Courses

Cranks wind, gears turn, dragons chomp and birds fly. Welcome to the whimsical world of automata: simple wooden machines that delight and amaze. Join Cecilia Schiller for a four-day exploration of the art of making wooden machines and the mechanisms that make things move. Starting with the design process in…

Make the wood chips fly!  This course is for students ready to stand at the chopping block and learn to use classic wooden bowl-carving hand tools – the adze, axe, gouge and push knife.  During this class, topics including selection of wood stock, elements of bowl design, strategies for hand-hewing,…

Make your mark at North House by carving signs for campus! Put your carving skills to good use or learn the basics of incise carving – letters, numbers and other forms – while creating unique signs that will direct students and visitors at North House. A useful course for woodworkers…

Woodenware has been embellished since Ancient Egypt: by adding color, pattern and texture, a finished piece reflect the taste, culture and interests of you, the maker. We will look to natural world for inspiration and also learn how to navigate the extensive collections of folk art available in digital archives…

The spoon is in the eye of the beholder. A crooked branch can become a perfect ladle; a slight bend makes a lovely eating spoon. Enjoy three days of handwork in this greenwood carving class focused on ladles and spoons. Working with birch, you’ll use simple hand tools and carving…

Personalize any place by creating a hand-carved wooden sign. Woodcarver Jock Holmen will teach the entire sign-making process, from proper design to layout, letter and incise carving, painting and finishing options while students work on a personal project. Whether it will hang at the cabin, the garden, a business or…

Wagatabon is a type of wooden tray that used to be made by roof shingle makers in Wagatani village, Ishikawa, the snowy area of Japan. It is said that the trays were made there since early 17th century. The makers used to cleave green chestnut log to produce shingles, and…

The shrink box is a wooden container that relies on a simple trick: Freshly cut (green) wood and dry wood behave differently. The body of the vessel is made from green wood that changes in size as it dries (putting the “shrink” in shrink box). The bottom of the vessel…

The kuksa is an old-style wooden cup made to travel far and wide and be at the ready, whether the beverage of choice is water from a Boundary Waters lake, coffee of any quality, or even a splash of something stronger (so we’ve been told). Over three days, students will…

Another appropriate name for this course could simply be: “Let’s Keep Carving!”  It is an inspiring immersion for students with prior carving experience, including seasoned figure carvers, as well as new-to-carving folks who have just completed the three-day Scandinavian Style Figure Carving course. Need some inspiration or a few new…

This course provides beginning carvers with the opportunity to carve several figures in the Scandinavian flat-plane style. Beginning with tool sharpening, the course provides hands-on carving experience as you complete a figure in step-by-step fashion. You will then paint the figures and apply a final oil finish. After this initial…

Meet Jock Holmen, the “Norwegian Termite:” when it comes to carving on timbers, you can’t “stump” him. From blueberries to little people, lettering to logos, Jock can help you chisel your ideas into white pine as you design and carve decorative embellishments for your home. Choose from a variety of…

Break out the v-gouges and chisels! This tutorial format course is a great opportunity to get going on a new carving project or finish up something you’ve already started, all under the expert guidance of instructor Phil Odden. Phil specializes in Nordic-style carving and will have a variety of projects…

Carving wooden spoons is a tradition in Scandinavia, where carvers crafted spoons for home use, seasonal income and as gifts. The techniques, designs and embellishments commonly used today are deeply embedded in centuries of cultural history, but spoon carving is also a vibrant and growing craft tradition globally. World class…