I am beginning this blog in anticipation of my newest project and hopefully subsequent projects in the future. With the newest trend for 2012 of 'making your own' gifts, decorations cards and home ware I have decided to start a series of home-made workshops in my local area. Being in the wedding industry naturally my first eight week workshop focus's on the activities for the DIY bride. The workshop will include how to make your own stationary, centrepieces, bouquets, decorations, favours, cupcakes, wedding cakes with a planning workshop and nutrition guide too. At the beginning of the eight week, eight day, wedding workshop, I hope to explain that for over the duration of the course for the ninth week (non payable) they will be organising a wedding fair covering the other sections of a wedding which can't be handmade such as a dresses, venue, music, cars which will be open to the public with free admission and using there decorations and new found planning skills to operate a smooth wedding fair, with the obvious help of our Handmaids!
The 'Handmaid' Company is self explanatory really. I wanted to create a workshop company who specialised in running home/hand made tutorials. As I create the first logo The Handmade Co, it just didn't feel right at all. There are many companies and creative people who make handmade products for a living and that's not what our aim is, we are not selling handmade items nor do we intend to, so back to the drawing board again. I continued to explore homemade next which conjured up sweet aromas of my mums cooking and consequently all her sewing projects etc. Homemade does give the handmade term a more comfy, cosy appeal which is closer to home. Handmade after all could be handmade by someone else not the individual wanting something unique to them. So I tried 'The Homemade Co' which just seemed again like we were selling homemade delights especially food! So without sounding like I am repeating myself, it was back to design stages again! It was only when I asked my husband what he associated with the word 'handmade' that he said, whilst I sniggered' 'a sexy woman dressed in a servant outfit, helping around the home' I realised he had mistook the term handmade for handmaid, as in a female servant but the idea grew on me, surprisingly! So I tried 'The Handmaid Co - a helping hand at home-made' and it just seemed to work! The handmaids being my team of creative hand crafers who will help as a handmaid would to create homemade/handmade items! The name was born and with it came our first workshop The Handmaid Wedding Workshop.
I don't know how this project will pan out, if it will be a success or a failure. I dont know whether people will appreciate the silly pun on a name or that it was not to be offensive that the Handmaids were created, I am also aware that a majority of men are also crafters, some will be including in this company so I am not trying to seclude males from the company nor its workshops, on the contrary I would like more male figures to attend! I also am aware that I may get associated with naughty sexy servants 9as my husband pointed out), which is a risk, but the same for any company in business nowadays! I hope that this doesn't happen and people appreciate the name but in the words of Shakespeare 'what's in a name? Any rose by any other name would smell as sweet.' So keeping this in mind I am ploughing forward with the project in hope this workshops will spread over the country, helping budget busters to create one off's!
The workshops wont be expensive, I can relate that we must justify the means and the workshops are to help make homemade things which are cheaper than retail so it would be completely wrong if the workshops were in fact expensive and thus eliminating the fact that had they have bought retail without a workshop it would have been cheaper than doing the workshop and making handmade items! So cheap and cheerful they will be. They will also be open to entrepreneurs who have a creative side but don't know where to apply it, they can then take the workshop and maybe apply it to a business in the future selling their wares. I also forgot to mention that the workshops will also enable the customers access to great deals on equipment and materials required to make the items outside of the workshop from reputable suppliers. Also huge discounts will be given if anyone decided to buy or book with a tutor too instead of making themselves, if they find its not for them.
The workshops will also be partly filmed, each one with a tutorial from the Handmaid explaining how to do certain things. This will then be uploaded to YouTube and other social media platforms under our name so that those who want to know 'how to' can from home, and also get a taster of what's on offer if you attend a workshop. Each handmaid will be hand picked from local crafters, I already have a team here in North Yorkshire but elsewhere the search will begin in order to roll out the course all over the UK. These crafters must have experience and a good reputation in their industry so that the workshops can be deemed reputable too. I thought about contacting Kirsty Allsops agency in hope her handmade interest may attract attention to the company. This is something I will work on as I doubt a celebrity such as she will like to associate herself with something so new at the moment, this may be something for the future.
Anyway if any one comes across this blog, which may or may not make a good read?! I hope you leave a comment and tell me if you think this new project is a worthy one which you would like to be involved with either as a newbie crafter, a entrepreneur, a business or just to see how we do. Please leave me your opinions or let me know if a project like this would be great for your local area!
I hope to continue this blog throughout the planning process and during the actual workshops the business will do in order to create awareness and share the love of handmade!
Thanks for reading!
Love Liz White xxx
Founder
The Handmaid Co
