Brookfield Craft Center offers virtual classes - CTPost

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  Woodturner Jennifer Hasan works on one of her creations. She has a successful Etsy business and teaches others what it takes to make the site work for them, in online classes offered through Brookfield Craft Center.

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  Woodturner Jennifer Hasan works on one of her creations. She has a successful Etsy business and teaches others what it takes to make the site work for them, in online classes offered through Brookfield Craft

  ... more

  Photo: Danielle Kol / Contributed Photo

Photo: Danielle Kol / Contributed Photo

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Woodturner Jennifer Hasan works on one of her creations. She has a successful Etsy business and teaches others what it takes to make the site work for them, in online classes offered through Brookfield Craft Center.

less

Woodturner Jennifer Hasan works on one of her creations. She has a successful Etsy business and teaches others what it takes to make the site work for them, in online classes offered through Brookfield Craft

... more

Photo: Danielle Kol / Contributed Photo

Brookfield Craft Center offers virtual classes

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Click through the photos on Brookfield Craft Center’s Facebook page and you can’t help but be inspired. “Art is where work meets love,” says a poster surrounded by pictures of beautiful creations — from wood bowls and paintings to handmade jewelry.

Another message offers words to live by: “Crafting each day keeps the crazy away.” This may or may not be a reference to the quarantine situation, but either way, it makes sense. The good news is you can still take classes, even though BCC’s historic campus has been closed since March 16.

“Right now we have 11 classes online,” says Erin Singleton, of the BCC, “The Etsy class is definitely one of our most popular series; each class is two hours... We also have beginner block printing on fabric, painting creatively from photos, those are some popular ones. And a fine art photography series.”

Founded in 1952, the BCC seeks to teach and preserve the skills of fine craftsmanship. Over the years it’s offered classes on everything from blacksmithing to fiber arts. Close to 60 classes were canceled when the pandemic hit, but some instructors have been able to move their lessons online.

“We just wanted to find a way to continue in this new environment we’re presented with ... so people can continue to be creative,” Singleton says. “We don’t know how long this (lockdown) will go on, so rather than sit with our doors closed, we wanted to offer something positive.”

Singleton says the online classes are offered in the same vein as the in-person sessions, which have been small and intimate, usually with three to 10 people and lots of one-on-one instruction. Prices are as low as $34 for a single two-hour Etsy class. Another example, a beginner painting class called “Loosen Up,” which runs three hours, costs $54.

People really love the Etsy classes, she says, of the sessions taught by Jennifer Hasan, who found success on Etsy after she started woodturning in 2012. She makes everything from bowls to birdhouses and sells them through her site, “RoosterStudios.”

Hasan says her interest in woodturning started after she got married and wanted to build a container garden for her husband. “We had all these logs on the property,” says Hasan, whose focus on that project led her to take a woodworking class at Brookfield Craft Center.

The instructor told her she’d need a lathe and special tools to pursue her idea, so she bought the tools and a used lathe and went to work in a little barn on her property, north of Beacon, N.Y. That led to a line of log containers for rustic wedding centerpieces, which she sold on Etsy. Soon she was making all kinds of things, even kitchenware such as pepper mills.

More Information

Brookfield Craft Center, 286 Whisconier Road. 203-775-4526, info@brookfieldcraft.org

While Etsy makes it possible for creative people to run a home-based business, Hasan says the thing people don’t realize is it’s not as easy as it may look. It involves a variety of skills that go way beyond making a particular craft. And that’s a big part of what she shares in her classes.

“I’m super honest and I tell you everything — all the stuff nobody else tells you,” says Hasan, who had 15 years of marketing and branding experience before starting her business. “Nobody tells you how challenging the shipping can be, and about keeping inventory versus doing things made to order. These are all things you need to think about.”

Etsy is a professional marketplace, she says, and you may need a professional photographer to shoot your products, as well as a graphic designer to create your logo, and a copywriter to write your copy. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is important. “Etsy can be lucrative and give you a wonderful life, but you have to make the investment, and that can be up to $10,000.”

She, herself, did not find immediate success. “I was that hobbyist who thought, ‘Oh my God, I’ll put my log containers on Etsy and they’ll be so popular.’” She was two years in when she realized she needed to invest more into making it work. When she did, with the help of professionals, that’s when it turned around. “This is up and running and I make a living doing what I love,” she says, “but it’s still an enormous amount of work.”

The Brookfield Craft Center is adding more online courses to its offerings. Starting next month, Bethel artist Karin Mansberg will teach her workshop on block printing and making repeat patterns for designing fabric such as T-shirts and tea towels. She’s already recording videos for her Zoom classes.

“I started teaching there about three years ago in person, and have really enjoyed it,” she says, noting the campus is on the banks of the Still River, a beautiful setting. She says her classes are creative and fun, and that block printing is something you can do at home. “It’s easy to set up and you don’t need a press.”

Mansberg says people enjoyed hanging out together during her in-person classes. She feels the biggest challenge with moving things online will be creating that interaction. “It’s all about teaching the process, but also about having fun together,” she says. “It’s rewarding when you see that people are inspired, taking their time, relaxing and creating something they’re happy about.”

lkoonz@newstimes.com; Twitter: @LindaTKoonz

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