Greenwood Fest
Add-on Workshops
Registration opens April 14th.
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These varied 2-to-3-hour workshops, scattered throughout the weekend's schedule, represent an opportunity for focussed hands-on work in a small (8 -12 person) class.
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But remember: this is not your only chance to work with these instructors in the course of Greenwood Fest. Besides these add-on classes, all of these wonderful artisans will be conducting a variety of open sessions or demonstrations. And most will be participating in a carving forum, a very open-ended proposition. So there will be diverse opportunities to meet and learn from all of them. These add-on workshops are simply the best way to guarantee hands-on tutelage from any particular instructor.
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A couple hours is enough time to either give a broad introduction to a new concept, or refine understandings of a narrow topic—each instructor is developing his or her own approach.
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Greenwood Fest registrants will receive a link to the ticketing page on April 14th.
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Session 1
Friday morning (June 8)
JoJo Wood — Facets
June 08, 2018
A look at how we can use our tool marks to embellish our spoons. We will cover a selection of different techniques to create different finishes on different parts of spoons. Suitable for the more confident carver. Bring some roughly axed-out blanks, a knife and a spoon knife.
Curtis Buchanan & Tim Manney — Using the Froe
June 08, 2018
In green woodworking, riven wood is supreme. The froe is the essential tool used to accurately rive, or split, wood along the fibers to produce usable stock, whether it’s chair parts, pail or barrel staves, spoon blanks, fencing, or clapboards for a house. Learn all about the froe and how to use it to its maximum potential from Tim and Curtis. Curtis has riven thousands of Windsor chair parts over the past 35 years, and knows the ins and outs of coaxing wood fibers apart with this deceptively nuanced tool. This session is about technique, not a product (in fact, your handiwork will be enjoyed by those who take Pete Galbert’s drawknife workshop which follows). This workshop is all hands-on, with the emphasis on using the tool to its advantage. We’ll have some oak sections and riving brakes so everyone will get plenty of chances to learn how to make the split go just where you want it, almost every time.
Paula Marcoux — Greenwood Derby: Improving cooking utensil performance
June 08, 2018
Bring your best freshly made utensils—a flipping tool, a stirring tool and whisking tool—and see how they stack up in this hearthside field test. We will make wood-fired cheese blintzes with blueberry sauce start-to-finish, evaluating (and improving) our tools as we go. (Hint: the workshop will kick off with an egg-white beating race, so start practicing now!)
Suitable for carvers of any level as long as they can produce the requisite cooking utensils. Hint: only bring the ones you don’t mind getting blue and buttery, and don’t forget your carving knives; the idea is to recarve for function.
Session 2
Friday afternoon (June 8)
Robin Wood — Beginning spoon carving
June 08, 2018
Get off on the right foot with spoon carving, or start over again right.
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Bring a hatchet, a straight knife, and a hook knife.
Dave Fisher — Compass layout for bowl carving
June 08, 2018
Learn how to use a compass to lay out a bowl and ready it for carving. Dave will go through the full layout procedure, including a necklace for the bowl. Lots of techniques and tricks. Participants should bring a ​large pencil compass, ideally 12-inch, like this one.
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If there's time, Dave will start you practice-carving a necklace right on your study-board. If you might want to do that bring a v-tool and a carver's flat chisel (skew, ideally).
Pen Austin — Make milk paint
June 08, 2018
Curious about making your own permeable finishes for your woodwork? Pen Austin will lead you, hands-on, through making milk paint (yes: starting from milk), including slaking lime and introducing pigments. You will learn about applying and storing milk paint, and oil finishing, too.
Along the way Pen will take on participants’ questions about traditional finishes, lime, and whatever you'd like to know more about!
Bring freshly made greenwood items to try it out on...
Jögge Sundqvist — Two Grips That Will Change Your Life: Crossed-Thumbs and Can Opener
June 08, 2018
Get deeper insight into the two most advanced carving grips. Mastery develops from understanding both the ergonomics of the grip and the cutting properties of the knife. And of course, a lot of practice.
Pete Galbert — Hone Your Drawknife Skills
June 08, 2018
The drawknife is capable of tasks from roughing stock to finishing cuts, leaving a glassy smooth surface. Understanding the geometry and maintenance of this tool is essential to realizing it's potential. In this session, we will cover the drawknife and it's capabilities, from sharpening to finding the best configurations for shaving and carving wood. In the process, we'll discover why the drawknife is essential equipment.
Session 3
Saturday morning (June 9)
JoJo Wood — Facets
June 09, 2018
A look at how we can use our tool marks to embellish our spoons. We will cover a selection of different techniques to create different finishes on different parts of spoons. Suitable for the more confident carver. Bring some roughly axed-out blanks, a knife and a spoon knife.
Jögge Sundqvist — Two Grips That Will Change Your Life: Crossed-Thumbs and Can Opener
June 09, 2018
Get deeper insight into the two most advanced carving grips. Mastery develops from understanding both the ergonomics of the grip and the cutting properties of the knife. And of course, a lot of practice.
Jane Mickelborough — Fan birds
June 09, 2018
Learn to make these traditional and delightful wooden birds.
Starting with a small billet of wood, we will shape the outline of the feathers and the body of the bird, with the hinge in between. Then comes riving the feathers, which is always an ‘interesting' skill to learn - doesn’t always work first time!! Then, the pure magic of opening-out the feathers of your first fan-bird!
Bring a sloyd knife (and a small saw if you have one); all other tools provided.
Robin Wood — Axe work for beginners and beyond
June 09, 2018
We all know how to chop wood with a hatchet - you hold it by the handle and swing it. Not so fast - if you’re new to spoon carving, or need a refresher on hatchet/axe technique, Robin Wood will lead this class on hewing spoon blanks from freshly-cut wood. Safe and efficient use of the hatchet; covering postures, grips, and a logical sequence of cuts will help lead the students toward confident shaping with the hatchet. Come see just how far things can go with a sharp, well-designed hatchet. Robin has worked green wood for decades, and for the past 6 years with JoJo Wood has worked as half of the father/daughter company Wood Tools, designing and making tools for spoon carving.
Barn Carder — Teaching others to carve
June 09, 2018
Part of a spoon group? Thinking you'd like to start one in your community? Barn's been thinking about effective ways of sharing both the techniques and love of spoon-carving, and he's ready to pass those tips on, in a hands-on session that will doubtless hone your skills along the way.
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Suitable for intermediate and advanced carvers.
Session 4
Saturday afternoon (June 9)
Pen Austin — Make milk paint
June 09, 2018
Curious about making your own permeable finishes for your woodwork? Pen Austin will lead you, hands-on, through making milk paint (yes: starting from milk), including slaking lime and introducing pigments. You will learn about applying and storing milk paint, and oil finishing, too.
Along the way Pen will take on participants’ questions about traditional finishes, lime, and whatever you'd like to know more about!
Bring freshly made greenwood items to try it out on...
Tim Manney — Tune that axe or hatchet
June 09, 2018
Bring your favorite chopping tool and let Tim Manney help you give it a thorough going-over. This is your one chance during the 2018 Fest to learn grinder technique, as well as Tim’s signature hand-sharpening method. This intensive is limited to six participants.
Barn Carder — Get crank in your spoon
June 09, 2018
"Crank" may be described as, "the most important dimension within a spoon." This workshop is a fantastic opportunity to practice and try out all sorts of crankiness. Barn will set you free with demonstrations and discussion on form and how to achieve it, and you'll get to embrace the hypnotic voodoo rhythm of the Axe and Knife.
Darrick Sanderson — Turning, Part 1
June 09, 2018
This is a two-session, hands-on bowl-turning workshop, using pole-lathes. Registering here signs you up for both Session 4 and 5, i.e., for both Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. Maximum 8 participants. Suitable for any level. All tools and materials supplied.
Pete Galbert — Hone Your Drawknife Skills
June 09, 2018
The drawknife is capable of tasks from roughing stock to finishing cuts, leaving a glassy smooth surface. Understanding the geometry and maintenance of this tool is essential to realizing it's potential. In this session, we will cover the drawknife and it's capabilities, from sharpening to finding the best configurations for shaving and carving wood. In the process, we'll discover why the drawknife is essential equipment.
Session 5
Sunday morning (June 10)
Dave Fisher — Penknife lettering
June 10, 2018
Dave makes it all sound real easy: "We will talk a bit about design and technique, practice some movements on some scrap, then lay out a text design, either on a provided board or a spoon or other project they've already made, and carve the letters."
Bring a relatively fine carving knife, even the ubiquitous Frost #120, and a spoon or something to carve on, if you like. (Otherwise we'll have some practice tablets.)
Jane Mickelborough — Traditional Breton wax inlay decoration
June 10, 2018
Breton decorated spoons were often elaborately coloured, by using a hard wax inlay applied to chip-carving. The hardness of the traditional boxwood stock allowed for very crisp decoration. In this workshop, Jane will lead students in considering the possibilities of traditional patterns and more modern designs. Students will then use either prepared boxwood or some almost-as-hard local material to explore chip carving and wax inlay techniques.
Darrick Sanderson —Turning, Part 2
June 10, 2018
This is a two-session, hands-on bowl-turning workshop, using pole-lathes. Registering here signs you up for both Session 4 and 5, i.e., for both Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. Maximum 8 participants. Suitable for all levels. All materials and tools provided.