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Career Details

27-1012.00 - Craft Artists


Create or reproduce handmade objects for sale and exhibition using a variety of techniques, such as welding, weaving, pottery, and needlecraft.


Key Facts
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Bright Outlook
Career Details
Green Job
Career Details
Current Employment
10,600
Estimate
Forecasted Employment
10,600
Estimate
Change in Employment
100.0
Estimate
Change in Employment %
+0.6%
Estimate
Tasks
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Tasks
The tasks listed below can be performed to prepare you for a career in this field.
Core
  • Create functional or decorative objects by hand, using a variety of methods and materials.
  • Cut, shape, fit, join, mold, or otherwise process materials, using hand tools, power tools, or machinery.
  • Select materials for use based on strength, color, texture, balance, weight, size, malleability and other characteristics.
  • Apply finishes to objects being crafted.
  • Develop concepts or creative ideas for craft objects.
  • Set specifications for materials, dimensions, and finishes.
  • Confer with customers to assess customer needs or obtain feedback.
  • Fabricate patterns or templates to guide craft production.
  • Create prototypes or models of objects to be crafted.
  • Sketch or draw objects to be crafted.
  • Advertise products and work, using media such as internet advertising and brochures.
  • Develop product packaging, display, and pricing strategies.
  • Research craft trends, venues, and customer buying patterns to inspire designs and marketing strategies.
  • Plan and attend craft shows to market products.
Supplemental
  • Develop designs using specialized computer software.
All data sourced from US Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration O*Net Database.
Knowledge
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Knowledge

The items listed below are organized into sections that contain knowledge useful for pursuing a career in this field. Each section also contains a "Percentage of Importance" statistic that shows how relevant an item is to the occupation.
 Fine Arts
  • 78%
    Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
 Sales and Marketing
  • 77%
    Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
 Customer and Personal Service
  • 76%
    Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
 Production and Processing
  • 76%
    Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
 Design
  • 75%
    Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
 Mechanical
  • 60%
    Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
 Clerical
  • 54%
    Knowledge of administrative and clerical procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office procedures and terminology.
 Administration and Management
  • 54%
    Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
 Economics and Accounting
  • 54%
    Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
 English Language
  • 52%
    Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
 Mathematics
  • 51%
    Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
 Communications and Media
  • 50%
    Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
All data sourced from US Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration O*Net Database.
Tools
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Tools
The tools listed below include machines, equipment, tools, and software that is useful for individuals who are interested in this career.
 Wrenches and drivers
  • Allen wrenches
  • Phillips screwdrivers
  • Straight screwdrivers
 Printing machinery accessories
  • Aluminum silkscreening screens
  • Silk screen exposure units
  • Silk-screening roller frames
  • Silk-screening squeegees
 Classroom and fine art paint and mediums and applicators and accessories
  • Angled paint brushes
  • Artists' palette knives
  • Artists' palettes
  • Paint mixing pipettes
  • Paint scrapers
  • Round short handle brushes
 Paint applicators and painting accessories
  • Artists' air brushes
  • Artists' paint brushes
  • Paint spray guns
  • Stencil brushes
 Cutting and crimping and punching tools
  • Bail shaping pliers
  • Center punches
  • Coping saws
  • Glass cutting shears
  • Glass rod nippers
  • Handsaws
  • Hole-punching pliers
  • Jewelers' saws
  • Linoleum cutters
  • Punch sets
  • Spring-loaded tubing cutters
  • Tool sharpeners
  • Trim saws
 Machinery for working wood and stone and ceramic and the like
  • Ball mills
  • Belt sanders
  • Compound miter saws
  • Dovetail jigs
  • Drum sanders
  • Edge banding machines
  • Line boring machines
  • Mortise and tenon jigs
  • Steam bending tools
 Rough and finishing tools
  • Bastard hand files
  • Bench planes
  • Burnishing tools
  • Encaustic spatulas
  • Flexible ink spatulas
  • Half-round hand files
  • Half-round needle files
  • Hand planes
  • Riffler rasps
  • Smoothing planes
  • Steel rasps
  • Stone carving chisels
  • Stone carving knives
  • Tool sharpening stones
  • Wood carving chisels
  • Wood carving gouges
  • Wood carving skews
 Cement and ceramics and glass industry machinery and equipment and supplies
  • Bead shaping molds
  • Blowhoses
  • Glass rakes
  • Glassworking lathes
  • Graphite paddles
  • Graphite reamers
  • Hollow mandrels
  • Lampworking torches
  • Lathe burners
  • Marble molds
  • Parallel mashers
  • Push and blow tubes
  • Stainless steel mandrels
 Forming tools
  • Bench anvils
  • Bush hammers
  • Chasing hammers
  • Dead blow mallets
  • Jewelers' planishing hammers
  • Rawhide mallets
  • Riveting hammers
  • Soldering picks
  • Texturing hammers
 Holding and clamping tools
  • Bench pins
  • C clamps
  • Corner clamps
  • Cross-lock tweezers
  • Dipping tongs
  • Flush cutters
  • Half-round pliers
  • Hold-down clamps
  • Jewelers' chain-nose pliers
  • Jewelers' crimper pliers
  • Jewelers' flat nose pliers
  • Jewelers' forming pliers
  • Jewelers' link forming pliers
  • Jewelers' prong-closing pliers
  • Jewelers' solder cutting pliers
  • Jewelers' wire looping pliers
  • Mashing tweezers
  • Raku tongs
  • Solder tweezers
  • Workbench vises
 Metal drilling machines
  • Benchtop drill presses
  • Floor mount drill presses
  • Mini drill presses
 Clay and modeling compounds and ceramics equipment and accessories
  • Bevel tools
  • Ceramic bead bars
  • Ceramic loop tools
  • Clay cutters
  • Clay mixers
  • Detail carving tools
  • Edging tools
  • Electric kilns
  • Electric potters wheels
  • Extruder dies
  • Fettling knives
  • Gas kilns
  • Glass kilns
  • Hand glaze mixers
  • Handheld clay extruders
  • Handlemaker tools
  • Kick wheels
  • Kiln carts
  • Kiln oxygen probes
  • Kiln ventilation hoods
  • Mold knives
  • Pot lifts
  • Potter's ribs
  • Pottery cleanup tools
  • Pottery duster brushes
  • Pottery kilns
  • Pugmills
  • Raku kilns
  • Round hole punches
  • Saber saws
  • Sgraffito tools
  • Slab mats
  • Slab rollers
  • Square hole cutters
  • Tile presses
 Textile working machinery and equipment and accessories
  • Bias tape machines
  • Machine quilters
  • Quilting frames
  • Sewing machines
 Power tools
  • Biscuit joiners
  • Brad nailers
  • Buffing tools
  • Chop saws
  • Circular saws
  • Cordless power drills
  • Diamond core drills
  • Disc cutters
  • Dressing wheels
  • Electric heat guns
  • Heavy duty fixed base routers
  • Jigsaws
  • Panel saws
  • Pin nailers
  • Planing equipment
  • Portable routers
  • Power screwdrivers
  • Power staple guns
  • Rabbeting routers
  • Scroll saws
  • Stone or metal grinders
  • Table saws
  • Tile saws
 Candlemaking
  • Candle molds
  • Wick setters
 Wood crafts
  • Carving knives
  • Carving mallets
  • Woodburning tool sets
 Computer printers
  • Color inkjet printers
  • Heat transfer printers
  • Image sublimation printers
 Textile processing machinery and accessories
  • Conewinders
  • Feltmaking machines
  • Warping mills
 Computer data input devices
  • Credit card machines
 Miscellaneous sewing supplies
  • Crochet hooks
  • Punch needles
  • Seam rippers
  • Sewing rulers
  • Thread bobbins
 Measuring and layout tools
  • Degree gauges
  • Digital angle gauges
  • Engineers squares
  • Laser levels
  • Precision levels
  • Precision straightedges
 Drafting supplies
  • Design templates
  • Layout T-squares
  • Protractors
  • Woodworking templates
 Length and thickness and distance measuring instruments
  • Digital calipers
  • Digital micrometers
  • Graphic arts rulers
  • Height gauges
  • Jewelers' wire gauges
 Temperature and heat measuring instruments
  • Digital pyrometers
  • Digital thermometers
  • Non-contact thermometers
  • Theromcouples
 Weight measuring instruments
  • Digital scales
  • Triple beam scales
 Fluid mechanics equipment
  • Digital viscosometers
 Marking tools
  • Double-ended etching scribes
  • Scoring knives
  • Scribing tools
 Respiratory protection
  • Dust and particulate respirators
  • Dust masks
 Purification
  • Dust collectors
 Compressors
  • Electric air compressors
  • Gas-powered air compressors
 Coating or plating machines
  • Electroplating machines
 Art and craft cutting products
  • Encaustic scrapers
  • Fabric cutters
  • Rotary cutters
 Sewing and stitchery and weaving equipment and accessories
  • Floor looms
  • Inkle looms
  • Lap looms
  • Rigid heddle looms
  • Small hand looms
  • Tabletop looms
  • Tapestry looms
 Brushes
  • Flux brushes
  • Glue brushes
 Hearing protectors
  • Hearing protection plugs
 Safety apparel
  • Heat resistant gloves
 Computers
  • Laptop computers
  • Personal computers
  • Tablet computers
 Printing machinery and equipment
  • Manual production printing presses
  • Tabletop printing presses
 Studio aids
  • Modeling stands
 Clamps
  • Pipe clamps
 Pneumatic tools
  • Pneumatic chisels
 Lathes and turning centers
  • Polishing bench lathes
 Vision protection and accessories
  • Protective safety glasses
 Igniters
  • Torch igniters
 Metal cleaning machinery and supplies
  • Ultrasonic jewelry cleaners
All data sourced from US Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration O*Net Database.
Technology
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Technology
The technologies listed below include machines, equipment, tools, and software that is useful for individuals who are interested in this career.
 Industry specific software
  • DRAWSTITCH Artistic Sewing SuiteHOT
  • Electric Quilt Quilt Design WizardHOT
  • Embroidery design softwareHOT
  • Floriani MDQ My Decorative QuilterHOT
  • John Hesselberth and Ron Roy GlazeMaster
  • Pattern design softwareHOT
  • Sales management software
 Information exchange software
  • Email software
  • Twitter
 Content authoring and editing software
  • FacebookHOT
  • SmugMug FlickrHOT
All data sourced from US Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration O*Net Database.
Certifications
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Certifications
The certifications listed below are useful to pursue if you are interested in a career in this field.
No specific certifications are listed for this career
All data sourced from US Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration O*Net Database.
Licensing
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Licensing
The licensing information below is organized into sections and is useful for pursuing if you are interested in a career in this field.
No specific licensing information is listed for this occupation in the area you have selected.
All data sourced from US Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration O*Net Database.
Related Programs
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Online Programs related to this career, offered by participating institution(s), are listed below.

Clicking on the Degree programs in the list below will take you away from the Careers page.
INSTITUTION
PROGRAMS
Laurel Ridge Community College
Mountain Empire Community College
Northern Virginia Community College
Piedmont Virginia Community College