Student to appear on HGTV’s ‘Crafters Coast to Coast’ show

Grace Dobush, senior magazine journalism major, will be on HGTV showing her box-making abilities as a segment of the “Crafters Coast to Coast” program.

Credit: Andrew Hampp

Grace Dobush held her X-Acto knife directly in front of her face as the cameraman framed the shot. For the third time, she began to say her line to the camera.

“Book-binding is a hobby I picked up my freshman year of college,” Dobush said just before she began to carve pieces of book-binding material.

The scene — with repetition reminiscent of the “Vitameatavegamin” episode of “I Love Lucy” ­— was part of a segment being filmed yesterday for “Crafters Coast to Coast” on the Home & Garden Television Network.

The episode will mark the national television debut of both Dobush and the memory box she assembled on-camera to store memorabilia from her recent trip to London.

Dobush, a senior magazine journalism major and editor of The Burr, was tapped to demonstrate her box-making skills, despite submitting mostly book-binding material in her November application.

Having basically given up on the show, Dobush said she was surprised to receive the January phone call from Lisa Insana of Weller Grossman, “Crafters’” production company.

Melissa Sykes, vice president of programming for HGTV, said a crafter like Dobush is perfect for the show.

“You want somebody that does really creative, clever things whether it’s creating personalized cards or creating clocks out of old kitchen utensils,” said Sykes.

Dobush took many necessary precautions in preparing her home for yesterday’s taping, including removing her apartment living room’s walls of any copyrighted material and selecting a camera-friendly wardrobe.

Being advised not to wear solid black, white, striped, red, patterned, plaid or sequined clothing, Dobush opted for a red blouse with a black zip-up hoodie.

During the show’s taping, however, Dobush said jokingly she didn’t mind that her apartment had been turned into a temporary TV studio.

“It’s totally normal,” Dobush said with a laugh as she gazed at the bright studio lights shining upon her. “A big star like me has to get used to it.”

Dobush walked the audience through the box-making process step by step, at one point painting hard-to-read keywords from her London voyage like “Piccadilly,” “Oxford” and “Brick Lane.”

The episode was directed by Celia Bonaduce, a director for previous HGTV shows such as “Smart Solutions, Simply Quilts.” She is also the sister of Danny Bonaduce of “Partridge Family” fame, and said her famous brother watches the show when he can.

“He actually thinks it’s pretty good,” she said.

Contact Pop Arts editor Andrew Hampp at [email protected].