Handcrafted Gift Ideas – 4 Simple Tips for Picking out the Perfect Gift

It happens every year around about this time…

• Are you already wondering what gift you’re going to give that close friend or family member THIS time?

• Are you sick of searching websites high and low, looking for just the right gift idea?

• Are you dreading struggling through traffic gift shopping only to be faced with out-of-stock rain-checks and “Mall Madness”?

Well if any of this sounds familiar then you should to read on and discover how to select the right handcrafted artwork to make that “perfect” gift for those special people in your life.

What are Good Handcrafted Gift Ideas?

In its strictest sense a handcrafted gift can defined as any art piece that has been created using a hand process rather than by a machine or automation.   Now this doesn’t mean that handcrafted wooden bowl you are so admiring of in our gallery was totally created using only simple hand tools!

Here at Mountain Made, we see handcrafting as the almost forgotten skill or art of building and making things better by hand.

So while a wood bowl might have been hand-turned using a power lath; it is the artisans’ manual skills and artistry plus their eye for craftsmanship that turns a block of wood into an extraordinary handcrafted art piece.

Handcrafting means that every piece of art is individually made.  No two items, even from the same artist, created using the same source of materials are ever truly identical.

This is why handcrafted items make such wonderful gifts ideas for those people who are closet to you – crafted gifts are truly one-of-a-kind pieces that no one else has.

How to Select a Handcrafted Gift?

Gift shopping is dreaded by lots of people, but it need not be difficult if you follow these four steps below to find the best handcrafted gift ideas…

Use Your Closeness to Your Advantage.  Close relationships means usually mean shared experiences.  Think back over the high points in your friendship or family relationship and use it to pick those arts and crafts pieces that evoke warm memories or remind you both of inside jokes or adventures.  Find a handcrafted gift that brings back the laughter and the love everytime you see it or use it.

Pick Out Handcrafted Gifts By Their Sensory Qualities.  Everyone experiences the world around us through our senses:  touch, sight, smell, hearing and taste. And while we don’t recommend that you buy any of our artists’ artwork based on its taste…

…We do have many items in our downtown Asheville gallery that will delight all the rest of your senses: from satin wood finishes, to colorful ceramics, to the cool glide of glass and the shiny goodness of sterling silver, hammered copper and artistic metals.

Choose a Gift Based On Places You Have Visited.  We know from personal experience that time spent traveling together as a couple or as a family can often become some of our most cherished memories. And purchasing gifts while you’re traveling is great way to kill two birds with one stone.

First, you get something that that reminds you all of the places you’ve been together and the places and people you met. Second, by getting handcrafted gifts that are away from your normal “hunting grounds” you are certain to find something wonderful for those left behind.

Finally, Find Gifts Based On What Their Interests.  Make a list of all the types of arts and crafts your friends and family or interested in. Think back…

• Does she like to wear earrings but not bracelets?

• Does he have a hidden hankering for apples or pear-shaped items?

• Does your favorite couple live with a lot of wood furnishings or have metal yard art?

See we told you…