion, has been the further decline in scrapbooker interest. I am not the least bit surprised that things are happening the way that they are, and I don't see how anyone is going to be able to fix it at this juncture.
This phenomenon is being repeated in the product sales area as well as magazine sales. Look at it:
- 1. Magazines dictate a trend and begin to feature more and more of the same 'artists' month after month/Manufacturers, pick up on that trend and speed up the production of new product releases so that there is virtually a flooding of the market with the latest and greatest.
- 2.Consumers complain about the trend and the fact that the same 'artists' are being over exposed in the publishing arena/ Consumers complain about the frequency of the new releases, and the fact that so many of them cater to a trend that doesn't reflect the creative preferences of the majority.
- 3. Magazines ignore the consumer cries and continues to request fresh layouts (but publish the known scrappers pages to the greater extent) and to bombard the consumer with manufacturer advertisements geared at convincing us that we "need" to have the latest and greatest. The manufacturers ignore the consumer cries and continues to cater to the dictated trend.
- 4. Consumers get fed up with the magazines and cancel subscriptions/ Consumers get fed up with the over saturated product market and resolve to just use what they have on hand instead of cramming more 'must have' product into their cupboards.
- 5. The magazines, when faced with a lessened subscriber base, decide to try to find fresh faces to reinforce the current trend or to start a new one. The demographic target for their marketing shrinks to such a degree that even those who decided to preview and purchase the magazines from the newsstands month to month, give up the hope for a useful publication./The manufacturers, now facing low sales, latch on to that same minority demographic that the magazines are focused on.
- 6. The work of the chosen demographic (eventually) becomes the meat and potatoes to the mag industry, though, the meat is no longer a London broil, but rather a lean, 99.9% fat free pork chop. The manufacturer seek to boost sales by getting the scrapping 'personalities' to endorse their product or create kits. The kits are gobbled up by much of the fandom while the ignored demographic scratches their heads in confusion.
I think it's a tug of war and I think that it's one that the industry will eventually lose. Why? Because we (people) have been scrapping for a lot longer that there have been magazines to tell us how to or an industry to dictate trends to us. Why? Because the magazines are afraid to stray away from the money earning potential of the tried and true 'artists'. Because the manufacturers only focus on the new and different while giving little credence to the tried and true. You'd think that if these two entities would switch business models, they'd somehow survive the impending implosion. If the manufacturers would focus on maintaining the interests of the tried and true while periodically presenting new techniques/styles as 'something new to try' instead of a "must- do trend", they might just see a return of their customer base...once we use up all of the rest of the stuff that they've crammed down our throats. If the magazines would embrace the true meaning of 'variety' and 'fresh face' then perhaps there would be some regenerated excitement about each publication. Instead of people shying away because of the confusing or uninspiring offerings, people would flock to them in order to garner a drop of inspiration from their true peers. If the magazines would publish all levels of scrapper, there might just be an increase in consumer interest based solely on the fact that there is a little bit of something for everyone.
Will all of this happen? I'd rather not hold my breath...people have died doing that. Do I want the industry to implode on itself? No, of course not, I plan on running out of stash some day. I do want the marketing execs to wake up and smell the desertion. All of this should be a wake up call for someone...but it's probably not going to be because there is no money in that. No, the money is in the hornswaggled masses who gladly gobble up all that the industry shoves down their throats. I'm sorry, I'm just not that hungry anymore.
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