HaldeCrafts & Drafts (10/15/16)

Last Saturday, I had an open house, with a guest demo on lampwork by Abiding Embers (you can check out his Etsy shop, his Facebook page, or follow him on Instagram). All in all the Open House was a success, with raku, grilled sandwiches to order, surprise guests from Tennessee, toddlers and babies, good people, new friends, and lots of knitting and spinning.

I tend to keep these Open Houses semi-private for a couple of reasons… One, this is also where I live, which is a reasonably private (if rural) neighborhood and I don’t want to disturb my neighbors with hoards of people driving in and out all day. Two, we like to feed people! Which means we want a rough head count before the event, so that we make enough food (and by “we” I mean “That Poor Man”)… which means we don’t like to just open it to the public so that three or four hundred people come traipsing by… that’s hard to plan for, food-wise! (And it’ll never get big enough that we need food trucks or whatnot – see note about this being a residential area.) Three, I like to have a little one-on-one time with everyone who comes; I like to sit and say hello and how are you and what have you been up to – again, can’t do that with a few hundred people. Four, seating! This is definitely a hang-out-and-craft-or-chat kind of event, which, again, hard to do with a few hundred people. Honestly, it’s more like a big house party than an official Open House with wine and cheese and snobbery.

I tend to do invites to the Open House as a private Facebook event, in which it’s not seen by the public but guests can invite guests (a few crafty people have invited other crafty people, and they’ve always fit right in, some of them even coming to multiple events). If you’re into crafting and meeting other crafty people, and are reasonably local, and you feel you’d fit in with a group of semi-foul mouthed, interested in all types of making, beer-drinking, book-loving, craft-passionate people, and you’d like to come to the next event (second or third week of January, details to follow) drop me a line.

And happy Monday, y’all!