All about our crafty weekend of firsts: teaching our first bookbinding class and Art in the Park 2017! April 6, 2017 15:05

Happy April everyone! I'm so excited to tell you all about the crafty weekend that we had here at hanakrafts about 2 weeks ago. It was pretty exhausting but I had loads of fun! 

Photo courtesy of The Arts Village

We conducted our very first bookbinding class on Saturday 25 March, hosted by The Arts Village in Rotorua. We had a nice intimate group of 6 participants and over 3 hours, I taught two basic bookbinding techniques: saddle stitch binding and Japanese stab binding. This meant that the participants got to bring home 2 new handmade notebooks of their own!

Photo courtesy of The Arts Village

Near the end of the session, I also demonstrated coptic stitch binding as a teaser for future workshops. This technique is pretty advanced, so I would definitely need at least a 6 hour workshop to teach the entire process. 

Most of our notebook sets make use of saddle stitch binding, as seen in this photo. Follow this link to take a look at some of our hand-bound notebook collections!

It was good to get tips from the participants about where to get certain tools and materials in Rotorua--apparently op shops might be a good and affordable place to look for threads and awls! It was also nice to hear that they wanted to have more of such workshops in future and that they were also interested in more advanced bookbinding techniques. Looks like I will need to go back to the planning board soon! =)

Photo courtesy of The Arts Village

Then once I got home from the workshop, it was on to finalizing my prep for Art in the Park, which was scheduled to continue the next day despite the impending rain. This was another first for me--can you guess what first it was?

Yup, it was my very first outdoor market! I was a little apprehensive about signing up as a vendor because I was afraid that my delicate paper products wouldn't be able to withstand the elements in the outdoors. One of the other vendors convinced me to try it out, though--she said that Art in the Park is a well-known annual event and that many people from the Bay of Plenty region would be there. That sounded exciting to me so I signed up and then made sure that I was prepared with waterproof sheets and a gazebo. I'm glad that I did eventually take part because there was quite a crowd despite the rain and business was actually pretty good! Goes to show that taking a risk and stepping outside your comfort zone can actually be good for you!

Our stall was just opposite the coffee stand and the rotunda so we had good music and hot drinks all the way through! There was also a children's activity area where I met some of my tuition kids =) 

A closer look at our stall. When we arrived to set up, it really started to pour so we were setting up our gazebo in the rain! Halfway through one of the other stall holders came by and told us to take shelter at his tent first, promising to help us once the rain let up. We were really so touched by his kindness =) and he wasn't the only one who offered to help! 

We were right next to the gates of the Government Gardens! 

During the market it was quite funny because when some of the customers found out that I do bookbinding, they were like, 'Oh there's a lady doing a bookbinding workshop at the Arts Village!' And I was like, 'Yes that's me!' And then they were like, 'Oh I'd love to go for the workshop!' And I was like, 'Ummm.. It was yesterday!' Hehehe, that kinda tickled me a little bit. It's good to know that there's interest in bookbinding though! 

So that was our busy crafty weekend! How did your weekend go? =)