A LITTLE HISTORY

A few years ago I was trying to make a living by selling hand-crafted fretwork at various craft fairs in England. The theme I chose was Native American and I tried to use different woods to bring life to each of the pieces. The work was quite unique for this country, although I am sure that similar work must be done in the USA. What was especially pleasing was when American vistors would buy one of my pieces to take back home because they felt that the quality and design was better than they had seen before. If you would see some of my work, check out the Craft Gallery.

Interest in Native American culture is hardly mainstream in England, although I met many people who were geniunely interested and , eventually, I discovered that a number of Powwows were held in England and I became a regular trader at these events. I had a good couple of years before it became apparent that I wasn't making enough money to pay the bills and so I had to resort to a regular job. Since I had to work weekends I could no longer attend craft fairs but I could still make stuff during the week so I needed another avenue to sell my wares. The Inernet! Or so I thought.

This site therefore began life as a means of selling my fretwork to people all over the world but it has been a spectaclur failure - either people did not want what I was making or they did not trust me. Either way I received only one order in almost a year! Luckily I wanted the site to be more than just a commercial venture so I tagged on some personal pages which have expanded into what you see today.

I no longer sell my fretwork but I am proud of what I acheived and I have left the Gallery on the site for anyone who might be interested. The task now is to make these personal pages as interesting as possible and to get visitors. If you like what you see, pass the word!

WHY CANKITA?

Cankita is a Lakota word meaning 'Many Trees' which I choose to represent the various timbers used in my craft work. Although I no longer do much in the way of fretwork, I have become quite fond of the name and will continue to use it in connection with my Native American interests. By the way it is pronounced 'Chon-geeta'

EXPLORER OR NAVIGATOR?

When I first got my PC around the end of 1998 Netscape Navigator was the first choice in browsers and I resolutely stuck by it until I started to put this site together which meant I had to use Internet Explorer to test for compatibility. Navigator still had the slight edge until I began to learn more and more about DHTML and the various delights that can improve the visual experience of a web page. Netscape were content to stand and watch while Microsoft went for it and leapt ahead with IE5. Most of this site has been produced for IE5 and whilst I have tried to make it as compatible as possible with Navigator, you will not see the full effect unless you have IE5 (IE4 at a push). Lots of nifty 'extras' happen in IE5!

A NEVERENDING TASK!

It was my firm intention to keep the site fully up to date and to keep working on expanding it but I now know why so many sites lie dormant for years on end. Looking after a web site is a neverending task that requires more time than most folk have available. It is the less obvious things that take time, like checking links and promoting the site to the various search engines. I have spent more hours than I can imagine tinkering and fiddling to try and get good placements on the search engines but I am still disappointed at the number of visitors that come this way. If you have any hints or tips you can pass on, please hit the e-mail button up top and let me know!

SOME PAGES YOU MIGHT MISS

Most of our pages can be accessed from the navigation bar at the top of each screen, however there are one or two pages hidden away that you might not easily find. Take a look at The End of the Trail Story which you can access from the End of the Trail pieces in the Craft Gallery or the pictures of The Eclipse which are part of one of the Powwow reviews