Teaching at MASW Soon

Two years ago I was invited to teach at Marc Adams' school in Indianapolis.   It turned out to be a great experience for me and I got a lot of positive feedback from the students.

As I mentioned in this blog previously, I had some reservations about asking Marc to build 8 chevalets and thus limit the class size to 8 students.  I knew this would not be profitable for him and was surprised when he agreed to take a loss in order to introduce the process of French marquetry to his students.

The down side for me was transporting two 50 lb suitcases on the flight full of materials and tools for the class.  I wonder what the TSA people thought when they scanned those bags?

Now I have confirmed my flight and return to MASW next month.  I will be there for two weeks, starting Monday, August 17.  The first week will be French marquetry, Stage I, the Boulle method.  That class is full.

Over the weekend following I will offer two different classes.  Saturday, August 22, I will demonstrate methods to veneer turnings and columns, using protein glues.  Each student will be provided with materials and glue that they can take home for further practice.  Veneering columns is a valuable part of my furniture building and I have worked for years to perfect the process.  I think you will find this interesting and by adding veneering to your turned work, open up new avenues of design.  There is still room in this class.  Here is the link: Veneering a Column

Sunday, August 23, I will be teaching about geometrical marquetry, and that class is full.  I am excited to be able to show how the French were able to do amazing things with small pieces of veneer.  Also, this class will demonstrate how to make an assembly board.

Starting Monday, August 24, I will again return to the chevalet and offer a class in Stage II marquetry, the "piece by piece" method.  There are still openings in this class.  Note that the Stage I class does not require any previous experience with working on the chevalet, as you do not have to exactly follow the lines.  By contrast, Stage II requires a bit of experience as you have to accurately follow the lines when you cut for the pieces to fit.  There are many posts on this blog which explain the difference.

However, since the class is not full, I would also accept any student who wishes to start Stage I (since the first week is full), or wishes to do an exercise in Painting in Wood, since I am able to teach all these methods simultaneously.

Here is the link for that class: Piece by Piece Marquetry Class

Finally, I am very proud of the popularity of the tool, "chevalet de marqueterie."  I was the first to introduce it to the American woodworker some 15 years ago, and it has become a recognized fixture in many workshops.  To that end, MASW is offering, for the first time, a class on building your own chevalet.  Amazing!

Obviously, you need to plan for this and I believe bring your own wood.  However, it is a wonderful opportunity to use the facilities at his school (every woodworking machine ever made).

Here is the link:  Build Your Own Chevalet

Hope to see you there.