Paul,
Look in your IGKT Member’s handbook and write to them from the addresses given, whether they are URLs, e-mails or street addresses.
SR
PS - Gordon is on his way to the States at the moment, so he may be out of touch for a while.
SR
Thanks, I’ll wait for my handbook. I never got a reply when I asked about paying, but that was just a few days ago, so I await, in limbo.
Paul
PS I filled out my profile (I think)
This is a topic I am most interested in myself. I have found that recruiting new members is a hard one to do. That is because of the generational gaps that we all meet with in the field of recruiting. The age of the person(s) is such a gap that when you are recruiting, you have to go from an 8yr old to someone that is between 30yrs old and 60, 70yrs old. The different maturity levels is the hardest thing to compensate for while in discussion.
On the other hand grabbing the potential recruit and showing them how to tie their first decrotive knot ie(diamond knot) simple enough, and they actually tie it after several tries, they are either hooked, or not. The average age of the Guild is predominately and gracefully about 30 to 60yrs of age. I believe that to be a liberal, deductive guess at the average age.
We must consider this situation to be important, for if we wish the Guilds around the world to continue and strive forward to the future, we must find creative, clever ways to recruite new members, or the Guilds will dissolve away with each member that passes away. In that matter, with each memeber that passes away, there goes their experience and knowlege of knot tying. I have this perception of experience from when my great grandmother passed away, ie(she knew how to make biscuts from scratch that were out of this world.) She never shared the secret reciepe with anyone in the family. Now, she’s gone and no one in the family can make those fabulous biscuts anymore. So, if we don’t recruit and share what we know about knot tying, knot tying will be lost forever.
Hi Knothead,
Try this for an idea to engage the young whilst preserving your skill and knowledge.
Oldies are likely to have a mobile phone that my kids call a ‘Ma Boswell’ – a brick that does one thing – phone. The younger generation by contrast are likely to carry a videophone and know how to use it (witnessed by the amazing rise in YouTube clips).
So, get some youngsters to video you tying knots (preferably with a commentary from you), then get them to post the clips either onto YouTube or better still into the Guild knot database wiki http://igkt.pbwiki.com/ using the new video feature.
By engaging the youngsters through a route that interests them (their mobiles and the internet), you might just lead them to an interest in the knot topic. At the same time you are saving your skills and knowledge for posterity.
Derek
Hmmm, now that’s a creative and clever idea. I will have to experiment(ehehehehehe)… Good one… ;D
Someone please answer this one 
I too would like to knkow the answers to this …
Regards
Nils G.
I think you would have to talk to Nigel Harding about this one.
Dear Takler and Nils,
Forming a new Branch is straightforward - you read the IGKT constitution, draft your own new Branch constitution based on that of the IGKT, set down the rules to be used in your own Branch constitution (dues, meeting dates and times, election rules, etc), elect or co-opt IGKT members for officer and Board positions and send the whole package to Bruce Turley, Membership Secretary of the IGKT, or Dave Walker, Secretary of the IGKT. For your information it is necessary (or at least highly recommended) that you have separate Board members, Officers and members. If you have a Board of five and three Officers, they will all be IGKT members, so the number of members to form a Branch would be eight. After sending the package of elected or co-opted members (with their permission signatures) names in the various positions together with a copy of the signed and dated constitution and rules, those documents will be ratified (or not) by the Council and your Branch officers and Board will be notified accordingly. If not ratified, changes will be requested which, if successful, will result in ratification of your Branch. That was how we did it when forming the Pacific Americas Branch (PAB) ten years ago and it seems to work! ;D
Lindsey
IGKTPAB President
Knothead said “I think you would have to talk to Nigel Harding about this one.”
Can I just point out that Nigel turned over the reins of Secretary to Dave Walker just over a year ago.
Lesley
Thx. Now I’ll need to trackk down the Norwegian IGKT members and start a conversation about this topic..
Regards
Nils G.
Adopt a Ship
Adopt a Ship
Is my suggestion to stimulate activity, interest and gain new members.
If I ever really join the IGKT (I am in limbo it seems) and get my book I’ll contact all the members in Ontario and get them to adopt a ship (the one I work on, the Empire Sandy, Canada’s and North America’s largest Topsail Schooner) We will then do some superlative rope work aboard for the pleasure, edification and delight of the owner, passengers and crew, not to mention credit to the IGKT
If I ever get out of limbo and get my book, I’ll let you know how this all turns out
Paul
Can a recent recruit throw in a two-pennorth?
I am one of Dave Walker’s recruits - in a roundabout way. I saw him at the Liverpool Maritime Museum about 3 years ago, where it occurred to me that an knotting demonstration might be useful to my then-six-year-old would-be-firefighter (some members might remember my posts from that year). I signed my son up as a junior member for his birthday, with the intention that this would be a very longterm gift (until he’s old enough to appreciate it and take over paying for it himself) and then discovered a major flaw in my plan:
I had so much fun learning about knots to try and teach him, that I ended up joining myself after a prolonged (nearly a year) guilty conscience of NOT being a member (I claim the necessity of waiting for my birthday, so I could treat myself to the membership).
I was astounded to discover that my teenager knew more about knots than I thought she did, because she did scoubidou (that balance is pretty level now, and tipping in my favour) and as you can see from my post on lanyards, I’m hoping to introduce simple knotting, plaiting and sennits to a group which probably believes they can never do them: children with manual dexterity problems. Because scoubidou was a craze here in the last few years, I have an advantage that most of them have seen it, and tried it, even if they failed abysmally at it. I also had one of those folding wooden plate drainers on my sink until recently. Various moulds had attacked the feet, and it had to be put in the bin. Then I dragged it out of the bin, knocked it apart for that beautifully ready-made dowling in 3 lengths, and returned the remains back to the bin. The dowling dried out nicely on the overnight radiators.
So, I have readymade dowls, a supply of cord, and a target group to aim at. I pray that God will give the go-ahead on it. Maybe another member with time on their hands would like to approach their local school and see if there are children who could use this sort of help?
Using phones to video techniques and upload them is a great idea. Hppefully the teenager will get hooked as they help you, and if they make their own lanyard for their own mobile/mp3/ipod/gadget then you’ll be able to encourage them that look! Hey! You made something neat, and you did it without any technological aids at all (except for videoing it). Something I really lament is how technology has stolen children’s fingers.
If you want a really way-out idea for new members, I keep getting this thought:
If I can learn to tie a solomon bar/portuguese sennit with my eyes closed, all bar the pulling through of ends, couldn't a blind person learn to do the same? And how many other knots could a Braille reader learn, just because their fingers are sensitive enough to follow the pattern?
Hmm, guess this ended up as a ten-pennorth again
Regards
Glenys Chew
PS - Could the Guild put a simple flyer or leaflet on the downloads section. for small memebers like myself to print and give people?
Regards
Glenys
Hello Glenys,
I think “ten-pennorth” is a significant understatement.
Yours is an idea worthy of serious consideration by the Guild Council to be put forward to the organisations who cater for helping the blind. I do not know any blind people, but I do work occasionally in a ‘Sheltered Workshop’, so I am well aware of the great value that individuals, who would normally be shunned by the ‘work industry’, are able to gain from opportunities structured for their particular disabilities. Could I seriously suggest that you write your suggestion to Dave Walker (Hon. Sec.) and see if he cannot include the proposal in one of the Council agendas.
I can imagine that if I were to go blind, I would take great solace from the familiar feel of my cord and knots, which likewise, I enjoy tying from touch alone. However, I have a problem of understanding.
You and I both learned our knots in the first place via our sight. How do you teach someone how to knot without the medium of sight?
Derek
Brilliant idea, Glenys
I’ll see what I can do - I see no reason why we can’t have a pdf all ready to print. I can scan a copy and send it to Mel for uploading onto the site.
We always have the handouts available at the craft shows we attend.
Lesley
WebAdmin
Thank you, Lesley.
Ok then, Derek - in for a penny, in for a guinea ;D You probably wouldn’t believe that I don’t get much talk time at home :-X Then again, you might ;D
To teach the blind, when we learned with sight: I would suggest that like any teacher/pupil relationship, you should start with respect and confidence in the ability of the pupil to learn. Learning is not the same as achieving (I’m still elated about my mobile lanyard) but it will become achievement if sufficient patience is given. My husband has a spinal injury, and so I’m familiar with several disabled people, plus some people with mental health difficulties. And of course, I have children. They’ll be instantly aware of any deficit in our faith in their ability, just through body language, and tone of voice. More than anything else, I think it would need the ability of the teacher to remember not to say ‘no, the blue cord goes over the red cord’ but to remember to stick to relative left and right, and even if necessary (and with prior discussion with the blind person, maybe) to reach out and guide their hands. I wouldn’t hesitate to do so with a sighted person, but then they can see my hands moving towards theirs, and will not be startled to suddenly have someone ‘interfere’ with what they’re doing. On the whole, I would think that just a set of cords secured at the top, laid out so they won’t tangle immediately, perhaps with some weighting on the end for sennits, would be sufficient. However they’re secured at the top, it has to be able to withstand some amount of pulling in order to give a good shape to the knot or sennit. Once the basic stand or base has been devised, it should be easily duplicatable so that the blind person could have one in their own home and continue at leisure. And idea for a shape has occurred to me, I’ll draw it and post it in my photo album.
I’ll write to Dave Walker about it once I’m sure no-one else has any suggestions to make to improve the idea. A thought occurs to me, however. You mention that you work in a sheltered workshop. I did once wonder about the viability of decorative knotting for therapy for people with mental health problems, but the unpredictability of what might happen outside the lesson put me off. This may be an unfair judgement on my part, but I would need to be very sure of the particular trends of thought that such a person has before I could teach them. Then again, I’ve just posted on a situation almost as unpredictable (Responsibility or Culpability). Do you have any experience of working with people with mental health problems?
I also take the liberty of including the following, which I saw in the newsletter of Joni Eareckson Tada’s UK ministry for the disabled, Through The Roof. I try to remember it with my children, as well:
Beatitudes for the Friends of People with Disabilities
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Blessed are you who take the time to listen to difficult speech, for you help me to know that if I persevere I can be understood.
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Blessed are you who never bid me to ‘hurry up’ and take my tasks from me and do them for me, for I often need time rather than help.
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Blessed are you who stand beside me as I enter new and untried ventures, for my failures will be outweighed by the times I surprise myself and you.
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Blessed are you who asked for my help, for my greatest need is to be needed.
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Blessed are you who understand that it is difficult for me to put my thoughts into words.
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Blessed are you who, with a smile, encourage me to try once more.
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Blessed are you who never remind me that today I asked the same question twice.
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Blessed are you who respect me and love me as I am, just as I am, and not like you wish I were.
Regards
Glenys
Afternoon All
Right, as per Glenys’ suggestion, there is now a copy of the latest Guild flyer on the Guild website.
It’s in two parts, front and back, and Mel has put them on the following pages:-
The Publications index page
The Downloads index page
The Diary page
The Stop Press Box on the Home page has also been amended to point to them.
The two parts of the flyer are in JPG format. We would recommend downloading both images files and then printing them using the graphics, or desktop publishing, software of your choice.
Lesley
Hi Glenys,
They'll be instantly aware of any deficit in our faith in their ability
I have no deficit in faith in the abilities of the disabled - I have a deficit in faith in the abilities of the able bodied teachers, to think through the ‘eyes’ of the blind they are teaching.
The lovely group who work through the ‘Aspires Sheltered Workshop’ have a wide array of disabilities, and yes, there is an occasional exceedingly dark moment to contend with, but generally this group are inspirational to the able bodied who all too easily forget how lucky we are to have full use of all our faculties.
Good luck in your proposals to Dave, he is looking forward to reading the detail of how it might be achieved.
I will ask Jackie Murphey (who runs Aspires) if she has any contact with support organisations for the blind.
Derek
As I have recently learnt of this guild , I am interested in the idea of becoming a member of it. I happened to come across the fact that there was such a thing as a guild of knot tyers in a book I was reading . I am very uncertain as to the benefit of the guild. What does the guild do? From my initial impression of the existence of such a guild, I presumed that it was ?possibly? a governing body that accounted for a knot registry and could determine whether new knots where actually new or previously existed, hence submission regarding a knot that I wanted Identified. I had visions that the guild is involved in expanding the knowledge of knot craft and may be involved in knot publications. Can you please clarify for me whether these are functions of the guild and also the range of functions that it does serve. As a suggestion to attract membership and raise the profile of the IGKT, the guild should advertise itself in all publications regarding knots. It should also approach relevant web sites and book publishers and ask that the International guild of knot tyers be included in their list of resources/publications so that people with an interest can be made aware of the IGKT.
Regards
Oscar