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Quality Is Important!

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Quality matters
Saw-cut jump rings

Categories: Messages and statements; Human nature; Commerce and business

Word count/read time: 504 words; 2 minutes

Quality is a mindset, the manifestation of which produces beautiful goods: the legitimate craftsman who forever pursues perfection, the artist who continually pushes the limits, the speechwriter who toils over the thesaurus and word counts.

Upgrades and keeping up with the Joneses define modern life. Casualties include durable products and the skill and knowledge of the craftsperson who fixes them. The death of expertise has ushered in the age of the know-it-all. Influencers are mistaken for experts because they have boatloads of followers. When they spread falsehoods, the overall quality and veracity of the information available to the average person becomes diluted.

Every profession has its hangups. For chain making, two things determine quality: good closures and saw-cut rings. Science proves it so if you don't like what you hear, change the narrative and stop making junk. Chainmaille takes minimal skill so the marketplace should be substantially more appealing than it is.

A friend of mine encourages me to make less expensive, lesser quality products to increase sales. If you make low-quality stuff in any quantity or capacity there's no magic switch to start making quality goods again. Without continuous practice, you don't have command over quality when it's really important. The desire to improve will become collateral damage.

Every piece I make is the most important whether $8 earwires or $8,000 bracelets. Maybe it seems trivial for inexpensive goods but what about the next piece? And the one after that? If quality doesn't matter 100% of the time then it doesn't matter 100% of the time! Simply, someone's talents are defined by their worst piece. Also, experience has no relevance when it comes to quality as I see people doing it for 30+ years who still can't close a ring properly.

So many artists give up after their first or second piece. They may continue to make stuff forever but their quest to improve was satisfied, literally, on day one. Most maillers fit this mold and are confused about what quality means. It's a race to the bottom that dedicated and conscientious artists avoid.

Buyers are duped by the low-quality charade because that's all they encounter. They have no choice but to accept deceitful manufacturers' words as fact since sellers will do whatever is necessary to move their products. Just a shame that they've sold out their principles to make a $10 sale.

Besides, everyone else makes equally horrendous junk and is just as conniving so there's no incentive to change or police themselves. The community will ferociously attack anyone who calls one of their members out. They will defend their collective right to cheat people no matter how asinine or illegal. This stereotype, as painfully accurate as it is, makes it a rare privilege when you encounter "not the norm."

Until you hold and inspect a quality handmade precious metal chain with properly welded or soldered seams, you will never know the real deal. It's impossible to share the experience through words or pictures. Quality is important and dictates everything I do.

Posted by M: November 23, 2019

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