Machination

It feels like every time I master a skill some one's already figured out a way to do it easily by computer or electronic device. Call me old fashioned but I refuse to become dependent on these mysterious machines for my art. The problem with this predicament is that what I painstakingly do by hand has lost its value. "That, oh yeah, my machine does that for the bargain price of $9999.95."
Unless you maneuver yourself into the gallery market there is little place for a hand maker in today's society. And even in the art world there are those who, if not mass produce, but utilize a machines capability to product their work faster and more precise.
Now I am not claiming to be 100% machine free. I do sew on a machine and often do machine quilting. But I do not program my machine to do the quilting for me. I don't program in the words for my quilted text-that is all done with how I move my hands. And it disgusts me that even during final critique in my advanced surface design where I had sat for weeks free motion quilting my Weeds piece that someone asked what other fonts my machine did.
There are machines that you can program in your text, a font, an image even and away it goes. And if you don't want to have a hand in what is embroidered or quilted into your work there is now a sewing machine foot put out by Bernina that regulates the tension of every stitch for you. So long to the learning curve, the months of practicing on scraps to get the speed of both the machine and your hands perfectly synced so as to create tight little stitches front and back. So long to those hours ripping out what I thought I was on a wicked roll to create only to see that they weren't as good as I thought from behind (tee hee, people all over often have this problem).
But this phenomenon is not limited to the fiber arts. There are those that create through a lens being pushed out by photoshoppers. Those that hand draw in competition with those that keep a projector handy. There are always short cuts for those who choose to take them and I'm not saying that their designs are any less attractive. I just want to find a way to keep a niche open for the things that I choose to do.