Thursday, July 29, 2010

Guest Teachers and other things

I was talking to someone the other day and we got on the subject of guest teachers.. This particular person was pretty surprised at how the whole guest teacher thing works. So I thought I would share with everyone.

We usually select guest teachers who are known to be very skilled in design and teaching, with a proven track record. However since we are always on the look out for new talent we do invite some newer teachers, if I have meet with them and/ or they have recommendations.

Most of the time the guest teacher projects are geared towards the intermediate beader. Meaning the student has a working knowledge of the basic beadweaving stitches, and has completed projects using the stitches. These classes are not intended to "learn how to Bead". They are for the learning experience of studying under a master bead artist. The project being made is a bonus.

Their projects are beads that come to life by using stitches, combining stitches, and creating new stitches.

When teachers come to teach at Crystal Creations Bead Institute, we provide their transportation, their hotel, their food, and all cost involved plus a teaching fee. Some teachers like to bring kits, others don't want to get in to the bead selling business. (It can be pretty costly investing in huge inventory of beads so that you have enough colors and kits to sell)

With or without kits teachers always have a supply list and we make every effort to get in as many color options as possible so people taking the class can get their supplies at the shop and not have to hunt them down all over the place.

Personally I like to respect the guest teacher’s artistic color choices and therefore am not keen on picking out their exact colors etc.. Especially if they sell kits.
I will not go out of my way to try and recreate their exact color wave because I feel that is their trade secret.

Almost every teacher I know, including us, have their designs copyrighted.
That means a student is not allowed to copy the instructions, to teach other people the design, to share the instructions, or the make the piece and sell it in shows, stores, or send it into competitions or magazines for publication. I know for alot of customers they feel like "whats the big deal? " I download movies, or copy my fiends cd’s... etc.. that's not right either. I know the teacher’s personally and I know how hard they work for their business. I stand up for their rights them in every way possible. We want more people to be able to share with us.

So, taking a guest teacher class can be an extremely rewarding experience if you go in to it with an attitude of learning new ways to create with these things called beads. I also love meeting up with teachers who come to us from other parts of the country with fresh new ideas. It’s like waiting for the wells fargo wagon...
Thanks to all and Hope to see you soon... Glenda