Courses

This course offers a full immersion into the signature tree of the boreal forest: the white birch. The objects that can be made using all parts of this tree are many. Using a slojd knife, students will carve the freshly harvested green wood into butter spreaders, cheese boards, coats hooks…

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 three-day exploration of the principles of making wooden machines and the simple mechanisms that make things move. Beginning with the design process,…

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,…

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…

“Spoons are the best craft to use,” says Swedish green woodworker Niklas Karlsson. “You will never buy a machine-made spoon that is as good as a handmade one.” Delve into the essence of craft by carving spoons and telling stories with Niklas Karlsson, Featured International Guest from Undersvik, Sweden during…

The timeless beat of the drum stems back to a time when we made our own music literally from the ground up. Before drum shops and before Putumayo, materials were hand-harvested from the forest to create wonderful sounds and were used to find rhythm in the world. In this course…

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…

Carving wooden spoons is an old folk tradition in Scandinavia, where carvers crafted spoons for home use, seasonal income and to give 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…