Limited Space In Each Workshop - First Come, First Served
Pre-registration required
We are very family friendly and all ages are encouraged to come. Kid workshops are geared to 6-12 year olds (or anyone who is a child at heart). The rest of the workshops are for adults and interested teens.
After registering please e-mail your workshop choices to 68pennyg@gmail.com.
Check the schedule to make sure your choices do not overlap.
Most of the materials for these workshops are gathered from the land by the instructors. This takes time, skill, and thought to do responsibly. Since each project takes a different amount of effort to find and prepare materials, each one has a different materials fee, payable directly to the instructor at the start of each workshop. It is listed below the workshop description.
2022 Workshops
Friday Afternoon
Living Materials
with multiple instructors
Friday afternoon
Come join us in exploring healthy relationships with the land.
One of the reasons we celebrate everyday handcrafts is the connections these traditions create with the world around us. These practices remind us that like a black bear carves her den and a vireo weaves her nest, we too can interact with the world in a way that deepens relationships with each species, each mineral, each element that we interact with as we craft lives for ourselves, our families, and our communities.
This year, on Friday afternoon, we will shift our attention to this aspect of sloyd. Due to time constraints, most of the materials for workshops are harvested and prepared by instructors ahead of time. However, for most of us, this gathering and processing is one of the richest aspects of our craft practice: going out among the neighbors who make up our ecosystems and remembering what it means to create, maintain and deepen those relationships.
1-3 Living Materials and Kid Games workshops start - meet at the pizza oven.
3-4 Visit instructors as a group for demonstrations of how they process materials.
4-5:30 Some instructors will have hands-on opportunities to process materials
6 - Dinner
Kid Games
with Quincy
Friday afternoon
Fun and games while parents attend the Living Materials workshop or set up camp.
No material fee
Saturday Morning
(Some extend into the afternoon)
Choose Your Own Adventure Black Ash Basket
with Penny FULL
Saturday morning and afternoon
This is a two-part workshop that requires both blocks to finish.
Choose Your Own Adventure Black Ash Basket
Weave a 9"x4", 8" tall basket and in the process learn one of the oldest crafts in human history. For thousands of years baskets served as indispensable objects in every culture. Carry on the tradition and take home a beautiful, durable and useful basket crafted from local, responsibly harvested, hand pounded black ash splints. Depending on the way it is strapped, this versatile basket can ride on your hip, your handle bars or your wall.
Materials fee: $35
The Wooden Spoon: Carving with Axe & Knife
with Sean FULL
Saturday morning and afternoon
This is a two-part workshop that will require you to attend both blocks.
This workshop will provide you with the skills to craft your own cooking & eating utensils, from start to finish. We will begin with wood selection and axe work, learning how to work with the grain to efficiently split out stock material before proceeding to rough shape our spoons with axe and saw. Along the way we will discuss design layout and drawing to help plan out our shaping. We will learn proper axe safety measures and chopping technique to take the logs from their “raw” form to the stage where knifework becomes more viable.
In the second half of the course we will swap out our toolset for carving knives to further refine our roughly shaped spoons into objects of beauty and utility. Once again, proper safety through knife control and technique will be the focus of this segment, learning to use straight knives to shape the outside curves of the spoon and hook knives to hollow out the bowl. We’ll touch on different decoration techniques and how to finish your spoons as we approach the finish line- participants will complete the class with a functional spoon and all the skills necessary to carve more!
No materials fee
Wet Felted Bags FULL
with Prin
Saturday morning and afternoon
This is a two-part workshop that will require you to attend both blocks.
Wet felting is a magical way to turn loose wool fibers into fabric without spinning, knitting or weaving. It is a method employed in everything from making hats, slippers and warm boots to the felt homes of Central Asia. This ancient technique differs from “needle felting” and some other felting techniques in that we rely only on the nature of the fibers, a little soap & water and some elbow grease to make a beautiful rugged fabric.
We’ll use this skill to make a shoulder bag that we’ll stitch together with a leather or canvas strap (depending on participants preferences). We’ll discuss other felting methods and traditions of the craft while we work on our projects. Note that feltmaking requires physical effort at times, so come prepared to keep moving.
Materials Fee: $25
Shrink Pots FULL
with Lucian
Saturday morning
This is a very old method of making containers. The center is carved out of a green piece of wood, making a tube. Then a groove is made around the inside, near the bottom and a dry bottom board is carved to fit loosely in the groove. When the green wood dries and shrinks you have a container that can be used for storing dry goods. We will carve pots out of some local wood. All materials and tools will be provided but if you have a carving knife or spoon knife you like, bring them.
Material fee $10
Butter Knives and Wooden Hooks:
Beginning Green Wood Carving
with André
Saturday morning
Enjoy a very basic hands-on introduction to green wood carving. We will be going over safely using a hatchet, straight knife, hand drill, and a few other simple tools, and you will endeavor to make a butter knife and a wooden hook to hang your things on. We will also explore some simple carving decoration/embellishment tips to decorate your butter knife and wooden hook.
Materials Fee: $10
Axe Skills
With Tessa
Saturday morning
Get your axe skills on! In this workshop we'll look at some different kinds of chopping and splitting tools and learn to use them safely. We'll cover tree selection and safe felling practices, and together practice limbing, bucking and splitting. We'll also learn about tool maintenance and sharpening. There will be a few tools available to take turns learning with. If you have a beloved axe, hatchet or maul feel free to bring it!
No materials fee
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Pine Bark Baskets for Kids
with Justin
Saturday morning
Learn about the amazing White Pine tree, and explore one of its many gifts - its bark. Students will peel pine bark from their own section of a limb, and then craft that bark into a functional basket. For children 6 and younger, please have an adult helper.
No materials fees
Saturday Afternoon
(Ash Baskets, Wooden Spoons and Felted Bags continue)
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Block Printing
with Erok FULL
Saturday afternoon
Want to make an impression? Try Block Printing! Sure to bring relief! Ok, bad printing puns aside, in this workshop we will cover the basics of block printing from idea to ink. We'll cover materials, including wood, linoleum and masonite, as well as tools and techniques. And if all goes well, we'll each leave with an original print of our own making and design!
Materials Fee: $5-10 sliding scale
Burl Bowl Carving FULL
with Luke
Saturday afternoon
Carve a one of a kind bowl from a soft wood branch harvested spruce burl using various gouges and hook knives.
Materials Fee: $10
Stories and Games
with Ross
Saturday afternoon
We'll listen to folk tales and survival stories, spin yarns that tangle your brains and tickle your toes. We'll collaborate and vegetate in a narrative world where anything goes. We'll also learn to play the Norse board game Hnefatafl (A.K.A. Viking Chess). Then we can run and hide and sneak until our legs give out.
No materials fees
Learning the Land
With Jonathan
Saturday afternoon
Our crafts are based on our connection to the wild world around us, but that's only half the story—to fully be present on the land, we've got to get to know our wild neighbors and learn the landscape. Join Jonathan Shapiro of Fox Paw School as we explore the varied habitats around the Sloyd Gathering and learn about who lives there and how they earn their living. We'll dig into whatever sparks our curiosity including trees, plants, wildlife tracking, bird behavior, and the wind and clouds.
No materials fee
Sunday Morning
From Stones, to Pigments, to Paints
Sunday morning
Learn to make paint from stones! We will hunt and gather rocks from the landscape and grind them into powder. From there we process and refine the rock powder into a fine pigment and transform it into paint. We will also approach the art of making paintbrushes from a variety of angles, using available natural materials found on the living landscape.
Materials fee: sliding scale $5-10
Whisk Brooms FULL
with Mary
Sunday morning
Throughout history, folks of different cultures have crafted brooms from natural materials. In this whisk broom workshop, we’ll dip into the basics of broom making, drawing on traditional Shaker techniques. We’ll cover knots, materials and tools specific to the craft, while tying your own pair of whisks - a plaited handle whisk broom, and the curvaceous turkey wing.
Materials Fee: $40
Knife Handles
with Lucian FULL
Sunday morning
In this workshop we will burn wood handles onto blades and shape them to fit your hand. A choice of local hardwoods will be available. You can bring your own blade (must have a rat-tail tang) or there will be blades available to buy. All tools will be provided but if you have a whittling knife or rasp you like, bring it.
Material Fee: $10
A variety of hand forged blades will be available for $30 each. Some will be for general use and some will have a Scandinavian grind for whittling.
Rope making
with Luke
Sunday morning
Twist up a long durable tree fiber rope in this participatory demonstration. Also learn plant fiber cordage basics and make your own bracelet with a tree bead to take home.
Materials Fee: $5
Brain Tanning Muskrat Hides! FULL
with Justin
Sunday morning
Learn all about brain tanning animal hides to transform animal skin into beautiful finished products. Students will work with Muskrat hides, and experience the fur on tanning process. Soap and oil will be used as a brain substitute, and each student will have the opportunity to walk away with their own beautiful tanned muskrat hide.
Materials fee $10
Wild Mushrooms: Ecology, ID, and uses of Fungi
with Dave
Sunday morning
In this workshop we’ll explore the local species of fungi and discuss their unique biological roles. We’ll let the species guide us as we familiarize ourselves with and practice proper Field Identification techniques.
Our time together will include fundamental aspects of mushroom/fungal understanding such as Fungal Ecology, Field Identification, Toxicity & Poisonings, Mushrooms as Food & Medicine(Myco-Medicinals), Cultural History & Uses of Fungi, as well as Collection Protocol and Harvesting Ethics.
No material fee
Wild Adventures, Games and Singing
with Erok
Sunday morning
Join up for a wild romp in the forest exploring streams and animal trails as we hide and seek and play! Together we'll make a fire, share stories, songs and have fun!
No materials fees
Morning Walks
Morning Walks
Saturday and Sunday mornings
7AM - meet at the pizza oven
Join us for an hour of wandering through the farm and forest. We will talk about the trees, plants, habitat, and animal sign we encounter, and listen to what the birds have to say. All participants welcome -- kids under 10 with a parent/guardian, please.
No need to sign up ahead for these.