Handmade vs Home Made, Crafter vs Artist

A friend and I were having a discussion about syntax. What's the difference between saying your jewelry is handmade vs home made? Homemade? Home made just doesn't sound right to me. She also knits and for some reason home made is on the *fringes* of sounding more correct for textiles. It really sounds right for food products. Although most of us make food with our hands.

Some of the hottest debates I've seen, and don't even get into, are the ones that revolve around what you choose to call yourself. Crafter vs Artist Jewelry Designer vs. Jewelry Maker and whatever else people can think up. Part of the problem, IMHO, is that a lot of this discussion starts with someone's sending an email to a group of people asking what she (usually it's a she) should call herself. If you ask a question, people will give you an answer, be it an opinion about what they do themselves or what you ought to do. I know what I call myself but I didn't ask anyone to tell me.

I'm a huge Wordie. I love words. I love naming my jewelry pieces. Love the thesaurus and love to find out that a new word has been coined. Recessionista is a fun one. Syntax debates can be fun but with me, you can tell me what I said a week later and chances are I'll feel differently about a word after some time.

I'll still know that I'm a jewelry designer, though. And I'll still strive to be a Recessionista. That sounds great! Crafter vs Artist? My accountant and I are still bouncing that ball around but Artist is looking pretty good. :-)