CRAFT on MAKE

CRAFT on MAKE

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We have exciting news for our readers: CRAFT is moving to MAKE in June! You’ll get the same awesome CRAFT content from your favorite crafty bloggers, all under the umbrella of our sibling O’Reilly Media publication, MAKE. Our teams already work closely together to bring you the best of the maker movement. By moving CRAFT over to the MAKE web site, we’ll be able to offer you the same crafty content you love in a more streamlined, efficient way, and all our forms of making will be under one roof. You’ll get the same types of posts each day, from the same team members you know and love. All our feeds will automatically transfer, so you won’t have to update your RSS reader or other methods of reading the new CRAFT feed on MAKE. The transition will be as seamless as possible.
Here’s Gareth Branwyn, Editorial Director for MAKE, on the move:

We had a lot of fun making this goofy video. As it declares, coming in June, CRAFT, our popular go-to site for the crafting community, will be moving over to makezine.com. We’ve always felt as though crafting was just another type of making. As we’ve moved our content management deeper into WordPress, it makes sense for us to move our craft content over to the makezine.com domain and to treat it as one of the key content areas that we plan on building out as we move forward. So, coming next month, that’s what we’ll be doing. CRAFT on MAKE.

We’ll also be joining forces at Maker Faire Bay Area this weekend. The CRAFT and MAKE areas have merged into one amazing space, ready to spark all of your making curiosity, from stitching to soldering. Be sure to check back this week for updates on our exciting CRAFT programming for the Faire.
Our full transition to Makezine.com will happen in June. We’ll keep you posted here on the CRAFT blog and through our various social media channels so you don’t miss a thing. We look forward to working as part of the greater MAKE team and continuing to share the best DIY inspiration for makers of all kinds

16 thoughts on “CRAFT on MAKE

  1. Natalie says:

    I suppose it wouldn’t have been an improvement to arbitrarily switch the genders for each “making genre” but this video surprised me. I think you were trying to reassure people that “don’t worry, if you’re not interested in [knitting | microcontrollers] we’re not going to impose them on you with this switch” but I wish as a community we’d stop drawing such clear-cut lines between categories, especially reinforcing associations with gender.
    Not that this one cute video is a huge deal, it was just surprising.
    Also, how on earth would you make a belt buckle with a soldering iron? (or maybe it’s a REALLY awesome belt buckle :).

  2. Jean Russell says:

    This is the same thing we were told when the magazine went away. Since then, articles or projects that are in the craft vein have been almost non-existent. Is this going to happen to the web content now?

  3. Rachel Hobson says:

    Hi Jean! (for some reason, the comment system is not allowing me to reply directly to your comment. Hopefully you’ll still see this!)
    Thanks for your question. Certainly, it’s a little unsettling when changes are announced and it might still be unclear how things will look moving forward. Here’s what I can tell you:
    – when we move over, our content will be the same as it’s been here on the CRAFT web site since we began. We’ll continue to bring the coolest craft projects from the web to you in one place, and we’ll bring as many original projects as our resources allow.
    – The main thing that will change is that we’ll be under the umbrella of MAKE, and on their web site in our own section. So, if you’ve enjoyed reading the CRAFT web site, that content won’t change. The framework will actually be more user-friendly, as we’ll finally be working on WordPress. The site will run smoother and commenting and interaction will be much easier.
    – The CRAFT team is awesome, and dedicated to bringing you the best craft inspiration and projects from all corners of the web, and that will never change. We have a really wonderful team with diverse interests and specialties who are all plugged in to innovative happenings in the craft blogosphere, and who work really hard to share that with our community. Our resources may be limited, but our passion is not.
    What I take from your comment is that you’d like to see more original projects on the web site versus our links to other projects, is that correct? I share that desire, and am working hard toward that goal within the confines of our budget. Stick with us, because what we all want is a rich crafting community that shares ideas, inspiration and skills in a fun environment, right? Your constructive criticism and participation help make that possible – and better. Thanks for chiming in and sharing your concerns. I really appreciate it.
    ~Rach

  4. Rachel Hobson says:

    Hi Natalie –
    I get that. It’s a tricky thing, isn’t it? Sometimes, to me, it almost feels like the stereotypes of male=maker/female=crafter just perpetuate themselves. I’m hoping that this transition actually helps blur those distinctions a little more and gets each “group” more interested in the other. Indeed, maybe it would have been better in the video to have a male and female on each side (I’m guessing that if we only had one of each and had them swapped, that we would have gotten just as many comments that we were trying to force the *opposite* of the stereotype – make sense?).
    Re: the soldering iron … maybe one of our soldering expert readers will chime in ;) I don’t know, I’m thinking you could solder the pieces together, right? Maybe I’ll learn that as our communities blend more in to one giant ball of making! :)
    Thanks for your comment. I really do appreciate it!
    ~Rach

  5. Chris says:

    It’s really unfortunate that O’Reilly Media has decided to completely bail on the craft scene.
    I subscribed my wife to Craft after I saw the very first issue at the newsstand and her first impression was that there was finally a great crafting magazine geared to the non-retired audience.
    When the magazine was discontinued, she searched for a replacement without any luck and I even showed her some issues of Make and the crafting sections were disappointing at best. She decided she would make due with the website, even taking over my iGoogle page with the Craft RSS feed.
    It’s strange that O’Reilly has impressed us with a forced perspective that “Makers” and “Crafters” are one in the same, when they definitely aren’t. It would be like trying to say photographers are the same as software developers since they both use computers in their work.

  6. Jean Russell says:

    Rachel,
    I couldn’t reply to your reply, either.
    I don’t mind the ratio of new content to links to other sites. I think the only craft site I visit daily that I didn’t get from you guys is Ravelry, and I might have read about that here also. I also drive all my crafting buddies crazy sending them links from Craft. I realize that developing new content is expensive. Having Craft as the filter for finding the best craft links online is invaluable. What I’m worried about is that this is the same assurance we got when the magazine went away, the content would flow into Make. And It Hasn’t.
    I don’t mind change (well, I do, but I suck it and move on). What I’m afraid of is the online presence going the way of the printed presence. And that scares me to death.

  7. Rachel Hobson says:

    Hi Chris –
    Thanks for your comments. It’s good to see someone who has been with us from the start.
    I don’t feel that O’Reilly Media has completely bailed on the craft scene. If that were the case, we’d be shutting down and heading out. This transition won’t cut down on our content, it will just move us all on to one web site. We’ll actually be (as I understand) our own separate tab on the Makezine web site, so you and your wife will be able to get Craft-only content in that one stream.
    I love that your wife took over your iGoogle page with our RSS feed, and that should transfer over seamlessly for her. In a perfect world, we’d be able to maintain the print and online versions of CRAFT, fully. Right now, our resources are limited and streamlining just makes sense. It’s my goal to keep the team going as best as we can to keep providing great content to our readers and community and to continue to be an advocate for the CRAFT audience.
    I think the bigger idea is that “makers” and “crafters” aren’t exactly the same, but that they both encompass the same mindset of innovation and doing it yourself. I’m hopeful that, because of the way the content will be organized on Makezine.com, that we can create a space where both branches of DIY are celebrated, and mingling is encouraged but not forced.
    Keeping up conversations like this is key, though, and I really appreciate your feedback. Please keep it up, and feel free to get in touch with questions or concerns as the transition takes place.
    ~Rach

  8. Rachel Hobson says:

    Jean –
    Argh – the not-being-able-to-reply thing is frustrating, and one of the many reasons I will enjoy moving to WordPress. ;)
    Thank you for your kind and supportive words. I really appreciate it, and I appreciate that you get what we’re all about and are so enthusiastic about spreading the CRAFT love – Thank You for that.
    When the print magazine went away, the idea wasn’t so much that the content would flow in to the MAKE magazine, but just that it would continue on the web site (from what I recall). I hear you – CRAFT going away completely would scare me to death, too! None of us want that to happen. Streamlining like this will hopefully help us use our resources more effectively so we can continue to bring you the content you love. (and continue to bug your friends with rad crafty links ;)
    Thanks again for the conversation!
    ~Rach

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