Woodworking in America, 2014, has come to a close (at least for me). Tomorrow several tours are scheduled, which I won’t be able to attend – MESDA (Museum of Southern Decorative Arts) , the Blum house, and the Single Brother’s House – all part of Old Salem, a beautiful traditional Moravian village. I’ll be heading home tomorrow morning – with car loaded with everything I brought for the show. Why is it that it always seems like I go home with more stuff??
Since I was not teaching any workshops during this show, I decided to set up a booth at the marketplace, focusing on getting the word out of my online school. I really enjoyed it, as I got to see a lot of friends in the woodworking world. Quite a few students who have either taken my classes, or who are on my online school also stopped by. It was good to meet these online students in person and several brought their carvings that they have been working on. It was so great to see their pride and enthusiasm in their work. Sometimes the online world can seem so distant, so it was really good to get some interaction and feedback.
I was not able to go around and visit with many people outside my little area by my booth, since I was the only one at my booth. It was pretty much non-stop people streaming by. So I spent most of the weekend with the SAPFM group that was right across the aisle from me – a great group of guys.
SAPFM gang – Bob Compton, Ken Johnson, Mary May, Steve Quell, Tom Sears, Elia Bizzari
After a long 2 days, we all were getting a bit squirly.
Steve Quell, prepared for his lobotomy.
I also started a twitter account today (carvingguru). I have been very reluctant to do this, as I didn’t want to be completely consumed with checking e-mails, twitter accounts, etc. I’m already spending a lot of time on the computer, but realized after speaking with several people, that twitter and instagram (another thing I should venture down, but have not pursued yet) seem to be the current way to get the word out. As I was told, Facebook is so “yesterday”. Well, I tend to live in “yesterday” on many fronts. After all, I am a woodcarver – one of the oldest professions out there.
For what it’s worth, in my experience IG is much less time intensive than Twitter. As you can quickly scan a group of photos and comments stay tidily together. Twitter seems more chaotic and hard to stay on top of.
Sorry I missed yet another WIA, but certainly enjoy seeing it through so many other lenses!
Thanks for that information. Once I get my head around twitter, I’m sure there will be others to venture down. It just depends on how much time I really want to spend on this when there are so many other things to do – like carve!