Ronnae W.
Yelp
Summary: the customer service Is just BAD! The attempt to teach people is great, however they should reduce the class size and get a new instructor.
Long Story:
This place is honestly a cute concept. Upon arrival, its love at first sight for any local business supporter. This studio is a place to support up and coming "crafters" as they start off because most things, if not all are hand made.
We signed up for a few classes, jewelry making, clay jewelry making, and sewing a skirt. Each class was 2 hours.
The first class was layered jewelry making. It contained approximately 14 to 16 people with one teacher. So you already knew the issue....The staff/student ratio.
The class presented a few "challenges" in my opinion
1. staff/ teacher ratio- most people in the class have never made jewelry.
2. There were approximately 5 mirrors on the table.
I won't call this class hard but it was a little challenging opening and closing the rings that attach the jewelry pieces. With there being one teacher and 16 of us, the issue was getting the teachers attention! Most people needed help closing the rings. She stood on one side of the table more then other and the table was very long. With this type of class, since you're actually using tools and making things, verbal instruction wasn't enough. The rings had to be closed completely, which required people to be able to use their left and right hand at the same time. If you didn't close the clasp, we later learned, your jewelry would fall apart. Which is what was happening with me and a young lady next to me, along with my friend who came with me. Throughout this project i can not lie, i wanted to quit. The teacher even gave a story of women who quit the class because it was overwhelming. The teachers response was "jewelry making isn't for everyone". Most people who sign up for classes do it because they are interested and are open to the challenge. But not having support from the teacher could result in making you want to quit.
The other issue was how the materials were laid out. There were small dishes that were going up the table. Each participant had to get up and reach over others who were sitting to get a chance to look at all the charms and fixtures. While making the necklace you had to determine the lengths you wanted the chain to hang. This required a mirror. There were 4 maybe 5 mirrors on the table for everyone to share. Which is not enough for someone making a 3 layer necklace.
About an hour and a half into the class there were a few people who were concerned with whether or not they would be able to finish the necklace. The teacher told us that everyone would leave with something. At this point the teacher decides to be more hands on. I'm going to safely assume she was getting annoyed with us towards the end. She was talking in that really unnatural high pitch "I'm being nice" voice with a forced stiff smile. But Whenever her sister/ business partner came into the area her voice would change into her natural voice. With 10-15 minutes remaining, the teacher was able to make time and assisted with my necklace.
Throughout this class you were constantly asking the person next to you if they understood or if they heard what the teacher said. Which isn't fair because you paid for instruction. I left with jewelry i could never wear.
I come back for a sewing class. In the class description we were told to bring fabric and everything else would be provided. there was no specifics on the type of fabric that would be best. The teacher (same as jewelry) began to complain about everyone's fabric. We visited the website and confirmed, a specific type of fabric was never specified.
Our instructer( lets just call her carol) had us spread out to cut our fabric. Now this is where things got funky. We spread out around the store. But the problem arises for people who wanted a long skirt, which was more than half of us. Carol says we can't make long skirts. So why have us measure ourselves if the short skirt was the only option. If we wanted a long skirt we'd have to do something different. Now remember we are all around the building when this discovery was made. The steps for the longer skirt was not explained while we were all together. So Everyone is calling Carol. At no time did she just ask us all to come together so she could explain. To make matters worse, Carol has began to mentally check out of instructing us. Her "man" has began calling because he needs grocery store assistance. She's eating chips while talking to her sister, all while we try to assist one another in making this skirt, we paid to learn to make from Carol. And the chips were Fritos! Fritos are the most stink chips EVERRRR. I get being hungry, but the way this chip eating went down was just unprofessional and stinky.
Needless to say my friend and i didn't leave with a skirt. Nor did we come back for the other classes we signed up!
Overall this place is a good concept that wasn't executed well.