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8/14/2021
 ++++

Good, quick, cheap -- pick two, they say (if they are competent 
and ethical craftspeople).  

I try to lock up cheap first.  After that is accomplished, I 
can think about which other one I want.  For my own use I will
often accept cheap-quick solutions (so, hacks -- basically 
unifying two of the main senses of the word), but for gifts I 
am attempting cheap-good, with the trade-off of spending quite 
a bit of time. 

As an illustration, the most recent gift I am working on is a
a little mechanism where you turn a handle in the front and 
a tail moves behind a little cartoon cat I cut out on the
scroll saw.  Since nearly all of the materials are reclaimed,
the only financial cost is the wear on the tools.  Now that's 
cheap.

Still, to make it *good* I have to invest time.  That can be 
just being more careful -- measure twice to cut once and all
of that -- but it also has to do with making prototypes or 
more than one of a component in the manufacturing process, so 
I can select the best one.   

I also find that the reclaimed route is a more meaningful way 
for me to build. The material I use has a story other than me 
exchanging money for a commodity that is supposed to be like 
all others of its type -- that's what a commodity tries to be, 
after all.  

For things that I make for my own use -- often that cheap and
quick, but always -- I write out where the parts came from in
Sharpie.  As much as I would like to, I know I can't do that 
on what I give away as a gift, but it still gives me something 
enjoyable to reflect upon.

--

This work is hereby in the public domain.
Do what you want with it.