Black Friday Sales and Christmas marketing, #Craftmas aims to get word out about the artists, artisans and craftspeople making beautiful gifts. Why buy a mass produced piece of plastic when you can gift an exclusive and interesting piece made by a creator-maker looking to make a living.
Support #Craftmas by using it to Tweet about your favourite makers, by using the hashtag as a Christmas shopping directory or simply by retweeting!
“Wan day a’d love tae make a livin oot certoons!”
If you REALLY follow cartoonist Red Raiph on Twitter you know to read the Tweets out loud.
You’ll also know Raiph is one of the joyful lights in the dark of the social media site, with Christmas being a particular highlight each year – look out for #raiphsadventcalandurand #chrismaswaeraiph – now Tweeting.
“Ah’v been makin mischief on Twitter fur aboot 7 year noo,” Raiph said. “My livetweets, #nativerty an #hawalleen, is world famous!”
“I luv ma stuff acos it cheer folk up, an I just stertit tae draw an write tae gie folk a laff!”
From just wanting to give people a laugh, Raiph has developed his creativity into his cartoons, which now feature on a range of gifts, and his writing – which often has those south of Scotland scratching their heads.
“A also write mad wee books in Scots an creatively spelt English, known is raiphspeak,” he added.
Born in The Gorbals, Glasgow, Raiph grew up with a love of cartoons. Christmas always saw the arrival of a new Oor Wullie or The Broons annual, which led to him realise that cartoons were something that he could aspire to doing for himself.
“Certoons Huv aways been ma favrit hing,” he said. “A loved em, bit ma favrit wis Dennis the Menace, acos the wee certoon strips wurnae aw polished! Embdy cud draw like at – even me! A hink they changed the artist tae make it mair neat lookin. A preffered the auld scribbly wans.”
Raiph’s political cartoons, offering his own wry take on the events of recent times, have thrust him to the forefront of Scottish independence campaign and even led to him becoming the star cartoonist of the SNP’s magazine.
Of course, as with much of his work, there are golden reasons why Raiph does the things he does, in the unique way that is unmistakably his.
“A try tae draw in a way to show folk ye dinnae huv tae be perfect, jus draw.” explained Raiph. “Ye’ll mibbe improve, bit ye’ll surely huv fun! A luv tae draw the certoons, wae me, Wee Vinny, Kurt, Demi and wee Steve the dug. Tae remind folk a happier, dafter times, an a wee break fae ma political stuff.”
So where can we get our hands on Raiph’s work?
“Ye cin buy stuff fae me on Twitter or ma books is on Amazon,” said Raiph. “I also huv a wee spreadshirt shoap, Raiph’s Shoap, where ma drawins is on T-shirts, posters, bags, badges an mugs!”
- Want more #Craftmas inspirations? Raiph recommends: “Ma amazin pal, @irmatharn, makes haun made ukuleles. She hus a wee Etsy shoap PipsUkes!”
Just Real Ruby 