3 Essentials in Planning a Craft Presentation

Going on the road with your craft gives you a chance to share your skills with others. Planning the event well will give you confidence and help to 'sell' yourself.

Before you get there it's essential that you do a little homework.

1. Who are your audience?

The organisation that engaged you will be your first step in planning your presentation

When will you start and what is likely to be their state of mind as they listen to you? How long have you got to sock it to them? What are they expecting from you?

Many's the time I've been 'on' after a group of ladies have finished lunch or had a chat. My preference, if I have the opportunity, is to talk to people at the start of their meeting rather than after all the meeting paperwork. If I come on after they've talked about the paraphernalia of their group's ins and outs then I may not be the main thing on their mind.

Talking first means that their minds are not full of any other information (that I know about) and I can get straight on with things.

It helps to have some idea of what they want from you in terms of the level of presentation. The most important factor is some indication of how long they want you to 'speak' for.

When I say speak, I really mean 'perform' because if you just speak you'll lose them. In your planning you need to think how to wow them with only sensory stuff. Don't just rely on the voice. Go for the other senses too. Include things to touch and look at if appropriate. It'll also take their eyes off you.

2. What are their interests?

Do you know what their interests are? Do you know their abilities and levels of skill in your area?

It may seem basic, but knowing something about the audience's level of skills will help you to pitch your 'performance' more accurately. If they are professionals they will expect a certain level from you.

If they are a general interest group then be general. If you don't know, ask. It will help in your planning.

3. What do you know about the venue?

How long will it take you to get there? What equipment might you need to take? What about light, and the position of the chairs? Do they have the table space and covering that you need? Can you park nearby?

I always plan out timings to the venue carefully and leave plenty of time to set up. Look at a route map, check the route and add on time for other eventualities (filling up with petrol).

You may have decided to take other equipment with you: projectors, PC's etc. Find out what you can reasonably expect to be there already (but does it work?). Ask about the light in the room. It's important that they can see you well enough and you can see them (well the whites of their eyes anyway!).

I once had to set up behind grouped chairs. The audience faced away from me to begin with, listening to their Chairman and then at the appointed hour, 50 or so chairs scrapped the floor and turned their full attention 180 degrees to face me and my table. Both scary and comical!

Finally, if you are carrying heavy boxes it's important that you can park nearby to save your back. Think about taking a trolley of some sort to help you as you can't rely of assistance.

At one venue a lady sent to help me most certainly couldn't have lifted anything. If in doubt, be prepared to do it all!

They are basic ideas but they'll help get you on the road to success. Don't forget that you'll need to think about planning what you do and thinking about your resources and samples too.

Thinking a little about what they want first will help you to plan what you want out of the experience, and how you can bring both together.

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How to Craft a Garden Scrapbook

Garden scrapbooks can present a natural feeling when the audience is reading your storybook. Flowers are one of the popular natural-based elements that many people cherish. You can store flowers in a scrapbook to craft a garden style creation. To start you will need a dried flower. Compress the flower placing it into your scrapbook pocket, such as the memorabilia. Next, glue, tape, etc, the flower so that it is sticking on the page securely. You may have seen flowers preserved in bibles. The process in scrapbooks is similar, only you want to stick the flowers so that it does not fall out.

How to craft flowers for scrap booking:

You can use corsages, bouquets, or the colored part of the flower to craft your garden scrapbook. The compressed and dried flowers should be in a straight line, added to your scrapbook page, and smoothly seated near your photographs. The dry flowers and compressed flowers should be laminated with Xyron, or any acid-free product .

The season of fall is the best time to pluck materials to make up a garden scrapbook. As you make up your garden scrapbook consider title page, captions, journal, lettering, photos, plant species, headings and more.

If you are adding fall leaves to your scrapbook, you may want to visit a copy shop. You will need to place the leaves in a sealed container when transferring the leaves. The leaves with depreciate over time if the steps are not followed. You can add the leaves at your title page to start your garden scrapbook.

Snap a few pictures, If you are making up a scrapbook to present your garden, and make up a blueprint. The blueprint should include each detail of your garden. Following, you can add a journal to let your friends and family know how you invented your garden.

When to take photos: Spring, summer, winter, and fall provides the best opportunity to take photos of your garden. Each season provides you a variety of colors, shades, texture, blooms, etc. Once you snap the shots add them to your garden scrapbook. In addition, you can cut and paste extra pictures from magazine or books based on your garden theme and add them to your scrapbook. Also, you can add tips beside your pictures to help your family and friend learn.

During the seasons, you want to document your gardens activities as well as your own to create a genealogy, and history of your scrapbook. Record detail specifics to help your audience learn from your efforts. During the summer, record the blooms so that when winter comes you can look back on your success. When the blooms start to grow, you may want to snap photos so that you can add to your scrapbook. Try crafting your scrapbook in a chronological order so that your book tells the story you want to portray to the audience. Some people add special rocks to their scrapbook. If you decide to add, rocks try to find the small, flat rocks. The thicker, bulk rocks will only interrupt your scrapbook.

Flowers are beautiful inside scrapbooks. The flowers that set off garden scrapbooks include roses of all colors, daffodils, tulips, crocuses, and so on. Still, if you add flowers to your scrapbook you want to use petals that harmonize with your theme. For instance, if you are crafting a summer page, then use colorful flower copies. If you are crafting a fall theme, then use the flowers that flow in harmony with your theme.

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The Craft of Candle Making

Candle makers know that candles are a welcome addition to our daily dealings. This knowledge has transformed the candle making business into a multi-billion dollar industry, with big wigs like Yankee Candle Company pounding out product, small independent businesses like Kingston Candles in New Hampshire following suit, and thousands of men and women making candles from their home.

The inception of candle making is hard to trace. In ancient Egypt, candles were regularly made using beeswax in 3000 B.C. In places like China and Japan, whale fat was used for candle making. Fat from cows and sheep were used for candle making in Europe during the middle-ages. It wasn’t until 1790 that a method not involving animals, or their by-products, was used. Waxy molds—specifically called paraffin, which was derived from coal—were used for candle manufacturing with the help of a machine that could produce more than a thousand candles an hour.

Paraffin wax is the primary ingredient used in candle making today. The wax is melted down, poured into the shape of the candle mold that is desired, with the wick is placed inside. This is not exactly a detailed explanation of the process, but it is, in essence, the way in which it is done (a fully-formed candle can take several days to complete between the warming and cooling of the candle; some steps involved in making the candle can’t be done until it is completely cooled). This relatively easy process of candle making is garnering not only enjoyment for the crafty among us, but a great deal of money for the entrepreneurial among us. And for those who are really crafty and want to add their own special zip to their product, candles spiced with marbled colors, bi-colors, tri-colors as well as draping layers add a special flare that the ancient Greeks and Chinese could only dream about.

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The Craft of Knitting

Whenever I knit something new, or think about all the projects that are still on the "back-burner", the one thing I never think about is where did this all begin?

After all, knitting is such an ancient craft, or at least the art of spinning yarn is. Once all that yarn was created you just know someone came along and started figuring out ways to weave the yarn into cloth. And, once cloth was created, then variations of cloth were produced; colors came along, then simple patterns, then more intricate designs, many of which were very indicative of native lands.

As of right now, it is thought that knitting came along sometime in the late Middle Ages, 1200-1500 A.D. It was brought into Egypt by nomads, and from there, carried into lower Europe by way of Spain. Once there, knitting traveled all over the European continent.

During the Renaissance, craft guilds were all the rage, and knitting was established as a true craft. After all, once the art of spinning created yarn, then innovative ways to use the yarn came along.

Different areas of Europe invented different modes of knitting. The Fair Isles, a group of islands north of Britain, give us Fair Isle knitting, one which is characteristic of knitting with many colors, and changing colors frequently.

Intricate lace patterns are indicative of France; fishing communities off the coast of England gave us the Guernsey style. Both of these types of knitting are quite intricate, and the latter very colorful.

Of course, knitting found its way to our world as well. During the Civil War, both sides took to producing much needed items for the soldiers. It was here that knitting became linked to patriotism; a link which has only grown stronger over time.

Once the Industrial Revolution came along, knitting machines were able to produce what hand-knitters never could.

Yet, with all the modern innovations which we live with, there is nothing quite like settling in with needles, yarn, and a good pattern. Add some friends, a sprinkling of good conversation, and the beautiful world of knitting, is a place you could live in forever!

Nowadays, we have not only our families, and friends to knit for. There are so many needy causes and organiza- tions out there just looking for a little "hands-on" help.

The Old English definition of the word "craft" tells us that the word meant "strength". As we knitters well know, in learning, enjoying, and passing on, our beloved craft, therein lies knitting's strength.

The Shakers certainly had it right when they said, "Hands to work, hearts to God."

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