Courses

Pick up your hammer! This course is designed for students with little or no building experience who want to build a tiny home, small cabin, or workshop. The techniques for building a small frame building are not only for the skilled carpenter; nearly anyone can come away from this course…

There’s that old saying about teaching a man to fish, but this course lets students go a step beyond fishing to building their own fishing rods. We’re not talking sapling, string, and safety pin; under the guidance of professional rod builder Kris Kristufek, students will build a technically perfect spin…

Create for yourself a comfortable living space: a spare bedroom, office, studio, sauna, or whatever else you can dream up. The 18-foot yurt is an excellent shelter option that provides comfortable living arrangements for all four seasons. Working with skilled yurt builders, you’ll build a simple yurt, complete with a…

Considering when and where to start on that big cabinet project you want to build and install?  Start here.  Before you jump into a big project, learn the basic techniques, tools and equipment used by both traditional and contemporary cabinet makers.  As a class project, each student builds a pine…

Peter Follansbee has specialized for 25 years in making reproductions of 17th-century style oak furniture, based on originals from both England and New England. Most of this furniture features extensive carved decoration. This 3-day class will explore the carved decoration in great detail. Using just a few carving gouges, compass…

Weathered lines on faces can tell a thousand stories...and present a challenge to any woodcarver. Face up to any fears you may have and spend two days carving eyes, ears, noses, mouths and beards with Bruce Futterer. Focusing especially on fishermans’ faces, Bruce will have a number of projects students…

Create beautiful and useful things for your kitchen using simple hand tools and native woods. Participants in this course will be introduced to the Swedish traditions of ‘köksredskap,' or the process of carving functional utensils, including butterknives, small spoons or bread boards. Students will start by splitting a green log,…

With more than just aesthetic appeal, cedar-strip boats are known for being lightweight, strong, and quick to build. Gain the know-how and confidence to complete a boat project in your own backyard through seven days of hands-on instruction building a tandem canoe with other students. Techniques involve setting up the…

Enjoy the contrast of light and dark wooden strips, the quiet lapping of water on wood and the pride of craftsmanship that stems from building your own cedar-strip boat. From start to finish, cut thin cedar planks and learn to assemble an appealing pattern for your canoe. Students may choose…

A chainsaw is a powerful and efficient tool that requires a specific set of skills and experience to safely operate and maintain, even if those skills are used only on an occasional weekend at the cabin. This course will teach students to recognize and to avoid the hazards that surround…

Autumn brings a riot of color to the landscape of the North Shore. This workshop is your opportunity to capture a bit of the season with beads. Each participant will bring an autumn image to inspire their design. From your image you will create a unique “bead painting” embroidered on…

Spend a wonderful evening in the kitchen as you learn new cooking skills and share great culinary fun with other students who love to cook. In this hands-on cooking class, you’ll prepare and enjoy a delicious summer evening meal, including wine pairings and craft brews. Take home a recipe packet featuring…

Popularized today by many historical reenactors of the fur trade era, the throwing axe is a weapon deeply embedded in North American history. Akin to the hatchet, it offers the ability to split and chop wood but is also designed to be used as a hand-to-hand or throwing weapon. The…

Great fabric lurks in closets, trunks, attics, and thrift shops: learn how to turn garments you don’t wear into a garment you will wear with the help of a pair of scissors, a sewing machine and some creative inclinations. Dig out your mother's wool skirt or the kilt you found…

Cruck building is a Medieval English timber framing method using pairs of large, curved timbers (cruck blades) that are joined at their apex to function as both post and principal rafter. The resulting Gothic arch creates a dramatic open hall space that is both structurally stable and visually appealing. Working…