[Nfb-krafters-korner] classes and crafts

[Theresa Taylor]

Jean,
It is great to hear from you again. I wanted to post before I forget, but a 
craft that may work....is stick weaving. One of the gals on the list gave me 
a set of sticks and I love it. It is very portible and very replicable. The 
sticks are held in your hand and they have a hole on wone end. I don't 
remember if it is the warf thread or not, but a thread is run through this 
hole and doubled over and then knotted. Then another piece of 
material...yarn or whatever is tied around the middle stick. You then start 
a pattern of going over one stick and under another until you get to the 
edge and then go the opposite way. It sounds more coplicated then it is. I 
love it. It makes up wonderful bags.
Just an idea!
Will send more ideas off list!
Theresa

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jean Parker" <radioforever at gmail.com>
To: <nfb-krafters-korner at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, January 09, 2011 1:12 AM
Subject: [Nfb-krafters-korner] classes and crafts


> 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
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