[Nfb-krafters-korner] Intro and Questions

[Zimmer, Cindy]

Eleni,
There are numerous totally blind individuals that hold jobs in the academic field.  Maybe you should contact some mentors from the NFB website who are in your area.  

Cindy Z. 

-----Original Message-----
From: nfb-krafters-korner-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfb-krafters-korner-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Eleni Vamvakari
Sent: Monday, July 12, 2010 4:58 PM
Cc: nfb-krafters-korner at nfbnet.org
Subject: [Nfb-krafters-korner] Intro and Questions

Hi there,

  I apologise in advance for the rambling but I feel this will help to
explain my situation a bit better.  From here on in, I'll keep my
posts short.  Anyway, my birth name is Tiffany, but I intend on
changing legally to Eleni, so that's what I'll be using here.  Some of
you may know me from The Zone, from Facebook or from other places.
I've been totally blind since I was two-months-old.  I'm 26 and from
New Jersey.  I'm a college graduate with a BA in sociology and a
certificate to teach ESL, which was earned after graduation.  While
most people feel that I should take a job in an academic, scholarly or
prestegius setting, I'm finding it difficult to locate even ordinary
work that doesn't require experience, vision, degrees that I don't
possess or that pays enough/is close enough as far as travel to
interest me, let alone that I'd actually enjoy doing.  I'm not into
the whole telemarketing thing either, though I've tried it.

  But I love working with my hands and making things.  I am very
interested in starting my own business in crafts ranging from basket
weaving, to soap-making, to broom/brush making and possibly chair
caning, once I learn and feel comfortable doing these things.  I have
a friend who's visually-impaired, with enough sight to read regular
print but not to drive.  Now I've got her interested in some of this
as well (plus jewellery-making, which is her own contribution) and she
wants to be my business partner.  The broom-making looks and sounds
easy enough, But the equipment and supplies are extremely expensive.
So I've decided to start out with the baskets and soap, since the
supplies are cheap and easily available online.  I found several
resources for learning how to weave baskets, but unless I learn with a
teacher or touch the type of pattern that I'm supposed to be weaving,
I really can't use them.  Several are videos but they're of no use to
me since I can't see them.  I've been looking around for schools for
the blind that teach these skills, but none seem to exist in America
today that have any of these courses.  Perkins does but said they
could only help me if an agency financed me, which, of course, none
will, since I've already gone to college.  This is really frustrating,
since these were all so-called blind trades at one time.  To top
things off, many blind people insist that I shouldn't do these things
as a career because of my background.  I e-mailed a basketry guild,
and though they were very nice, they really couldn't really help me
from a blind perspective.  But I'll probably join them so that I can
take their classes.  But I'd still like to meet some blind weavers,
particularly totally blind ones, so that I can learn about any
adaptations that we may need (especially with regard to measuring and
holding the basket straight), types of weaving that are good for
beginners (I've heard coiling mentioned alot), books that would be
most useful to us etc.

  My friend and I bought two beginner basket weaving kits and a
soap-making kit.  I'd already decided to go with melt and pour soap
and to stay away from lye, since it can be very dangerous and she
agreed.  She made the first moulds, just to see how it was done.  I'd
already made soap once or twice at The Diamond Spring Lodge, a place
for the blind here in New Jersey, so knew what to expect.  In the
second batch, I helped her.  It was really easy and enjoyable.  We
used some essential oils that she brought with her and even
experimented with the bottom of a disposable cup as a mould.
Everything came out wonderfully.  But I'm still trying to figure how I
would do this on my own.  That is, how would I insure that the
glycerine was properly melted, that the colour blocks (or food
coloring if I went all natural) blended properly into the soap, and
how I would measure the oil so that I didn't put too much in each
batch.  So again, are there any blind soap-makers here who could help
me?  As a sidenote, she wove the first basket on her own, again, to
get a feel for it.  We still haven't done the second one, where I'll
hopefully be doing most of the work.  But when we do, i'll let you
know how it turns out.

  Neither of us have ever had our own businesses and though I know a
few people who are in crafts, this is not their full-time job.  Can
anyone give us an idea of how much we could make and which of the
crafts that we've chosen, if any, are in high demand?

With appreciation,
Eleni

_______________________________________________
Nfb-krafters-korner mailing list
Nfb-krafters-korner at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-krafters-korner_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for Nfb-krafters-korner:
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfb-krafters-korner_nfbnet.org/cindy.zimmer%40nebraska.gov