DEK: More and more makers are finding that the right materials at the right price are what make a project work. These seven went looking for value, found it on Temu, and built something worth talking about.
There's a long-standing assumption in maker communities that quality lives at the top of the price range. Pay more, get more. Stick to the specialist suppliers. For the people here, questioning that assumption turned out to be one of the better creative decisions they ever made.
1. The California bride who turned toilet brushes into a wedding stage
Sam Hwang decided to build her own statement stage for her wedding after being quoted $16,000 by a contractor.
A seasoned crafter, Sam started with a pre-made wood platform, then shaping plaster over it to mimic cake frosting, pressing silicone molds along the edges for texture detail, and placing foam balls on top finished with cherry-shaped toilet plungers from Temu at $5 each.
{{/usCountry}}A seasoned crafter, Sam started with a pre-made wood platform, then shaping plaster over it to mimic cake frosting, pressing silicone molds along the edges for texture detail, and placing foam balls on top finished with cherry-shaped toilet plungers from Temu at $5 each.
{{/usCountry}}The cherries photographed like genuine oversized props, and the story even got published on People magazine.
"We wanted to make everything seem very personable to us," she said. The Temu plungers were the detail that made it work, and at $5 each, the risk of being wrong was negligible.
2. The Nashville pro musician who built a touring bass guitar from Temu parts
Full-time musician Travis Dykes has toured with Carrie Underwood and CeCe Winans and decided to set himself a challenge by building his own bass with parts from Temu.
He sourced every component of a playable bass guitar from Temu: body, neck, bridge, pickups, tuners, strap buttons, strings. Total cost: $136, including strings that would normally run $30–$40 a set at a music store. He then applied a burn-finishing technique to the neck wood — a treatment usually reserved for higher-quality timber.
The build became a YouTube tutorial that pulled in over 120,000 views. Travis even took the bass on a European tour with gospel musician Charity Gayle. "The quality, especially for the price, was surprising," he said.
He said that he’s also observed the cost of instruments turning aspiring players away before they've started, and hopes that the DIY bass will help demonstrate that people don’t need to spend a lot to get started.
3. The YouTube creator who busked as a six-instrument one-man band
Oats Jenkins has around 300,000 YouTube subscribers and a self-described creative goal of being "the coolest man alive."
For this project, he wanted to put together a one-man band set up comprised of six instruments that he could play simultaneously — a kazoo, harmonica, melodica, guitar, cymbals, and a hi-hat. He found all the parts he needed on Temu and attached it to an old backpack.
The kick drum was a salvaged water jug connected to his right foot via levers, the hi-hat mounted sideways and linked to his left foot with straps, and a neck holder from Temu kept the harmonica and kazoo at mouth height, leaving both hands free for the guitar.
“I was honestly pretty impressed with what I got [from Temu],” he said. The total material cost came up to $230.
After weeks of practice, he performed The Beatles' "Twist and Shout" as a full one-man band on the street to a large appreciative crowd. “I'm already one step closer to being the coolest guy ever,” he said.
4. The retired art teacher producing YouTube resin tutorials
Marva Unover spent nearly four decades teaching art. When the pandemic ended in-person work, she started filming resin art tutorials from her South Florida home.
She now has nearly 5,000 subscribers, mostly retirees who've picked up resin art as a new hobby. The majority of her videos feature Temu materials: silicone molds in dozens of shapes, mica and pigment powders, resin dyes, stickers, beads. The same supplies used to cost her about a third more from other sources, she said.
The lower cost of Temu molds lets her experiment with shapes she might not have ordered at higher prices. "I wouldn't have made nearly as many videos without them," she said. Her Temu sourcing videos consistently pull the highest engagement on her channel.
5. The retired knitwear designer who’s testing Temu yarn
Simon Henry spent his career as a professional knitwear designer and pattern maker, and wrote four books on the craft including Man Knits. In retirement, he decided to launch a YouTube channel to inspire more to knit.
This is why he decided to review Temu-sourced cashmere on his channel, after spotting some at a lower price point. He hoped this would encourage more to pick up the craft.
That video became his first viral hit, crossing 40,000 views for his fledgling channel. Viewers in the comments were impressed that he was so thorough in testing, subjecting the yarn to burn tests, dye tests, and microscopic fibre analysis. He bought merino, cashmere, alpaca, acrylic, and mohair samples from Temu and put them all through the same battery of tests.
Merino he'd previously paid around £20 per 100g for came in at £3.77 on Temu, and held up under testing. "It feels awesome, knits really nicely, and is really lovely — amazing value for money," he said.
6. The Michigan grandmother who hand-built eight themed advent calendar villages for her family one Christmas
Holly Barner, 64, lives in South Haven, Michigan, and grew up in a household where handmade gifts were the norm. One Christmas she decided to make personalized advent calendar "villages" for each of her grandchildren and adult children, each village themed around the recipient.
One was a Candy Castle with gingerbread figurines and frost-covered rooftops, and another a farm scene with tiny livestock. Her twin grandsons both got the Candy Castle, with individual details so neither would mistake theirs for the other's.
She spent around $500 on Temu for the supplies, including faux moss, farm animals, fishing gear, snow-effect spray, seasonal decorations, and structural components.
Comparable elaborate advent calendars sell for hundreds of dollars each. Hers were made for a fraction of the cost, and are one-of-a-kind customized, to boot. "I hope making these becomes a family tradition at Christmas," she said.
7. The German junk journaling YouTuber who needed a sewing machine she could actually lift
Petra is 59, lives in Germany, and has fibromyalgia, a heart condition, high blood pressure, and type 2 diabetes. On her YouTube channel “Junk Journal with Petra” she demonstrates how to build scrapbooks from found and leftover materials, sewing many of them into tightly bound journals.
Her fibromyalgia makes lifting a full-size sewing machine difficult. On Temu, Petra found one the size of a toaster that weighed around 500 grams. She was delighted to find that it handled her journal pages without difficulty. With it, she’s been able to continue sharing her junk journal making tips with her community online. “You live only once, and I’m going to enjoy it,” she said.
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