Anyone who has thought about going, don't think, just go. The wife and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The accommodations were not fancy, but clean and just right, food for the most part was awesome, couple things they served I didn't care for. The staff is great, it was just a great experience all together and we're planning on returning. I really want to take a blacksmithing class and then a knife making class. The new blacksmith shop will be awesome once finished.
I took the bowl turning class and the wife took a writing class. You start off the day at morning song, which is story time, singing, etc, lots of fun. Breakfast, then off to your classes. Lunch, then classes, before dinner they have some type of demo or activity, and usually something after dinner like dancing, singing, demos, etc. (I missed most of these because the turning instructor opened the studio after dinner so guess where I was)
About my class, the only disappointment was that I thought it was going to be a little more advanced, I was the only one with any experience. Worked out well though, because I got to help and chat more with the instructor. Lane Phillips from Utah was our instructor, he was a bit odd, but an awesome teacher. I really enjoyed learning from him. I was helping cut logs into blanks, so got a lot of insight into choosing wood, spalting and what caused it, etc. Really was an enjoyable experience. They came around Thursday and said whatever we didn't use was going to be fire wood, so Friday morning I finished cutting up the ambrosia maple log we had been using into blanks and every spare spot in the wife's Mustang was filled with it.
I'm not real good at write ups so I'll let you browse through the few pictures I took and ask questions.
http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/showgallery.php?cat=1795
I took the bowl turning class and the wife took a writing class. You start off the day at morning song, which is story time, singing, etc, lots of fun. Breakfast, then off to your classes. Lunch, then classes, before dinner they have some type of demo or activity, and usually something after dinner like dancing, singing, demos, etc. (I missed most of these because the turning instructor opened the studio after dinner so guess where I was)
About my class, the only disappointment was that I thought it was going to be a little more advanced, I was the only one with any experience. Worked out well though, because I got to help and chat more with the instructor. Lane Phillips from Utah was our instructor, he was a bit odd, but an awesome teacher. I really enjoyed learning from him. I was helping cut logs into blanks, so got a lot of insight into choosing wood, spalting and what caused it, etc. Really was an enjoyable experience. They came around Thursday and said whatever we didn't use was going to be fire wood, so Friday morning I finished cutting up the ambrosia maple log we had been using into blanks and every spare spot in the wife's Mustang was filled with it.
I'm not real good at write ups so I'll let you browse through the few pictures I took and ask questions.
http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/showgallery.php?cat=1795
