Alright crafters, the results are in! There’s a TL;DR at the end of this post, but we did want to explain how we got here and the choices we’ve made along the way, too. As a quick recap, the mod team noticed a pattern of off-topic conversations and uncivil conversations whenever someone posted crafts related to Harry Potter, and members of the community raised concerns about allowing such content in the subreddit. It was compared to hate speech, due to JK Rowling’s increasingly vocal bigotry and use of her political, economic, and social platforms to further that agenda, as documented here and here. We knew there would be no perfect solution to this problem, and that anything we did would leave some people feeling hurt and upset. But we felt it was important to address the issue, so we asked the community a little bit ago in this post about what they think we should do, and we discussed it as a team as well.
While some commenters opposed the idea of banning it, those discussions were largely centered around concerns about whether it would lead to more censorship. In our experience, posts about other “problematic” topics and IP do not lead to the same level of off-topic conversations and arguments that Harry Potter posts have. Additionally, Rowling is causing a significant amount of concrete and widespread harm towards entire marginalized communities, and as members and supporters of those communities, we felt that removing her influence from this subreddit should still be on the table. So, we created a poll to get simple, concrete feedback on one question: To ban, or not to ban? We limited voting to accounts that were at least 60 days old, and had at least 50 Reddit karma and 10 community karma, in order to keep it to community members and try to avoid brigading for either side. So, here are the results:
A screenshot of the survey results
As we can see, it wasn’t a complete landslide in either direction, and those who voted definitely tended towards strong feelings on the topic! After gathering 1,232 total votes, 53% of those who voted in the poll are in favor of banning posts related to Rowling and Harry Potter, while 41% of voters are against banning it. Our intention with this post was to gather feedback on the community’s feelings, because comment sections alone aren’t always representative of a full community, and we wanted to give those who aren’t comfortable commenting or aren’t well-spoken a chance to speak their minds. And it seems like the results are pretty clear! While there’s a decent number of people who don’t support Harry Potter posts being banned, the majority certainly does seem to support this ban - as do the members of the mod team.
So, what does this mean for the subreddit? Well, crafts that are directly related to Harry Potter can no longer be posted here. If your craft isn’t obviously Harry Potter, and you don’t reference it at all, you can still post it - for example, a red-and-gold scarf is perfectly welcome, so long as you don’t describe it as a Gryffindor scarf. Wands are fine, even if they’re similar in style, so long as they aren’t explicitly “inspired by Harry Potter.” But a papercrafted Hogwarts, or a replica of a specific character’s wand? Not allowed. We are currently working on updating the wiki in general, and will add a page about this ban in the wiki, including informational resources like the ones posted above and guidelines on what is and isn’t allowed. But generally speaking, any identifiable reference to Harry Potter is going to be a no-go, and moderator discretion will be the ultimate decider on what is and isn’t considered “Harry Potter-related.”
This also doesn’t mean we’re planning to start banning all kinds of IP and inspirations - as stated earlier, we found that Harry Potter posts generated far more issues and conflict than any other IP, and no other IP has been raised as a concern to the same degree. We talked about it, and while we all have companies or creators that we as individuals don’t love to see discussed in the subreddit, no other topic has been so universally controversial and caused so many problems from a purely logistical moderation standpoint. If, in the future, another similar issue does arise, we will handle that as it happens. We may not ask for feedback in the same way, because to tell the truth it stretched the issue out and caused more stress than we meant it to. But for right now, no other topic seems to be causing so many problems both within and outside of the subreddit, so we have no current plans to ban anything else.
Comments on this post are locked, as we don’t want to encourage debate about this topic. We had plenty of that in the original feedback post, and at this point we’ve made our decision. However, if you would like to clarify any aspect of this new rule, or you still have questions about why we chose to do this, please feel free to reach out via modmail! Please also note that we’ve had a couple of mods leave recently, bringing the team down to just four of us. While we are adding new members to the team soon, it’ll likely take us a bit to work out all the kinks with this new rule, as it does with any change to the subreddit! Please be patient with us in the meantime, and remember that the mods are people too, and we are all dealing with our own issues and responsibilities irl.
TL;DR After a community vote, and much discussion from the mods, posts and discussion about Harry Potter and JK Rowling are no longer allowed in the subreddit, and will be removed going forward.
DETAILS:
While out thrifting I came across this yellow embroidered shawl, and hot damn I couldn't stop myself. It was whispering to me. What was it saying? 'Drink some wine and make something. Ignore your responsibilities'. And that's just what I did. My electricity might be off, but my fashion is ON!
My shirt pattern comes from an old shirt that I deconstructed. Honestly the easiest and cheapest way to get a pattern. I cut along each seem, take mental notes (and promptly forget them, due to the wine), and boom! Pattern. I recommend tracing it onto some butcher paper. I don't know why, but like my old manager says, "extra work is fun. But don't feel joy. Joy is for the elite."
Unfortunately there was no way to match the patterns symmetrically due to the nature of the shawl, and my own laziness and impatience. There are some construction mistakes (mostly unevenness and symmetry) that I wish I'd corrected but if we're talking past regrets and mistakes, that one doesn't even make the list.
Total time was roughly 4.5 hours of sewing, or roughly 6 episodes of the show 'Carrie', that are confusing because you're sewing and not paying attention to the plot, and your husband gets frustrated because you keep asking questions about what's going on with the 'Psychic Laura Ingalls Wilder', and also because there's a Singer Heavy Duty buzzing away on the other side of the living room, but you refuse to take it upstairs because you simultaneously want to spend time with your loved one and also completely ignore him in pursuit of crafting.
I don't know exactly what the fabric is, but it feels and looks like a Gaberdine. I started with maybe 2ish yards of the fabric and 3/4s of a bottle of wine and used both in their entirety for this shirt.
For long time I had a crazy idea of making a functional lighthouse on my property. Initial idea was to just make a quirky lamp post for the overflow warning light of the septic tank, but since then it grew out to be its own sculpture.
I've made the top part out of 3d-printed parts and soldered brass wires and strips, with a cannibalized microwave motor that turns the lens (also 3d printed, but out of clear resin). It was intended to just be a decorative detail to add some life to the miniature, but later I discovered that the lens actually are functional, and properly focus the lightbulb's light!
The rest of the body was made with concrete over a plastic sewage pipe as base, reinforced with steel mesh for good measure. It was my first (and so far the only) time working with concrete, so I wanted this thing to be as durable as I could make it, just in case. Especially since it was intended to be a permanent oudoors installment.
I've painted it with white and light gray acrylic out of a shake can afterwards, and installed the top permanently. Plugged it into 220v light sensor that turns it on for a few hours after it gets dark enough. The final height of the whole lighthouse is ~1.5 meters. Biggest thing I've ever crafted! And fricking heavy, too, with all the concrete I think it weighs over 20 kg, I can barely lift it.
So far the thing ended up being impressively resilient, and it survived two winters now, one of which being really harsh and cold, with half-a-meter high snow cover. The only visible damage is that one of the railings de-soldered itself, but it is visible only on a close inspection.
Upcycled my old torn jeans into this corset top! It’s my first upcycling project. I drafted the pattern myself. For the lining, I used a scrap of fabric left over from my previous sewing project. So it’s fully lined.
I designed this hat myself and crocheted it using yarn made of 50% wool and 50% acrylic. I worked with two strands of yarn held together and used a 3 mm crochet hook.
I decorated the hat with blue beads and a crescent moon charm.
There is no crochet pattern available for this hat, as it is my own original design, which I created from scratch.
To finish the hat, I attached strands of yarn to both sides and braided them into long decorative braids.
I want to try more types of crafts, but I'm relatively inexperienced. I know how to paint traditionally, I can do some embroidery, and mess with collages a lot.
I'm curious also what are some crafts people may never have heard of before, or that you find to be really interesting!
"common" crafts I think of crochet, embroidery, sewing, decoupage, papercraft, pottery, etc.
Hello everyone, this is my first paper mache project. In true art hobbyist fashion I am starting a big project at the last minute with no prior experience using the media. (:
I am making a goat/deer skull mask that I would like to wear to the Ren fair in 2 days. I just found out you're supposed to use at least 3 layers and wait 24hrs between each. I may be in quite the pickle but I'd still like to see if I can pull this off. With your help of course.
Things I read that can speed up the drying process are fans and hair dryers, luckily I have both! I also read that you can use wood glue which is stronger and dries faster, I also have some wood glue apparently!
Here is my idea, I'm wondering if I can make a recipe combining Elmer's washable school glue, titebond wood glue, and water to make slightly faster drying sturdier layers. Maybe like a 1:1:1/2 ratio since the school glue has a little extra water than all purpose and the wood glue recipes I've seen use less water.
Does this recipe work? If I use fans, how possible would it be to get 3 layers done in 1 to 2 days?
Hey everyone! Not sure if this is the rightt subreddit, bur thought I'd try my luck. If I mix clear PVA glue with one drop of blue food colouring, will it dry totally clear or go cloudy? Any tips on how to make sur eit isn't cloudy? Or aby alternatives that will fy clear? Thanks!
I have a number of 3x8' banners that used to be advertising for museum exhibitions on city street lights. I want to turn them into moveable drapes across a large glass slider, but the engineering for any mechanism to hang them from and have them mobile is going to be difficult.
They have channels about 3" deep at either end where they used to slide into the rods on the street lights. They will not bunch up as they are too stiff in general and it is reinforced with the channels.
I want to rig up some sort of system to make them hang and overlap when they are pushed aside. I could get barn door hardware, but I am open to ideas and suggestions!
What is an unusual Thing you use when crafting ? I dont mean paint or glue I mean Something which was meant to be used for/as Something Else 😊 I will start : I Always have a clear nail top coat at home, it seals stickers so much and let some of my crafts shine hehe 😁
