Why We Make Stuff

This post is being written by Terral. Mary is busy with Ethan right now (fireworks and such worked him up). She may or may not have already fallen asleep with him.  :) I'm pretty tired myself so this post will probably not make much sense!

I have always liked to make things. What kinds of things? I don't really care. It started as things that I wanted but couldn't afford. I once tried to make waterproof snowboard pants out of an old pair of nylon warm-up pants. I melted wax in a pot and then rubbed the melted wax into the fabric. I'm sure you can guess that it didn't work so well but it was worth a try right? Oh well I was young and couldn't afford decent apparel for snowboarding. Anyway my compulsion for making things has only grown. I look at something and immediately I wonder to myself, "how is that made? I wonder if I could make something like that? How does it really work. Is there something else that can create the same function that I can rig? I think that after being married to me Mary has caught the bug. She is getting really good at making homemade health and beauty products!

Recently we were asked why we made our own toothpaste. We don't always use homemade toothpaste but we have been experimenting with it. We had a hard time actually saying why we did. It may have saved us a tiny bit of money but that wasn't the big issue. Mary says there are some kind of health benefits but we really can't remember what they are. Our first attempts really didn't taste good at all. Don't get me wrong, they do a good job and leave a good clean feel but it does take some work to get it right. We just couldn't come up with any quantitative reason why we did it!
(**edit from Mary: Although I couldn't remember all the reasons specifically, I made it because I wanted to avoid things in commercial toothpaste like flouride, which may help strengthen teeth, but it does not do the same for your body.)

Well when it comes down to it, we do it because we can. It's fun. It's interesting! For some reason there is a thrill that one gets from making something that is normally considered to be something that the average person can't make. It is impossible to explain the feeling to someone who has not experienced it. If you have eaten fresh food from your own garden then that is a similar feeling. The knowledge and skills are empowering. We live in a world where everything we do is usually justified by "the bottom line" If it saves us time, money, or effort then we do it. Very rarely do we do things just for the heck of it!
(**edit from Mary: I definitely agree with what Terral has said, but I also have a lot of motivation from saving money, being independent, and a sense of accomplishment. Oh, and for the record, I have always enjoyed making things, but my interests have certainly expanded since we got married.)

For anyone who may think that it is a waste of time to make something that can easily be purchased at the store I have an example. In high school Chaco sandals became popular. I was in with the outdoorsy crowd and many of my friends had them. I wanted a pair so badly but alas, I couldn't afford them.(They are not cheap!) We went river rafting for a sr. trip so I decided to make a pair of sandals out of some webbing that I found in the basement. I don't remember exactly how I made them but I made the sole by weaving the webbing together. They didn't offer much protection but I didn't care. My friends thought they were pretty funny! They lasted about half a day until they fell off in the river and drifted away.

Fast forward about ten years and I finally got my Chacos. I had been wearing them and loving them. Unfortunately I had stopped wearing them in the desert because the sand was making the straps break. I started thinking about all the things that I would change if I could. One day I just decided that I needed a replacement. I wanted something light and flexible. After a long search with no results I finally decided to just make my own. I played with foam, duct tape and climbing webbing to make prototypes. I looked online and found some sandals called "huaraches" which is really just Spanish for sandal but refers to the running sandals that the Tarahumara indians use for running several hundred miles at a time. They were cool but not what I wanted. A few small businesses were making handmade versions of them although they looked very primitive and like something a Roman soldier would wear. I was inspired by the simple design so I kept making until I finally got the sandals that I really wanted.

One thing led to another and now I own a sandal company. It is small but growing steadily. I have three part-time workers and we are currently making about 40 pairs per week. That is my full-time job. It would be my full-and-a-half-time job if there were such a thing! I don't mean to be boastful but rather to prove the point. You never know what things may grow from just making something. Back in the year 2000 when I made my first pair (or should I say attempt) of sandals I would NOT have guessed that I would end up making sandals for a living.

Ok, the rant is over now! If you're still reading then I'm impressed.