Announcement: On-line classes

A

ARM

Elite Cafe Member
Joined
Nov 28, 2007
Messages
146
Location
Durban, South Africa
The LORD answereth the Prayer of him who calls.
Jason the Golden Fleeced, we took Your advice seriously.
Christopher Malouf, my Friendly Saint, we also heeded every bit of Your recommendations.
John B, the quiet academic, we liked every bit of what U said.
Friends, Romans, Countrymen. We have a Lift-off !!!
No more picking Your bombastic brains.
No more mediocre stuff.
No more scrappy sroll work.
We have taken the plunge and committed ourselves to an excellent Teacher, who, we are confident, will set us on track with our Engraving efforts. The initial Audio/Video tests were excellent. We could clearly see and understand the reason behind every line of BULLINO, or grasp the theory of scroll design as would be in a real class. The best advantage is the single one on one Tuition. You can't buy better than this, at present. And me in my Studio in Durban, South Africa. His set up is well geared with the latest computer equiment. We are pretty certain that with his able guidance we can only improve and achieve respectable levels in our work.
OOOPS.
We are talking about none other than CHRISTOPHER DECAMILLIS ESQ.
Christopher Malouf, Friend, " It's a kind of MAGIC"..........these classes via VIDEO CONFERENCING. Although U don't need them, we highly recommend to all U friendly Rookies out there.
Take them. It would be the best decision of Your life, like JASON said.
Way to go people.
And wish him Luck.
aRM
 
A

ARM

Elite Cafe Member
Joined
Nov 28, 2007
Messages
146
Location
Durban, South Africa
John B. said:
aRm, my friend.
I hope we were not too bombastic.
If I was, I sincerely apologize.
Best.
Click to expand...

SIR JOHN, (THE GOOD BAPTIST)
No Sir, You were not.
NO need to apologise. Cowboys don't cry !!!
All accepted in the finest spirit of these Fine Forumites.
No better bunch of Friendlier Folks across the great Oceans have we encountered.
LORD BLESS
aRM
 
theresamarieus

theresamarieus

Member
Joined
Dec 20, 2009
Messages
63
Location
Illiniois
Seriously, please do let us know how class goes. After buying the bulino video, I can see what a great talent Mr. DeCamillis has for teaching. I love the idea of this new instructional venue although vague on some of the finer points of the video and bandwidth. Living in the country all we have for internet is satellite that gets a little dicey sometimes.
The scroll design class would be wonderful, maybe then I could figure out the critiques. Please do update us on your progress because I am sure there are many of us looking for information. If you are brave enough to post your before and after work, I would be most grateful.:thumbs up:
 
Marrinan

Marrinan

~ Elite 1000 Member ~
Joined
Nov 11, 2006
Messages
2,917
Location
outside Albany in SW GA
These townies with all thier high speed this and cell phones that work that, thier ipods and blackberrys! I do hope you gain bunches from the instruction. I got to go change the fluids in the tractor before morning bye Fred
 
B

Brian Marshall

~ Elite 1000 Member ~
Joined
Nov 9, 2006
Messages
3,112
Location
Stockton, California & Taxco, Guerrero, Mexico
Hey Fred,


How far is the nearest "town" to you? Got any relatives or friends that will put you up for a day or two?

There's gotta be a way you can use this... maybe take a weeks vacation someplace nearby and economical? Still maybe cheaper than coming all the way to one of our locations?

I just did a test with Chris and everything worked well - but I found some things on my end that can be improved even further. We did it from my office because that is where the computers are.

I am lucky enough to have two studios here, plus the classroom - so I will choose one to dedicate to the online workshops. Probably the upstairs apprentices studio which is unoccupied at the moment?

We'll have to run another dedicated DSL cable up there, put in a computer, and move around a bunch of stuff, but in the long run it should be quite a bit better. No one will have to look at all the junk on my working benches and it is closer for me than the classroom.

Anyway, as this develops it will just get better and better. So don't give up, find a way to get in on it!

Someday you may see a bunch of crazy guys with laptops, Lindsay Palm Controls and small vises sitting at Starbucks cutting away while giving/taking classes? (they'll keep us outside on the patio because of the chips flying)



Brian
 
Marrinan

Marrinan

~ Elite 1000 Member ~
Joined
Nov 11, 2006
Messages
2,917
Location
outside Albany in SW GA
Brain, It is about 15 miles to town and high speed internet. The workbench becomes the issue. The only internet connection I have is through cell phone connection. Slightly better than dial up and a whole lot more costly. I am working toward my own plan. looking at motor homes and a trailer to have my studio in and hitting the road for a year of non stop learning. I hope I can get things together. Would be a blast to take a class then camp someplace nice and cut for a week or two then move on. Planning stage at this point but i am hopeful. I will be out your way though if I can get it together. Fred
 
A

ARM2

Member
Joined
Feb 22, 2010
Messages
31
theresamarieus said:
Seriously, please do let us know how class goes. After buying the bulino video, I can see what a great talent Mr. DeCamillis has for teaching. I love the idea of this new instructional venue although vague on some of the finer points of the video and bandwidth. Living in the country all we have for internet is satellite that gets a little dicey sometimes.
The scroll design class would be wonderful, maybe then I could figure out the critiques. Please do update us on your progress because I am sure there are many of us looking for information. If you are brave enough to post your before and after work, I would be most grateful.:thumbs up:
Click to expand...

THERESA
I see U live in Illinois in the USA and don't understand why U can't have a better Internet Service Provider. Chris has some perfect introductory / beginner classes scheduled for next month. U should seriously look at upgrading your Internet Service. It would be worth your while. Have already posted some of my work last month and even earlier. Do a search and U will see. Will definitely post more in the future, after having gone through some more lessons with Chris.
Thanks for the response and
Take care
aRM
 
A

ARM2

Member
Joined
Feb 22, 2010
Messages
31
Marrinan said:
These townies with all thier high speed this and cell phones that work that, thier ipods and blackberrys! I do hope you gain bunches from the instruction. I got to go change the fluids in the tractor before morning bye Fred
Click to expand...

FRED THE FASTIDIOUS
It's not as complicated as U make it out to be. In matter of fact, Your tractor engine has more complication than the computer U work on.
We all had to learn some time.
Never liked to carry a cellular / mobile personally, until we had a breakdown one day. My maid had a mobile phone before us !!! The technology is here for our benefit. Depends on You how U wanna use it and for what !!??? However, we do envy Your clean farm / rural life. Nothing like that.
Take the plunge. You never too old and won't regret it.
Take care
aRM
 
Marrinan

Marrinan

~ Elite 1000 Member ~
Joined
Nov 11, 2006
Messages
2,917
Location
outside Albany in SW GA
aRM,

Unlike many places on this old earth the USofA is not as advanced in technology as much of the rest of the world. Our infrastructure is old and DSL speeds are available only were there is enough population for the phone company to profit by making it available. DSL has a limit of about six miles from the substation, At that point another substation has to be added. The same is true with cable only they have a little greater range but everyone on the cable shares the band width. It costs about $50000 to add a substation for each six miles of distance. Cable will run a drop to my farm, about 1500 feet from nearest service but they want $5000 to put it in and I have to pay for the 4 poles they would have to put in. Satellite and cellular about all there is. No profit in getting service to those who feed them. Then again hogs are bring twelve cent a pound on the hoof but a smoked ham cost $45 in the local store. Someday we are just gonna get tired of feeding the urban areas and that will put an end to it. Fred
 
R

Roger B

Elite Cafe Member
Joined
Mar 17, 2008
Messages
350
Location
Adelaide, South Australia
ARM,

Best of luck with your course. I had my last lesson in bulino with Christian last week and although haven't posted any pictures yet am happy with the progress made in a few short lessons (that was me in Christian's promo video with the intense look on my face).

I'm located in South Australia and had my name pencilled in to attend an engraving course to be held in September in Queensland - unfortunately that time of year is nearly impossible to get time off in the jewellery manufacturing game as we are in the middle of production for Christmas. The ability to take Christian's lessons and still go to work in the afternoon fitted in very well for both me and my employer (the time zone differences meant that my lessons started after I had had breakfast and Christian had eaten dinner the previous evening!!).

As far as equipment upgrades went - I decided to purchase a laptop which saved lugging the old desktop out to the workroom three times a week, I also bought the recommended camera and upgraded the internet connection (ADSL2+) - with all of this it still cost less than a weeks tuition and accomodation let alone travel to the US and lost wages. Next time I take a course it will just be a matter of course fees and I'll be all set. (By the way if it is of any use - I have a monthly internet allowance of 25GB and I worked my way though about half of it by the end of my lessons.)

I commend Christian for his patience and willingness to be flexible with class times. It was also good to meet Ron who popped in from time to time and see what he was working on. The ability to meet other engravers is not something I can often do - the last class I attended was with Brian Marshall a couple of years ago and unfortunately I was in a class of one then too.

To those considering taking a course and who don't have the hassles of poor internet connections I don't think that you would be disappointed - it is the next best thing to having the instructor standing next to you.

Roger :beerchug:
 
D

DKanger

~ Elite 1000 Member ~
Joined
Sep 30, 2007
Messages
1,054
Location
West TN
The only internet connection I have is through cell phone connection.
Click to expand...

Fred,
Curious how you accomplished that. I spent some time exploring the possibility of connecting my cell and laptop via a bluetooth connection. It is possible, but no one writes an app to make them handshake. The cell companies could do it, but they want those extra fees for internet use. The bluetooth would eliminate that.

Slightly better than dial up and a whole lot more costly. I am working toward my own plan.
Click to expand...
Verizon has a dedicated device for hi-speed internet that plugs into a USB port on your computer. It's always on and costs around $70 a month flat fee. It can travel with you all around the country and is switchable between computers. Seems like the ideal solution for those living in the country and traveling. I live in the boonies too, but we got cable a couple of years ago.
 
KCSteve

KCSteve

~ Elite 1000 Member ~
Joined
Jun 19, 2007
Messages
2,882
Location
Kansas City, MO
There's a check you can run to see if it'll work for you - everyone with any interest at all should run it, just so you know.

My connection to my workbench should be perfect but I've got one little problem: my connection will drop way down in speed or get lost entirely at random throughout the day. I've had the cable company guys out here twice and it's nothing on my side of the connection - in fact, last time he even gave me a new modem just to be safe. After that he was able to get the higher level guy out and he let me know that he knows exactly what the problem is, how to fix it, and that they're planning to fix it. Unfortunately the problem is that, 10-15 years ago when they converted to the digital network they never anticipated today's bandwidth requirements and our area is full. They've added all the splitters, multiplexers, etc. they can and it's full. And then they offered the 'turbo' service expecting a certain level of sign up and found out that pretty much everyone signed up. So my connection is good for 15 - 22Mb/s but can drop as low a 0.1 (or go away) because the system is saturated. Nothing they can do until they roll out the whole new infrastructure that can handle much higher bandwidth / load, and that's tentatively planned for the end of the year. They are starting to get more aggressive at looking for people running servers out of their homes, or who have viruses turning their systems into (spam) servers to ease the load. I'm hoping that when school starts it will at least be better during the day.

I have a little Sony computer that has a Verizon connection built-in and it's great for travel. Very small screen though and a 5G / month data cap.

I also have a Droid phone and you can 'tether' that to use it as a modem. I upgraded to the leaked 2.2 OS and tethering is part of that - but Verizon wants $20 / month to do it so if I need to do it I'll use the PDA-Net app that lets you do it for free.
 
A

ARM

Elite Cafe Member
Joined
Nov 28, 2007
Messages
146
Location
Durban, South Africa
Now its FRED THE FRUGAL
Feel sorry for U man.
U at the mercy of them CAPITALISTS.
Make a quick Buck and damn to hell the rest. That's how they treat U.
U gotta put up Your Price for all Your Farm produce.
It's a huge cycle, and the wheels keep turning against U.
Even your bankers are gone broke !!!
Get rid of the old Tractor and get into politics.
Ever met a poor Congressman or Senator ???
U in the wrong Business, Pardner.
( Me too !!! )
aRM
 
A

ARM

Elite Cafe Member
Joined
Nov 28, 2007
Messages
146
Location
Durban, South Africa
Roger B said:
ARM,

Best of luck with your course. I had my last lesson in bulino with Christian last week and although haven't posted any pictures yet am happy with the progress made in a few short lessons (that was me in Christian's promo video with the intense look on my face).

I'm located in South Australia and had my name pencilled in to attend an engraving course to be held in September in Queensland - unfortunately that time of year is nearly impossible to get time off in the jewellery manufacturing game as we are in the middle of production for Christmas. The ability to take Christian's lessons and still go to work in the afternoon fitted in very well for both me and my employer (the time zone differences meant that my lessons started after I had had breakfast and Christian had eaten dinner the previous evening!!).

As far as equipment upgrades went - I decided to purchase a laptop which saved lugging the old desktop out to the workroom three times a week, I also bought the recommended camera and upgraded the internet connection (ADSL2+) - with all of this it still cost less than a weeks tuition and accomodation let alone travel to the US and lost wages. Next time I take a course it will just be a matter of course fees and I'll be all set. (By the way if it is of any use - I have a monthly internet allowance of 25GB and I worked my way though about half of it by the end of my lessons.)

I commend Christian for his patience and willingness to be flexible with class times. It was also good to meet Ron who popped in from time to time and see what he was working on. The ability to meet other engravers is not something I can often do - the last class I attended was with Brian Marshall a couple of years ago and unfortunately I was in a class of one then too.

To those considering taking a course and who don't have the hassles of poor internet connections I don't think that you would be disappointed - it is the next best thing to having the instructor standing next to you.

Roger :beerchug:
Click to expand...

ROGER
Thank You kindly for the well wishes.
Don't worry, U looked good enough to be another CROCODILE DUNDEE !!!
Chris did mention U are from OZ.
We have an un-capped ADSL service. Had to twist my ISP's arm and make sure our line was not suppressed. For APPIA compatability I needed to get another faster computer, a webcam and good Audio system. My first CPU is nearly 10 years old now. U are absolutely right about the costs. I was contemplating doing a knife show in the States next year and doing a one week intensive course there. That would have been not only exhorbitantly costly but hectic as well, trying to cram all that knowledge in one week !!! Chris's set up is indeed an answer to our fervent Prayer. We would like to see some of Your work posted.
All the best for now and Take care.
aRM
 
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