The new faces of handmade

 Forging Mold Astair-stepper rests next to a bench press. A corner worktable— littered with scissors, saws, axes — supports awooden shelf piled with more tools and a couple mannequin heads.There are scraps of plywood and an old box fan on the alreadysupply-littered floor. Dozens of colorful leather belts are drapedon the right side of a bench-press barbell, near the 28-year-old'ssewing machine. "Fred won't come in here," says Wye of his dog, a gentle retrievermix. "He's scared of all this." Perhaps rightly so. Aside from thefact that the belt designer's workshop has no AC or heat —Wye admits he just started feeling his toes again in March —there are some heavy-duty machines in here that, when turned on,sound like they're about to go into orbit. "Craft" doesn't seem to really describe what an increasing numberof Washingtonians are cranking out creatively, often for profit.Forget the Styrofoam balls, googly eyes and felt Mom would pick upat Michaels. Today, tastes have moved past generic do-it-yourselfkits toward eclectic creations and personalized ventures. The daysof rubber-stamping and wreath-making are so over. Instead,independent businesses — from funky beltmakers like Wye tospirited fabric artists — are gaining ground and often makingmoney. According to the Craft and Hobby Association , crafters spend $31 billion per year in the States alone. "People better appreciate handmade items today more than 10 or 15years ago when it was more of a materialistic world," saysspokeswoman Terri Ouellette . "It didn't use to be that way. You'd have to negotiate for fivebucks for the thing you worked three days on!" She says the green movement and accessibility of information on theInternet have played significant roles in the current craft boom.In an age of mass-produced everything, people crave the authentic,the handmade, the imperfect. And there are a lot of people makingstuff these days — 57 percent of American households do. So,in order to make a living (or some extra cash) weaving, forging orhammering stuff, your product really needs to stand out. "Peoplejust aren't buying crocheted hand towels anymore," says Ouelette."And it's probably a good thing."