EXPERT ADVICE
Rev up your creativity at the Workshop Show
February 27, 2010
Steve Maxwell
SPECIAL TO THE STAR
I'm convinced that everyone is born creative. The only question is how much of this impulse we retain as adults. Watch a bunch of healthy 6 year olds and you'll see that constant creation of one sort or another is what they're all about, at least at first, anyway.
But fast-forward 30 years and by my estimation less than one adult in 10 makes regular creative pursuits part of his or her life. Perhaps even fewer. And while this is unfortunate and unhealthy, it's not inevitable. Whatever may have extinguished the creative spark you were hard-wired to exercise isn't permanent. The energized faces of the people who I meet, help and shake hands with at the Canadian Home Workshop Show each year remind me of how important active creativity is.
This is the largest show of its kind in Canada and I know it well. For the last 15 years, I've been part of a team offering free seminars on woodworking and home improvements to visitors, who continue to surprise me with their enthusiasm.
This year I'll be answering home improvement questions live on the DIY stage, I'll be leading an interactive seminar on creative welding, and giving a virtual tour of my workshop and favourite woodworking techniques. Catch me wandering around the floor between shows and I'll be happy to help you with any woodworking or home improvement issues.
Over the years I've asked people why they come to the show and they offer three reasons: they come to try, buy, and to learn things they can bring home and apply.
The show is under new management this year, and organizers have made specific, free, hands-on zones where you can experience creativity. This is the "try" part of the show and it's always popular. Kids' Corner, for instance, is a workshop area that lets children make a fun, take-home wall clock under careful, one-on-one supervision using real power tools.
Woodworking 101 is an interactive workshop area that's geared for adults. Visit the venue and you'll be assigned your own one-on-one guide to lead you through the construction of a wine rack you can take home.
If you're the kind of person who learns by watching, check out Ryan Shervill at the Master's Workshop. Over the course of the three-day show he'll be transforming rough lumber into a finished piece of furniture, while also answering woodworking questions and swapping shop stories.
Want to get better at finishing wood? Check out Ralph Swan at the finishing seminar area.
Canada's favourite tool girl, Mag Ruffman, will be at the show too, gracing the DIY stage with her usual blend of humour, technical know-how and useful home improvement insights. The show happens March 5 to March 7 at the International Centre on Airport Rd. in Mississauga.
For detailed information on the team of experts you can see there, check out www.canadianhome workshop.com and click on the show link.
Experienced woodworkers attend the CHW show too, even when they're not looking to learn anything new. Tool deals are usually what draws them. This is the "buy" part of the weekend.
Besides the conveniences of one-stop shopping from all major tool dealers, good prices are what draw the crowds, especially near the end. I've seen tool prices drop way below retail on Sunday afternoons as vendors minimize the amount of stuff they need to haul back home.
Pablo Picasso said that "all children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once one grows up."
And while I don't have the entire answer to this problem, I'm convinced that rubbing elbows with the kind of creative people I'll meet at next weekend's show is definitely part of the solution.
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Steve Maxwell, technical editor of Canadian Home Workshop, runs in New in Homes & Condos.
Toronto Star