On Mar 13, 2005, at 19:11, Alice Howell wrote (in response to Weronika):
I'm going, along with 8 others from my immediate area.
Me too, I hope :)
Almost every major type of lace has a class, though the most popular fill up very fast. That's why you have to choose several options.
This year, I gambled... On the one hand, I wanted to go - my step daughter lives nearby (Boulder) and I could stop with her for a few days afterwards; my very first American friend (and still beloved, even though I've not seen her for years) will be there... On the other hand, there weren't all that many classes I really wanted to take, and I can't excuse spending a lot of cash for a social occasion and a frustrating lace experience (been there, done that). So, I put down for only one class in the morning (Lenka's advanced wire) and one in the afternoon (Louise Colgan's advanced Milanese)... I get them, I go; I don't get them, I save the money for something else (maybe Ithaca in October again). But that's why I refuse to even think about booking the plane ticket until I know; the hotel room you can cancel without penalty, but not the ticket.
In that week you will have at least 50 hours of intense lace experiences -- and that comes to only $20 an hour for your $1000 investment.Try getting your car fixed for that rate. Or hiring a lawyer. Or any other skilled work.
:) When I first started to learn needlepoint ('81? '82?), I was appalled at the initial costs; the book was a Christmas gift, but everything else (supplies) had to be bought... The owner of the needlework shop (we still had one, then) simply said: "hour for hour, it's about a tenth of what the psychiatrist would charge". Which applies, in spades, to a *well chosen* workshop in congenial surroundings :) Like Alice said, being around other lacemakers for several days is a tonic, even without a teacher. But here, you also get a teacher who's likely to be the very best in her (and sometimes his) area... Worldwide, since IOLI always invites the teachers from all-over, and that's true this year also (might be the last time, though, if the dollar keeps plunging <g>).
Yes, a conference at a large commercial hotel is expensive. It's difficult to find any other type of place that has enough classrooms, large meeting halls, and sleeping rooms for a lace conference.
I still think we don't explore the possibility of using university campuses aggressively enough. The lace events I've been to in Europe, which tend to take place at such, have been perfectly satisfactory vis food and lodging, and the classrooms *better* than anything a hotel can offer.
However, sharing a room with one, two or three others will cut down that housing cost per each. Use some creativity with the meals that are not part of the conference. There's a Super Walmart "just across the street" -- so I've been told. And some other eating places. You don't need to eat every meal in the hotel dining room,
You don't need to sign up for all the "extras", either... I've signed up for the Arachne lunch, but not for any of the tours or the dinner on Wednesday. I've seen a lot of Colorado on my previous visits, feel a bit like a fish out of water at most of the big, hearty gatherings, so opted to take only the ones which are included in the registration fee (one breakfast, one lunch and the banquet). I'll spend Wednesday either catching up on my classroom work, or taking an independent trip and eating on the cheap.
For a first timer, and especially if you are a new lacemaker, I would recommend taking only one class. It gives you half a day to work on your lace and half a day with the teacher.
There, for once, I disagree... One class - yes, maybe, if it's a 24hr one on a single subject, especially for Weronika (who's 21, and has been going great guns for over a year). But that's what I meant by "well chosen class". I've had some *most excellent* experiences in attending lace events, but I also had some "sour" ones, early on. The sour ones could - almost always - be traced directly to a wrong choice of workshop. Workshops is what I go for; the rest is but the icing on the cake. So you need to know yourself - your stamina, your ability to concentrate, your tolerance for "being told" (as opposed to figuring things out for yourself), as well as have some inkling of the teacher's methods before you commit yourself to a class.
Or, if you choose an all-day class, give yourself a break in the evenings and do not make lace all night. Six hours a day is enough for the fingers and the brain.
Depends on the workshop and on personality... When it's something you have no clue about and you're starting from zero, or if your teacher is a stickler for doing things "just so" - which many, if not most non-US teachers are - six hours a day is plenty; there's but so much you can absorb all at once without undue stress. Took me a while to learn that lesson.
OTOH, when I took a class in Tonder in '01 (Tonder lace with Karen Trend Nissen), I showed up before the teacher, and left long after she'd gone, working 10 hrs a day and smoking much less than normally, vbecause I didn't want to take the time off :) Ditto the workshop with Ulrike Loehr (now Voelker) on "snowflake sampler". But I wasn't learning from scratch; I was "stretching"... 10 hrs a day were barely enough :)
In both instances, I worked till my eyes crossed and my brain packed it in, then crashed for the night, and started bright and early the next morning. Those were the best workshops *ever*; even my pocket snake was happy - I was definitely getting my value for the dollar :) And, in Prague, I only got truly happy the one evening I took the pillow to the room (the classrooms were not accessible beyond the official time) and put in an extra 4 hrs discovering what *I* needed to do to make a bolster (and bobbins in free-fall) work for me. It's just too bad I didn't think about it earlier, and wasted all that time socialising (and spending money). Pleasant, but not my cup o'T...
-- Tamara P Duvall http://t-n-lace.net/ Lexington, Virginia, USA (Formerly of Warsaw, Poland)
- To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
