Longevity

Is scrapbooking the tapestry of the 21st century?

Traditionally there seems to be an art form that defines an era - often the art form is determined in part by the materials available - rock paintings when basic earth pigments were in vogue, clay statues when hand molding was fashionable, marble when sculpture was all the rage, Tapestry when you lived inside cold grey stone walls that just cried out for SOMETHING, ANYTHING to go with those sconces. . .

Painting has been the mainstay of the last 2500 years or so - although the Roman flirtation with mosaics certainly left some wonderful (if somewhat ribald) examples of what it is possible for one human to do with another. The Greeks certainly managed a similar level of self-expression on their pottery which has perhaps led to some popular misconceptions about the masculinity of young Greeks - my theory is that the more obscene pieces were more likely to survive down through the ages because they had been so well hidden away at the back of closets, under beds or in attics of ancient Greek dwellings.

The Egyptian culture seems to try to tie it all together with sculpture, paintings, papercrafts and - mummification. Since you had to be dead to have all this lavished upon you, and then it was all buried, it does seem unlikely to have been a desired personal selection of crafts - the main criteria of 'death first' would have guaranteed that most people would have avoided taking up these hobbies for as long as possible. I must say though that once they did it was all done with some flair.

Paintings today are not cheap to acquire or to create so photography remains the most common way to decorate the walls in many homes.

Scrapping - including 'off-the-page' examples seems to be taking on a growing role in the home but we have not (yet) seen the likes of the Bayeux tapestry from the scrapping world - I just guess we are waiting for the right cardstock for that one.

I have earlier raised the ire of some scrapper by asking "Is Scrapping a Fad" but rather than venture back into that uncertain wilderness I will instead ask "How much bigger will scrapping get" and do scrappers really want it that much bigger anyway?

How much is too much before what is a popular hobby for many becomes something that you do because everyone does it - or will that never happen?