Wednesday, December 03, 2008

The Videos Continue!

I have put some free knitting videos on the front page of the Motivated Motion Gallery. Please have a look and let me what you think. I will be adding more and more of these videos to the front page, so if you are interested in starting to knit, the fundamentals will be there in free video for you to look at and practice with over and over. If you want me to make a craft instruction video because you need to see it something specific, send me a comment message and I will make a video of it if I do know how to do the craft!

I am so motivated (motion LOL) to get this crafting business and gallery off the ground! The Doctors have told me this is really my speed now. That the sharing of information about what I know from a lifetime of crafting, and bringing back the old ways, and helping old and young get the experience that I have had my whole life is so positive that it will help me recover and stay well. I am now gonna be everyone's crazy Auntie who can teach you everything old fashioned! But I am gonna do it in the most geeky way possible. With pod casts and web marketing and development. I am so excited to bring my art of crafting and my Mens' (hubby and sons) art of computers, marketing and media development together to join the best of both worlds.....

I have taken for granted what I have learned from my wonderful Grandmother who was a very successful Wedding Dress and trousseau designer in Toronto. It is only in the past year I realize that so many people in the 30-50 years age have lost out in the learning of heritage crafting.....
We have come from a generation of instant gratification where learning an old art was passe and old fashioned- but in the end we became a generation with nothing to pass down to our children and grandchildren.

In general, our generation doesn't really cook, or make anything. We have become purchasers.
And if you are laughing now I bet you are thinking about your life (like so many of us) as the last 10 meals you had for dinner either came from a restaurant or a frozen box from M&M's.

This first was an enlightenment to me twenty years ago when I became a "Brownie" leader. I grew up in a time when folks raised money for community groups through bazaars and bake sales. Children got to become part of community groups for free because the outreach fundraisers were so successful. But when I was a "Brownie" leader I found the world had changed. Parents didn't care to participate in community action. They would rather donate money to a group to allow them to take in outreach kids rather than put in the time to learn with their children how to make something, then take day to sell it in a church basement or community centre. So ended the craft bazaars as we knew it.

Now, the world economy is in the toilet. Folks are wishing they had the skills to cook, bake and craft, so they could offset their budget by making things cheaply from scratch.
Kids are starting to realize that video games cannot fulfill their creative needs. But without a generation to teach them or pass down info on how to do this.... they are lost for an answer.

I realize now I am so blessed to have had family that really did cook and bake and sew and knit and crochet. I know that myself and my cousins are all the same in our abilities, and I notice that our kids have such a broader knowledge of life. They can cook and they think about making or building things.

The holidays are a great reminder to us about our blessings of this knowledge. When we put up or holiday decorations they are almost all handmade! When we put up or Yule tree, our guests saw ornaments on our tree that I made when I was 9 yrs old, and ones my Sons made in pre-school through highschool....
Then I see others' trees with all store bought designer ornaments. Lovely and pretty, but I think..."I could make those for pennies!"

Teaching these classes in needle felting and knitting has made me think. I hear stories from Moms who want to learn this art to make things for their children and hopefully teach their grandchildren how to do this, and I have hope. It makes me smile that our generation is noticing the gap and is trying so hard to fix it.

If you craft or bake or do home cooking please comment here. Post your stuff on your blog or web sight and show us. Please share your lost art! It is so important to those who have lost the ability and are seeking to find it again.

I hope I can teach you something through my videos..
I hope I make you desire to try something new.

But most of all....I want to promote folks in my area that are dedicated to keeping the old arts alive! Please follow me through 2009 to see where I go and who I hang out with, and what I learn from them. Come to the Motivated Motion Gallery often and see what is new and happening. Please begin to dream with me and anticipate the first podcast that will share this world with you.

Perhaps you will get to meet my family of crafters and see what they do. You will definitely meed my crafter friends who have businesses in Ontario! I will address knitting, crafting, needle felting, collecting, cooking, and scrapbooking and the new arts we can find within science and computers. I will travel to Universities and cultural centres of my area and bring my guerrilla crafting to them and introduce you to their specialialties and show you what we have to offer here!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I really enjoyed all the interesting information and things that I read and was very refreshing. Thank you!

julietk said...

Hi came in to catch up on what you have been up to :D and to wish you a merry xmas of course. Well done on the video for you tube, mini hugs Juliet