Learn to weave on a floor loom. Â With instruction and hands on experience, you will perform each step of the process - winding a warp, dressing a loom, and weaving a cotton towel to take home and use for years to come.
Learn to weave on a floor loom. Â With instruction and hands on experience, you will perform each step of the process - winding a warp, dressing a loom, and weaving a cotton towel to take home and use for years to come.
Learn to weave on a floor loom. Â With instruction and hands on experience, you will perform each step of the process - winding a warp, dressing a loom, and weaving a cotton towel to take home and use for years to come.
If you've taken Taste of the Forge or another basic blacksmithing class at AFS, then you're ready for Taste of the Forge II! This class, taught by blacksmith Steve Gurzler, builds on the students' prior experience to bring them to the next level, pursuing more advanced skills. Like in Taste of the Forge, we will follow the Artist Blacksmiths Association of North America (ABANA) curriculum in a small class format. Students can expect to create 2 or more useful or decorative objects over the course of 3 weekday evenings.
Instructor Matthew Parkinson was the first winner of History Channel’s Forged in Fire. You will forge and finish one antler-handled hunting knife with a 4-inch to 6-inch blade. Topics will include working with high-carbon steel, knife design, forging a blade to shape, grinding, finishing, heat treating, fitting a guard, and attaching a handle. This is an introductory class, but some experience is helpful. Students will also cut out, mold, stitch, dye and finish a leather sheath.
In this class students will create a beautiful copper bowl from a 12" x 12" sheet of 16-gauge copper. Students will pound and hand tool the sheet into an 9" diameter, approx. 2" deep bowl. Students will also make a decorative vine with leaves from copper that will be attached to the rim of the bowl. Some soldering will be involved in this
Learn to weave on a floor loom. Â With instruction and hands on experience, you will perform each step of the process - winding a warp, dressing a loom, and weaving a cotton towel to take home and use for years to come.
These projects: the Mini Penobscot and Mini Canoe are constructed with birch bark similar to those made years ago by New England Algonquian and Penobscot Natives. Much smaller in size and to be respectful some changes have been made. Needle skills are helpful as these are stitched with waxed linen and embellished with pine needles.
Instructor Matthew Parkinson was the first winner of History Channel’s Forged in Fire. You will forge and finish one antler-handled hunting knife with a 4-inch to 6-inch blade. Topics will include working with high-carbon steel, knife design, forging a blade to shape, grinding, finishing, heat treating, fitting a guard, and attaching a handle. This is an introductory class, but some experience is helpful. Students will also cut out, mold, stitch, dye and finish a leather sheath.
Students will learn the basics of making a Nantucket basket using natural cane spokes and weavers. Woven on a class mold, students will insert the spokes into a walnut base. Weaving will be done in a continuous fashion up to the top This basket has a beautiful matching walnut rim to finish it off. This basket is appropriate for basket weavers of all levels. Dimensions: 8 ½" wide x 3 ½" high.
Kumiko is the delicate, geometric latticework that is traditionally found in shoji screens. It originated in Japan during the Asuka era (600 - 700 AD). The patterns are made by carefully cutting bevels and fitting small strips of wood together without the need for glue. There are hundreds of designs that range from simple and rectangular to very complex and intricate. In this class you will learn how to make the asanoha pattern. Translated to "hemp leaf," asanoha is the most popular pattern in Japan and is connected to the idea of growth. You will start with basswood strips and go through the process of cutting accurate half lap joints to make a grid. Then, use Kumiko jigs to cut bevels and assemble the asanoha pattern.
No weaving experience is necessary! The looms are dressed and ready to go, all you need to do is bring your creative spirit and to leave with a finished one-of-a-kind rug. Students will have a choice of making a traditional Rag Rug using recycled fabric strips or making a Sock Rug using remnants from a sock factory. Colors and choices of fabric and remnants vary from class to class depending on availability. The rugs are 24" wide, and up to 45" long.
