Dates: Tuesdays & Thursdays, May 6-15 (4 meetings)

Hours: 6:00 - 9:30 pm

Instructor: Kevin Hopkins CF '18

Teaching Assistant: Stephen Thrasher

Interested in woodworking and looking for a way to get started? This introductory course is designed to give beginner students an overview of shop safety as well as some of the most common machines and hand tools used in woodworking. We work towards the completion of a small project while building basic skills and getting comfortable with machinery and working at the bench. This class is geared toward beginners looking to get a peek into woodworking. For more in-depth skill-building, check out our Fundamentals of Fine Woodworking and Fundamentals of Machine Woodworking classes. Many students choose to take Woodworking 101 before a Fundamentals class, but it is not required. 

Tools & Supplies: All tools and supplies are provided for this class.

Attire: This is a general list of how to dress for the shop environment, please contact ce@nbss.edu if you have any questions.

• Closed-toe, comfortable, and protective footwear (sneakers or boots)
• No loose clothing
• Long pants suggested
• No loose jewelry
• Long hair must be tied back

Prerequisite: None

Dates: Saturday, May 10th & Sunday, May 11th (2 meetings)

Hours: 8:30 am - 4:00 pm

Instructor: Fionnuala Hart-Gerrity BB '11

Inspired by Cosway style bindings of the early 20th century, make a cloth-covered case bound book with images inset into the cover under glass. We’ll look at images of historical examples, make a test plaquette to learn the process, and then complete a book with a small image or artwork of your choice.

Tools & Supplies: *A glass covering will be provided to students for their model, and if students would like any additional glass coverings, the instructor will have extras available to purchase for $10 each. The instructor accepts cash, checks, Venmo, PayPal, and credit cards via Square. All other tools and supplies are provided for this class.

Prerequisite: Fundamentals of Bookbinding I, Fundamentals of Bookbinding II, or equivalent experience with basic case binding. If you have questions about your experience, please contact ce@nbss.edu. 

Date: Saturday, May 10th

Hours: 8:30 am - 4:30 pm

Instructor: Willow Coronella JM '20

Learn the basics of jewelry making and get to know your way around the bench. Move through a series of beginner-level projects to gain an understanding of basic fabrication and insight into more complex techniques.

Tools & Supplies: All tools and supplies are provided for this class. 

Attire: This is a general list of how to dress for the shop environment, please contact ce@nbss.edu if you have any questions. 

• Closed-toe, comfortable, and protective footwear (sneakers or boots     
• No loose clothing
• Long pants suggested
• No loose jewelry
• Long hair must be tied back

Prerequisite: None

Dates: Saturday, May 10th & Sunday, May 11th (2 meetings)

Hours: 9:00 am - 4:00 pm

Instructor: Eric Goodson

Come learn to turn wooden bowls on a foot-powered pole lathe.  For a thousand years, people turned all sorts of bowls, cups, and chair parts on these simple, hand-built machines.  This two-day class will teach students how to ax bowl blanks from a freshly felled log, tune a pole lathe for optimal performance, and use simple hook tools to create one or two bowls.  Students will also learn how to sharpen hook tools, how to dry and finish their bowls, and the basics of how they might build a lathe of their own.  Axing bowl blanks and turning on a pole lathe require a certain amount of strength, stamina, and coordination, so students should be prepared for a physically demanding class.*This class will take place indoors.

Tools & Supplies: All tools and supplies are provided for this class.

Attire: This is a general list of how to dress for the shop environment, please contact ce@nbss.edu if you have any questions. 

• Closed-toe, comfortable, and protective footwear (sneakers or boots)
• No loose clothing
• Long pants suggested
• No loose jewelry
• Long hair must be tied back

Prerequisite: None, some experience with turning or carving is helpful. 

Dates: Saturday, May 17th & Sunday, May 18th (2 meetings)

Hours: 8:30 am - 4:30 pm

Instructor: Rick Angus

In this class students will get a quick refresher in fundamental chisel and gouge spindle-cutting techniques and developing an eye for making the shape desired. Using these techniques, turners cut wood efficiently and leave a smooth accurate surface in their work.

Students will learn how to use the bevel gracefully to guide the knife edge along a smooth curve and why this technique allows such smooth tool control.  Additionally, they will learn to cut a hollow in end-grain using both gouge and scraper.

Students will begin by rough cutting a blank to a cylinder and fitting a tenon to one end; the piece is then mounted in a chuck.  Next, they will shape the exterior of the bowl of the goblet with a spindle gouge. Using the outside shape as a guide, students will remove wood from the bowl with end-grain hollowing cuts using gouges and scrapers.  This is sanded and oiled and now is complete.

Students will then move to shaping the stem of the goblet.  Using the fundamental techniques of spindle turning with roughing gouge, spindle gouge, and chisel (optional), they will cut the stem spindle and shape the base. 

Students will finish with an undercut parting technique, and the goblet pops off the lathe into your hand. 

Tools & Supplies: All tools and supplies are provided for this class.

Attire: This is a general list of how to dress for the shop environment, please contact ce@nbss.edu if you have any questions. 

• Closed-toe, comfortable, and protective footwear (sneakers or boots)
• No loose clothing
• Long pants suggested
• No loose jewelry
• Long hair must be tied back

Prerequisite: Fundamental Techniques in Spindle Turning or equivalent experience (at instructor's discretion). If you have questions about prerequisite requirements, please email ce@nbss.edu.

Dates: Saturday, May 17th & Sunday, May 18th (2 meetings)

Hours: 8:30 am - 4:30 pm

Instructor: Charles Thompson

In this class, each student will develop their own vocabulary of carved patterns. We’ll ask how to capture shadow, how to reinterpret historic (or even prehistoric) patterns, how and where to use comfortable shapes and lines, and how to compile and arrange decorative elements within the form. Using an assortment of gouges, we’ll spend time learning tool strokes and carving motifs, gaining inspiration from historic furniture, architectural carving, folk art, tattoos, plants, flowers, scaled animals, and so on.

Tools & Supplies: All tools and supplies are provided for this class.

Attire: This is a general list of how to dress for the shop environment, please contact ce@nbss.edu if you have any questions. 

• Closed-toe, comfortable, and protective footwear (sneakers or boots)
• No loose clothing
• Long pants suggested
• No loose jewelry
• Long hair must be tied back 

Prerequisite: None

Dates: Saturday, May 24th & Sunday, May 25th (2 meetings)

Hours: 9:00 am - 4:30 pm

Instructor: Eric Goodson

Making locking lidded boxes is a wonderful introduction to the world of green wood turning. Wood shrinks as it dries, but it does not shrink equally in all directions. This project takes advantage of this variation to create a small box where the lid clamps shut when twisted onto the base. This course is designed for students with a basic understanding of side-grain bowl turning who would like a challenge. The instructor will discuss the history of these Scandinavian boxes, the grain orientation necessary to create the piece, and the various steps and techniques in turning their boxes. Special attention will be paid to ways of measuring diameter and profile to ensure that the lid properly fits the base, how to turn with the lathe running in reverse, and how to handle a slöjd knife safely and efficiently to carve the locking mechanism.  Each student will create one box.

Tools & Supplies: All tools and supplies are provided for this class.

Additional Supply Costs: There is an additional $15 materials fee due to the instructor on the first day of class. The instructor accepts cash, checks, credit, or Venmo. 

Prerequisite: Students should have some prior experience with bowl turning. If you have questions about your experience, please contact ce@nbss.edu. 

Dates: Sundays, June 1-29 (5 meetings)

Hours: 8:30 am - 4:30 pm

Instructor: Jennifer Pellecchia BB '19

This course will focus on hardcover structures. Students will continue with rounded back case bindings and end the course with a book with words. Throughout the course, students will fine-tune their skills through repetition and develop a focus on details such as endpapers structures and headband variations. Topics of discussion will include an overview of bindery equipment such as stamping on the Kwikprint and trimming with the plough.

Tools & Supplies: Please bring a notebook and a pencil. All other tools and supplies are provided for this class.

Prerequisite: Fundamentals of Bookbinding I or equivalent experience. If you have questions about your experience, please contact ce@nbss.edu.