I am currently on my “east coast” teaching tour. I flew into Boston last week and taught 4 people how to carve a Newport flame finial and also an acanthus leaf on a turned post. I call them the “Boston Gang” – a great group of guys. I got to stay in a beautiful older home in Newburyport and was well taken care of (spoiled actually). As you can see, they did beautiful carvings (and cool clothing!)
Then on Saturday three of the “Boston Gang” and I drove to Bob Van Dyke’s Connecticut Valley School of Woodworking to participate in the SAPFM New England chapter meeting. I did a demonstration on how to carve various types of molding – egg and dart, bead molding, rope molding, and acanthus leaf molding. It was a great turn-out with over 100 people coming. Don Williams and Brock Jobe did fabulous presentations. These are two people who are SO knowledgable about the history and preservation techniques – it really is fascinating.
After the SAPFM meeting, I taught a very interesting 2 day class at the school where everyone brought in something completely different to work on. It was fascinating trying to adjust from one bench to another and keep track of what people were working on and readjust my thinking each time. There were some really challenging projects that people chose also.
I am now in Rockville, MD taking a well-needed day off. Tomorrow I will be teaching a beginner class at The Woodworkers Club here in Rockville. It is a new school and has a great set-up. I am sure they will be very successful. After the class tomorrow, I will be doing a demo for the turners club on carving designs on turnings. Then I’ll be teaching another beginner class for a day, and then a 2 day advanced class.
I got to experience some snow today – the Washington DC megastorm that wasn’t. I got my taste of snow, and will be happy to see sunny Charleston again.
And then I head back home. I will have been gone nearly 2 weeks, and I’m sure I will be ready to settle in again for a while. I’ll need a month vacation after this!