Minutes JCPLA/ASRT Craft/Creative Zoom session,
Thursday, April 23, 2020:
Attendance:
Shannon
H, Hoover
Alicia E,
Trussville
Deni O,
Hoover
Joi M,
Vestavia Hills
Samantha
H, Hoover
Kenyata
R, Pratt City
Judith W,
Homewood
Holley W,
EOM
Lea D,
Hoover
Sam R,
Springville Road
Leslie D,
Avondale
Patricia
D, East Lake
Morgan H,
EOM
Hannah C,
Hoover
Gus J,
BPL
Terri L,
Vestavia Hills
Karen
E-J, BPL
Jiemin F,
BPL
Riana M,
Pinson
Maura D,
Trussville
Katie
Jane M, Hoover
Fontaine
A, Five Pts W
Deidre S,
Bessemer
Heather
Mc, Smithfield
Lee W,
North Birmingham
Tisha G. FPW/Homewood
(If I missed your name, please just let me know!)
Hoover’s Glue Gun Gang is a
monthly craft program just for adults. Started in 2013 by Deni Owens, it has
quickly grown from one session a month to three sessions of 12 people each.
Sessions are timed with consideration of the schedules of full-time workers, as
well as stay-at-home parents and retirees. The program is popular and
registration is very competitive. Each month, Deni selects a craft project that
will appeal to adults, be very inexpensive, finished within two hours
(hopefully) and not be too messy. Soda and candy are served as refreshments.
Glue Gun Gang events are currently free but this may need to be evaluated after
we return from quarantine.
Last year, Deni began creating a website to showcase the
crafts from GGG, intended to be a resource for librarians as well as anyone
looking for a fun craft. The website is
at https://gluegungang.com/ . The
website is still in development so check back often for new projects and
tutorials! Contact Deni at deni.owens@hooverlibrary.org if
you have any questions or need help implementing one of the projects.
Inspiration can also be found on the Pinterest page for
GGG: www.pinterest.com/hoovergluegungang
Samm’s wedding & book crafts, in
preparation for Samantha’s wedding this year, she has been collecting all kinds
of diverse book crafts that are easily replicated. She has her own Instagram page if others want
to check that out https://www.instagram.com/sammiltonartsandcrafts,
also
https://www.facebook.com/banksls . Book crafts are all over Pinterest and might
take a bit of preparation (folding pages takes time) but is enjoyable by all!
Purl on the Plaza was
started in 2010 by Shannon at Hoover and has grown from years and years of
building and establishing relationships throughout the years. Our Facebook group has 189 members and
through asking for email addresses, the newsletter goes out to 619
subscribers! When I give away door
prizes, I ask for their name and email address with the clear message that if
they do not want to receive the newsletter, they don’t have to give it. I have developed relationships with small,
independent yarn shops and other knitting/crochet groups throughout the
county. We have free lessons two times a
year which generates new people becoming devoted to the crafts. Our once-a-year “World Wide Knit in Public
Day” (usually in June) exhibits different crafts such as spinning, weaving,
tatting, embroidery, cross stitch, and other handicrafts. Trussville’s knit & crochet group (the
“Yarn Manglers”) has been thriving too!
People who do these crafts want to keep doing it socially throughout the
month. Our virtual Purl meeting had over
20 people from all over – we had two former members who now live out of state
and one person “stuck” in her villa on the island of St. Barts. They all joined via Zoom to chat, catch up
and craft.
Kelly Laney, Springville Road explains
her crafting group – Coffee, Conversation,
and Crafts started as an off-shoot of "Chick With Sticks" that Ms.
Grace started. She ran it one night a month and had about 6 regular participants.
It was limited to knit and crochet.
I wanted something to be more appealing to a general audience, and
was also aware that a lot of my seniors don't feel comfortable going out at
night. I believe we changed it the year I moved down to to Adult,
which was 2011. We began meeting once a week, changed the name,
and included all kinds of crafts. This came about because of
research that indicated that older people needed real face time with other
people--social media was not cutting it for their mental health.
People NEED people, and between retirement, death of spouse, downsizing,
etc, our seniors were beginning to feel more and more boxed in. If
someone was unchurched, and especially if they just sat at home and listened to
the crime reports, they had very limited social outlets, or were afraid to
leave the house.
We have changed a little and grown a lot. The main
focus is on social time; the crafts are more of an ice breaker. I
do not require anyone to work on a craft, but for those who like to, the
library provides materials, instructions, and tools. A lot of
people bring the projects that they are working on at home, just to have
something to do while they visit. We have about 25-30 people who show up
most Mondays between 11:00-1:00. On the last Monday of the month we
have a pot-luck meal, and for the last two years they have celebrated a huge
Thanksgiving meal on the Monday before Thanksgiving (because so many people
don't have an opportunity to have a family meal). In a real way,
CCC has formed a community, and a family.
They have even put together a newsletter. I'll attach a copy
so you can see the kinds of things they include. This is not really
sponsored by the library, but I contribute an editorial and usually a blurb about
some library service. We also make copies for the group--but the girls
who put it together make hundreds of copies and distribute them through
doctors' offices, restaurants, churches and anywhere else they go. They
are truly an army of people who promote the library and several members of the
group volunteer at the library, too. They teach, work the desk, assemble
projects, assist in shelving and paging lists, and do anything else we need
done.
We also piggy-backed our Body Changers and Bend & Stretch
programs off of this group. If I had the energy, time, and
resources, I could program every single day of the week for this demographic
and we'd have a ton of participants.
The grant opportunity was through the Awesome Foundation.
Unfortunately, we didn't win, but it was an honor to be invited to present and
did get us a little more exposure.
Other resources:
Several resources can be overwhelming like Pinterest. The rabbit hole is very deep but can yield
wonderful ideas. Holley from EOM has a group
devoted to wine crafts – speaking of that: I have an entire huge storage box of
wine corks if anyone needs any! Just
send me a message! If you think of a
craft that would be good for your group but you cannot afford materials, send
out a JCLC-wide message – someone may have just what you need, especially if
your group is small and you need just a few of something. We are a cooperative for a reason! Also, Trussville has had success charging a
nominal fee ($5-$20) to cover material costs and patrons still
participate. This may be something to
try.
Virtual Programming:
Hoover has done a few virtual handicraft programs but not a lot. There wasn’t an indication of any other
libraries doing virtual craft sessions but there are plenty of examples on the
Facebook group “Quarantined Librarian”.
Again, always use materials that can be found around the house. I have included some below using coffee
filters and yarn. Terri, from VH,
mentioned Darla Williamson of Tangled Stones Studio who does live zentangle/art
tutorials using Facebook live every Wednesday at lunchtime. She's a certified
instructor and does some programming for VH (https://tangledstones.com/).
Holley mentioned that Birmingham Museum of Art has a YouTube channel
with art lessons that might be worth checking out. Mountain Brook
hired Virginia Brasher (our regular craft instructor for the children’s, teen,
and adult department) to do video craft tutorials for our website. The live on
the adult Virtual Programming page.
On another note,
I’ve seen several libraries around the country doing “Maker Mondays” where they
throw out a craft (some give instructions, some don’t) and ask people to post
pictures of what they come up with using a hashtag the library comes up with.
Facebook Groups to join:
Purl on the Plaza (selfish reasons, join up!)
Birmingham ArtCycle – free stuff for artists/crafters,
exchanges of stuff are done at the Free Store downtown (however, they have
changed locations and aren’t working right now.
They are preparing to open in a new location soon. Hopefully things will move forward because
this is an incredible resource!) https://www.facebook.com/groups/622393984443231/
Websites to check out:
Adult Arts and Crafts at the Library (and 5 Cool Projects
to Get You Started)
Adult Craft Programs @ Your Library
Program Model: Adult Crafternoons, August 3, 2016
The Hipster Librarian's Guide to Teen Craft Projects
Adult Crafts, Oriental Trading Co.
Living in a Material World: Crafting Programs for Adults,
An Infopeople Webinar (WEBINAR IS ARCHIVED)
Coffee Filter Crafts:
Coffee Filter garlands (Pintrest)
Yarn:
Other websites of interest:
