r/u_scrollsawgrandpa

The guy that bought the art store where I used to sell my stuff does laser cutting. Never thought much about it. I always felt (smugly) that we (scrollers) were kinda superior. This guys stuff is absolutely stunning! We have a few similar pieces that took me a week to accomplish, and took him less than an hour. And if you hung them side by side, mine would look like it was done by a third grader. (I know, there are a few decent third grade scrollers out there, but you get my point?) I’m pretty good at my saw, no brag, just fact, but his stuff is flawless. And beautiful. And he sells it for about 25 cents on the dollar to what I need just to get back materials. He’s open but still setting up the store and he has filled it with nice art in about 2 to 3 months. It would take me, literally, 3 years to do that amount of work. I was never doing this to make money. In fact, whatever profit I did make, I used to help kids aging out of foster care. But Christ! I sat down at the saw this morning and thought, “ what’s the use?” I’m good, but I’ll never put out that kind of quality. Side by side, I wouldn’t buy my crap either. Anyway, I needed to vent. I hope I get the feeling back, but right now, I’m thinking of giving it up. I look at his pieces and I think, “I suck!!!”

I want to thank all who commented to my post of a few days ago in which I was lamenting the very existence of laser cutters. I was definitely disheartened but looking back I really doubt I would’ve, or even could’ve, quit. Most of you had words of encouragement and sensible advice. A few told me, and I’m paraphrasing here, to quit being an ass. They weren’t wrong. I’m going to keep on keeping on, but with much less emphasis on selling. It was never really important before and is less so now. I do it because I enjoy it. And I’m going to keep doing it and keep enjoying it. Thanx everyone! This is a great sub-Reddit. Thanks for having me!