On Jan 19, 2004, at 9:55, [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Devon) wrote:
I have returned to the web page of the Keystone Lace Guild (having not yet
received my bulletin) and have found a few more things that I think might be
interesting.
1. There are a lot of teachers from outside the US. Personally, I like the
convention to feature teachers you don't see all the time at regional events.
Jean Leader, prominent in the UK Lace Guild is teaching as well as Angela
Thompson, Gillian Dye and Sandi Woods .
And Rosemarie Peel (an Arachnean, though, possibly, ex), also from UK, is teaching tatting -- I don't tat (or not much) but I have both her books and they're lovely. Maire Treanor, *the* expert on Irish crochet (her book is still availble, I think), from Ireland, is to come. Mary Shields, also from Ireland, is to teach 3-D Carrickmacross; not only is Ms Shields *the* expert on the subject, 3-D Carrickmacross, according to Kurella, is as rare as hen's teeth :) So, as with Jutta Klein, there seems to be an opportunity to broaden one's view and have a taste of old (techniques) married with something new (pushed to new limits, possibly more in accordance with more modern "eye" -- see Aurelia's article in the latest Bulletin, once you get it). I don't know how many of you have noticed, but there's a teacher scheduled to tackle the Orenburg shawls (knitted lace); I've seen some of those, and they're *mind boggling*; the chance to learn *how to* is, IMO, priceless for lace-knitters...
Sigh... But that's *precisely* what worries me the most -- the vast array of teachers, so many from overseas... I hope I'm proved to be as silly as Eyore but, all I can see at the moment, is a disaster. All those teachers need to be brought over, their tickets paid for. Even though transatlantic tickets can -- sometimes -- be half the price of the internal ones, even if most of those teachers can find other classes to teach (before and after the Convention, to share the costs among several hosting groups), it's likely to be "touch and go". Any class that's undersubscribed is likely to be "for the chop" and, with such an abundance of riches, it's likely that *every* class will be somewhat undersubscribed...
IOLI's membership is relatively small, and the country is *huge*; the "westerners" are less likely to come, especially those in the Pacific NorthWest, who, over the years, have been building their own -- regional -- Conference in conjunction with Canadians who live in the same general area. The said Conference is getting better and better every year on all reports thus making the IOLI one less "necessary".
Math isn't my strongest point, not by a *long* shot (I've promised, on my honour, never to divulge the name of my highschool teacher; she was too embarassed to let it be known, while eager to pass me out of the system and out of her hair <g>), but, in this case, I thought it was necessary to resort to it...
There are, on offer:
19 courses of 24hrs' duration 39 courses of 12 hrs 12 courses of 9 hrs 12 courses of 6 hrs 10 courses of 3 hrs
That is *92* separate courses! As far as I can see, none are duplicated; even when a teacher is teaching more than once, the course's on a different topic (making decisions that much harder, in some ways. Easier in others, since, I think, "following" a teacher through the week and sticking to one's primary interest would give one more opportunity of *mastering* that area, than most prior Conventions have offered)...
OK. So, we have 92 courses... The optimum class size (one that fully pays for the teacher's transportation, lodging and food, without having to book the teacher into an insane asylum immediately after) is 12 participants. Sometimes, a teacher is willing to handle more but, anything over 15, and you have 16 dissatisfied customers, writing scathing comments on their class (apart from the teacher's burn-out). Anything under 10, and the venture doesn't pay for itself... Polish: "between the anvil and the hammer" and English: "between the rock and the hard place" doesn't *begin* to describe the kind of balancing act necessary to pull *a workshop* off <g>...
Let's take the *minimum* -- the 10 -- so as to keep it to "round numbers... Times 92? That's half the IOLI membership, and twice (or more) than showed up for the "Big 50" in Hasbrouck Heights last summer... Some people may take several 6hr "tasters" (I *strongly* recommend *careful scrutiny* of the 3hr ones; they're a gamble equal to any on Stock Exchange :) I had an *excellent* one -- from Colgan, on suiting threads to a pattern, and a *disastrous* one -- on making Lacis, within the same Convention) and keep "hopping" throughout. And, as Devon pointed out, one could take a 24 hr course and follow that up with a 12 hr one, or with two 9hr ones, thus increasing one's tuition time to -- unprecedented -- 36 or 40 hrs. Which, of course, means that *some* people would be "doubling" or even "tripling", thus reducing the *total* number of people needed to fill all the classes.
Only... I don't think many people are likely to do that (ie double and triple). Even if "stretching it" (following a *teacher*/one's own subject and ignoring the "official" curriculum), one can take in but so much in concentration; one burns out. The personal burn out levels will vary, but I'm not sure *I* would have the stamina for 40hrs of coursework (closer to 60, in practical terms) packed into 4-5 (or even 6) days...
So, as I see it... *All* those enticing entries for courses ought to be written up the same as the tours: in *conditional* terms (Winterthur tour *may* include... etc) Which -- again, *IMO* -- is likely to end up in a lot of disappointment all around (teachers, potential students, organisers); if 6 people sign up for this class, and 5 for that, *both* are likely to be cancelled for being undersubscribed.
I won't boycott the Convention; I think boycotting it is equivalent to sawing off the bough one's stitting on (in terms of the "general good" of lacemaking in the US)... I'm not likely to show up there because "my dollar's worth" keeps shrinking at an alarming rate and because I have at least 5 "plans" to spend every cent of it... If, OTOH, the dollar really goes "belly up", then I may scrape all the European plan,s and go to the Convention instead -- at least, it's calculated in US dollars all the way through, so I won't be losing in exchange rates :) (Non-US members of IOLI are, BTW, encouraged to come -- you're not likely to get better return on your money *ever* <g>)
If I do manage to go to Europe (and have to pass on the Convention), I'll still watch -- with *great interest* -- the outcome/fall-out of it. I'd *never* condemn anything on the basis of rumour alone, and I *strongly advise* everyone else (outside of Pennsylvania, where the minds had been "set" months ago, or so it seems <g>) to think -- and decide -- for themselves. Working *with*, rather than against, as much as possible. Destruction is dead easy ("dead" being the key word here <g>); building, especially without a map, is something else altogether...
There is even a woman from Thailand teaching several courses involving silk.
Janya... :) 3-4 yrs ago, she was on Arachne, so some people her might remember her. She has (or used to have) a website, and David (Collyer, aka "Downunder") may know the URL (it's disappeared from my bookmark list), since he corresponded with her longer than I did, and bought some silk threads from her.
David, do you still have the URL?
As Aurelia said, Janya was trained in England, and went back to Thailand to start a lace (BL) school/cooperative; the website showcased lace (for sale) resulting from her efforts, and most of it was breathtakingly beautiful, if "different" (when an Eastern mind encounters Western techniques, the results are likely to be of firework quality, and to be praised highly <g>)... Her uncle has a silk dye-works, so she has threads *and fabric* that can be dyed to match, at her disposal... She's scheduled to teach several courses -- how to "marry" a piece of lace to fan-sticks (and some of the fansticks she can offer make all the European offerings look *crude* <g>), how to work with raw silk, how to work with "polished" (filament, shiny) silk (all BL)... The last I e-talked to her, we were thinking of putting together lace *kits* -- threads, fabric and patterns, all bundled together... I hope she'll have some of those with her for sale, and I envy, with all my heart, everyone who -- through the Convention -- might be priviledged enough to be in contact with her... *If*, that is, she comes... *If* there're enough people interested in her classes to make it worth-while for the organisers *to* bring her...
*Boycott* the '04 IOLI Convention??? Only if you're of the "cut my nose to spite my face" persuasion... :) Give them a chance to prove themselves; with luck, and with all of us working *for*, fewer classes will be cancelled. The ones that survive the "pocketbook vote" will have taught something to the "powers that be", in time to incorporate the knowledge into the making of the '05 one (Denver) and the '06 (Montreal) ones...
----- Tamara P Duvall Lexington, Virginia, USA Formerly of Warsaw, Poland http://lorien.emufarm.org/~tpd/
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