By FlorencePia G. Yu
Published: Sun Star Weekend
Cebu City, Philippines
March 11, 2001
Pages 6-7
"The men are really coming in," says Luisa Concepcion, shop proprietor of Country Crafts (located at SM City) which holds craft classes.
"I have two particular male students..six-footers.. really guys.. you wouldn't think that they would come near the place, but there they were--bending over the small counter just to do their craft," she tells.
The family approves
Eventually, Romeo got past the inhibition. "I was interested in the business aspect." Now, he takes orders for his candle-gel. Earning about P20,000 a month with his candles, his family is far from opposed to it. "My daughters would even suggest better designs for the candles."
Seen as therapy
Housewife MarilesSiao says there's nothing unmanly about guys going into crafts. Even her four-year old son is into crafts--beadwork at that. Whenever she's stitching the beads together, her son would help her out. "My husband is okay with my son's doing it. He doesn't scold him. He would even say, "Kaning bata-a, inig dako ani maglisod gyud ni pagpangita ug asawa kay naa nay standards!' (When this kid grows up he will have a hard time finding a wife because he has standards!) "
"Kuwang nalang butangan ug pabilo'ng imong ilong! (What's left to do is to put a wick up your nose!) ," Mariles laughingly relates as she recollects her husband's words. "This was what my husband would joke every time he would come home to the overwhelming smell of candles. I just can't help it, I'm so engrossed with candles!"
Mariles started as collector of scented candles; now she makes her own. She decided to sign herself up for a class in candle-making. "The idea was so appealing. I wanted to be able to make and experiment with my own candles. I could put in whatever scent I wanted, fit it in whatever container I wanted."
Evidently, wax and her creativity hit it off nicely. She has been taking orders for her scented candles and is teaching candle-making and beadwork in a private school. "But I never get too busy. I'm a housewife, I have all the time in the world. Besides, going into crafts is work that I actually love," she says.
A perfect gift
"It kind of grows on you," says craft fan Anne Marie Conejero. "I would come home and go straight to my cross stitch. I would be up till two A.M. and I still wouldn't want to put the thing down!"
Anne Marie sees crafts as a virtual ready-to-made present. "I guess it's just nicer to receive something that someone has made for you..you seethe time, the effort put in that gift, and it warms you up," she says. "For example, people spend so much for candles, when in reality, they are really cheap when you make them yourself," she says.
Recently, Anne Marie has put her creativity to high gear by making a personalized painted T-shirt as going-away gift for a friend and his son. "These people could afford to buy anything they wanted. I didn't want to buy them just any other gift, so I thought I should give them something that I made myself."
Needless to say, the project saved her a lot of time--not to mention money--that could've been spent looking for the "perfect" gift. "Although," Anne Marie jokes, "I'm not really expecting them to wear the shirts outside the house." (One of the shirts reads: I am son's dad, while the other confirms: I am dad's son.)
Classes going on
"I guess people now are looking for something different to invest their time in. Crafts are the next best thing. They're inexpensive; doing them is therapeutic; it keeps you from getting into 'damaging hobbies', like, shopping and spending too much money on having your toenails painted!" Luisa says.
"Having a hobby--making crafts gives you the chance to bond, more than anything," she adds. Always on the go, Luisa herself juggles her time between supervising the stores and handling the stores: workshops (macram�, beadwork, trapuntoquilting, candle-making, parchment craft, paper quilting and liquid rubber sticker), and driving to far-flung barrios and in public schools to give workshops on crafts.
"People often invite me to hold a workshop in their place, often in mountainous places. It can be draining on your time and energy, but when you go there and see these people learn from you--makit-an nimo ilang smile abot sa dunggan (you see them smiling from ear to ear)--you are immediately energized!"
Luisa's business also allows her to gel with her family. "While doing beadwork or cross stitching or some other craft, my daughters and I get to talk about everything. It makes me feel good that I still have an impact on them," she says, beaming.