I am in several private facebook groups - some are for quilting, weaving, my home town, the high school and university, and of course several are for metals (such as fold forming, jewelry, coloring metal, anvil surfing, women who do metal, etc..) . There are more of the latter than the former.
And yet I never found a group for one of my favorite sub-topics Chasing & Repousse to be known from now on in this post as C&R.
I know others that have started FB groups and at least one group I am in is pushing 1500 members (and it is private). Even private groups can get bit and then the group requires many administrators. The issue with a generic metal group is that I would post some of my C&R work there, it would just get lost. Plus it is hard to connect with others who focus on this technique.
I thought - how about I start the group myself. YET, I also thought - what will I get myself into IF I do this..
I bit the bullet and two weeks ago I corrected that problem and started the group.
I made it private too keep the focus on the subject and to prevent the spammers from posting all sorts of crap that I then have to remove which just makes more work for me.
Initially I invited all my FB friends that I know do C&R. Then I invited the teachers I know, then the other C&R artists I know. That put us up to a membership of about 50.
During the first week I started to add files about teachers, locations for workshop, where to get tools and pitch. And word started to spread; I was up to 80 members. I then used the events tab to add known workshops so members could find a class.
After two weeks we were up to 100 members.
I get several requests to join the group, every few days and IF I can't see C&R on their wall, sorry but they can't get in. I won't go hunting for proof that they do C&R, I just don't have that much time. I want the focus to be on C&R and if you do jewelry in general and you don't have the interest you can't join. Again, sorry but I don't want to see that amazing ring you made with 300 tiny pave set diamonds. There are other groups for that.
We now are up to 145 members with some people in Tasmania, Iran, South America, and Eastern Europe and everyone is sharing the C&R love.
I am so glad I did this.
And yet I never found a group for one of my favorite sub-topics Chasing & Repousse to be known from now on in this post as C&R.
I know others that have started FB groups and at least one group I am in is pushing 1500 members (and it is private). Even private groups can get bit and then the group requires many administrators. The issue with a generic metal group is that I would post some of my C&R work there, it would just get lost. Plus it is hard to connect with others who focus on this technique.
I thought - how about I start the group myself. YET, I also thought - what will I get myself into IF I do this..
I bit the bullet and two weeks ago I corrected that problem and started the group.
I made it private too keep the focus on the subject and to prevent the spammers from posting all sorts of crap that I then have to remove which just makes more work for me.
Initially I invited all my FB friends that I know do C&R. Then I invited the teachers I know, then the other C&R artists I know. That put us up to a membership of about 50.
During the first week I started to add files about teachers, locations for workshop, where to get tools and pitch. And word started to spread; I was up to 80 members. I then used the events tab to add known workshops so members could find a class.
After two weeks we were up to 100 members.
I get several requests to join the group, every few days and IF I can't see C&R on their wall, sorry but they can't get in. I won't go hunting for proof that they do C&R, I just don't have that much time. I want the focus to be on C&R and if you do jewelry in general and you don't have the interest you can't join. Again, sorry but I don't want to see that amazing ring you made with 300 tiny pave set diamonds. There are other groups for that.
We now are up to 145 members with some people in Tasmania, Iran, South America, and Eastern Europe and everyone is sharing the C&R love.
I am so glad I did this.
RSS Feed
