[Nfb-krafters-korner] classes and crafts

[Jean Parker]

Susan, Henrietta and others:

In answer to your question I am 10 and a half hours ahead of eastern time at this time of year.  When America changes to day light time it changes to 9 and a half.

About what kind of crafts I like to do, this is a little complicated.  I did some crafts growing up but nothing in quite some time.  That is why I joined the list, to find out what other blind people do and learn some things.  I feel the need to do something creative.. 

There are many things I have to consider when deciding what to take up.  Although I have electricity much of the time these days we do have problems with it so a craft or activity should be something that is not reliant on power.  It should be something where the instructions are either accessible already or where they can easily be made accessible.  Although I have a lot of sighted assistance, their reading abilities in English are not sophistocated enough to explain paterns or detailed and complicated directions.  Somehow I doubt that Joanne's and the like have their patterns and directions translated into Hindi or Marathi.  It should be something where the equipment and supplies are available locally or easily obtained from abroad.  Electrical equipment for a craft or hobby purchased in America is the wrong voltage so the expense of a voltage converter must be considered.  .  Sending things to India is prohibatively expensive so typical mail order is not an option for us.  With the safety pin beading kits for example, Joyce and I are exploring the possibility of having them despatched through the US Embassy in Bombay as her daughter works for the State Department.  Since they are small and light this might work nicely.  Even if things or equipment is sent from abroad there are customs fees to be paid and often things go missing in customs as well.  So sometimes after patiently waiting several months for something to arrive it never does appear.  Fedex etc provide better assurance but like I said the expense is so high only the corporations and wealthy people can afford it.  It used to be that things could be brought in personal luggage but new restrictions have made this difficult as well.   

Another aspect is whether something can be replicated here.  If I have a safety pin kit for example, I can take that to the market and get the correct size of pins and so forth for future projects.  I am terible at metric conversions so it's better to show someone what is needed rather than to ask for it by number.   

Another reason I was interested in classes on this list is because even if I identified a craft I wanted to do, finding someone to teach it to me is very difficult.  Classes for such things are huge.  This is a country of well over a billion people annd everything is done in a crowd.  

It should be portable.  I have to move house often and travel a lot.  Having a setup for making candles for example would be a real problem.  We live in close quarters here, space is at a premium.  With some sort of beading I can have a container fabricated to hold everything in place and slide it into a back sack. These and other questions have to be considered when deciding what craft to work on.

So that is a long answer to what I'm sure was meant to be a simple question.  I am not complaining, I choose to live here with all its challenges, for reasons beyond the scope of this list.  But that in a nutshell, is why I joined the list and was interested in taking classes. 

Jean