PRE FEST COURSES
Pre fest courses will run on Wednesday 6th and Thursday 7th. Courses will range from 1 to 2 days and will start from 10am each day, participants traveling long distances will be welcome to arrive the night before their course starts.
A simple vegetarian lunch will be provided during pre fest, along with plenty of tea and coffee.
Tools, lathes and other equipment will be provided during the pre fest courses, but please bring any of your own tools with you that you would like to use, and it would be useful to bring a lathe if you have access to one.
Please Note: Prefest courses do not include the price of a weekend ticket. These must be bought separately.
AMY LEAKE
Amy started green woodworking 10 years ago and is particularly inspired by Swedish and Baltic woodenware and historical ceramics.
"What continues to pull me in is the love of using and enjoying
handmade items in my everyday life, the simple pleasures of using a hand thrown mug, a turned wooden bowl and a handmade wooden spoon for my breakfast every morning makes my heart sing. These objects transmit the energy and care the maker put into them, and I feel a connection to the people who made them."
Amy's work speaks for itself and we are delighted to have her teaching with us this year!
Turning handled bowls - Thursday 7th - £120
Geoff Hannis
Discover the German technique of “Reifendrehen” where you’ll turn a ring of animals. This is a really efficient way to make lots of the same shape by turning the profile on the lathe using hook tools, and then splitting the resulting ‘donut’ up to reveal the profile.
The "Reifendrehen" technique is a traditional technique for making toys, particularly animals for a Noah’s Ark type toy. It is done in endgrain, which means that once it has been turned, the animals can be split out of the turned object on the chopblock. We’ll then carve some of our animals ready for painting once dry.
The process of shaping and hollowing the object is similar to making cups, but the blank is much larger in diameter and heavier, so this is not suitable for complete beginners. Ideally participants would have turned a few bowls, and at least one endgrain cup to get the most out of the day.
Thursday 7th - £120
SHARIF ADAMS
Sharif Adams is a professional maker of woodchips and fine curly shavings. He is particularly fond of pole lathe turned wooden bowls, plates, cups and boxes. When he is not making things he is busy teaching people how to make things. His workshop on Dartmoor is visited by people from all around the world who come to watch him work or to attend one of his courses. He is part of ‘The Dartmoor Artisan Trail’, a self-guided crafts trail which links Dartmoor's diverse artisan community and offers the public a chance to glimpse behind the workshop walls and try their hand at traditional crafts.
Sharif will be teaching a one day course focussing on locking lid boxes.
Wednesday 6th - £120
JARROD DAHL
Jarrod is a full-time craftsperson, teacher, and writer who has worked with wood professionally since 1996. Jarrod designs, makes, and sells woodenware for Woodspirit Handcraft, an online craft business he runs with his wife. They also run Woodspirit School of Traditional Craft. He specializes in turning wooden cups, handled mugs, bowls, plates, and lidded boxes, with a foot-powered pole lathe, a Japanese-style electric lathe, and a Western electric lathe. He is also an accomplished spoon carver who makes a wide variety of cooking and eating utensils. Research at archives and museums informs his designs. He teaches handcraft nationally and internationally and participates in international exchange by teaching and studying abroad, as well as training craftspeople in his own shop. Jarrod has extensive knowledge of harvesting and processing natural materials and the making and use of hand tools. He has a deep philosophical, historical and pragmatic approach to making, teaching, and advocating for handcraft. Jarrod writes a blog. He also has a forthcoming book with Lost Art Press on Pole Lathe Turning. He lives in Northern Wisconsin, USA.
Pole lathe turning clinic - 2 days - £240
ADRIAN LLOYD
Ade developed his passion for handcraft from a very young age and thrives when being able to ignite a new passion for creativity in others. After a design-based university education, Ade then spent nearly the next twenty years teaching children and adults in both formal and informal education settings, indoors and out. However, he then took the decision to pursue his craft on a full-time basis and now tries to earn a living from all things Slöjd from his farmhouse workshop in North Cumbria! He also travels to teach workshops wherever the demand arises. Ade has been carving on and off for the best part of probably thirty years and has added turning, furniture making, basket weaving and anything else green wood along the way. He also does some blacksmithing and tool making and makes all of his own bowl turning tools.
Ade will be doing a one day beginners course.
Wednsday 6th Beginners Bowl Turning - £120
MATT WHITTAKER
Matt has been working wood and metal for 20 years. The point where these two passions combine perfectly for him is in bowl turning. To be able to turn bowls of varying types, it is often desirable to be able to forge a new shaped hook to get into the nooks and crannies of your latest shape. On this half day course you will learn the techniques used in forging the hooks, go onto hardening, tempering and the sharpening of your finished tool. Matt's aim is to give you the knowledge to enable you to forge all of your own hooks in the future .
You will be using a hand powered forge running on charcoal and using recycled car springs as your material.
Matty will be running 2 full day courses.
Wednesday 6th - £130
Thursday 7th - £130
FLO HAMER
Specialising in traditional and heritage crafts, Flo works with natural materials to produce high quality work that is functional and beautiful
Her work ranges from timber framing and joinery, to carving, bowl turning and basketry. All of her work is linked by a love of making and a passion for keeping traditional crafts alive.
Flo will be teaching a one day beginners bowl turning course.
Thursday 7th - £120
NADINE GRUNDY
Nadine is a hugely knowledgable craftsperson with many years of experience. Her beautiful work has a deep connection to the land because she makes her crafts from the ground up, either growing, coppicing or foraging her own materials, scraping, splitting and processing them by hand with axes and knives and then shaping and decorating them into lovingly crafted functional items. She also is an expert in natural dyes, chip carving and decoration.
Nadine will be teaching a two day course on how to make a carved wooden eating bowl with a lid (an essential piece of kit round the fire!).
Two day course - £210
OWEN THOMAS
Owen is an internationally recognised maker and teacher who specialises in Pole Lathe turning and spoon carving.
Originally from South London, Owen now lives and works in Herefordshire. He has worked with and learned from some of the top names in the woodworking world such as Mike Abbott, Barnaby Carder and Robin Wood.
Owen has taught green woodwork for over 10 years both at his workshop and events in the UK, and also internationally. In 2022, he travelled to teach at the renowned craft school Saterglanten in Sweden where he was awarded the Sundqvist / Coperthwaite Slojd Fellowship by Jogge Sundqvist.
He also works extensively with organisations in Herefordshire to teach skills to individuals with mental health problems, neurodivergancies and learning difficulties. Here, he has developed courses to help build confidence and resilience using woodwork as a therapy.
He aims to create beautiful but functional items for people to use and to be an advocate for the further development of green woodwork and slojd.
Owen will be teaching a one day improvers course for intermediate turners, and a one day handled mug turning course for more experienced turners.
Thursday 7th - Handled Mug Turning £120
SEAN HELLMAN
We cannot recommend this course highly enough! Learning to sharpen effectively will allow you to move forward as a woodworker more than almost any other skill.
Professional woodworker, tool maker and author of Sharp ‘the bible of sharpening’, Sean’s skills have been honed by over thirty years of making, teaching, and running tool-sharpening workshops around the UK. As well as being passionate about green woodwork crafts, Sean also runs an electric workshop in Buckfastleigh, Devon.
Sharpening - Thursday 7th - £85
JO-ANN BOLTON
Come and learn the ancient skill of basketmaking. Jo has been making with willow for 25 years and will pass on all of the skills you need in order to take away a beautiful and functional basket.
Over this two day workshop you will make a traditional oval stake and strand basket using a variety of weaves from Jo's own home grown willow. There will be an option to either add 2 leather side handles, a leather shoulder strap, or you could bring your own strap if you would prefer. These will be fastened in place with copper rivets.
The workshop will extend over 2 days from 10am to 4pm
Willow basket weaving 2 days - £210
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NIC WESTERMANN
Nic is renowned as one of the world's best toolmakers, forging tools by hand with extreme precision and focus on edge geometry and functionality. There is a long waiting list to get one of Nic's tools, so this is a rare opportunity to forge a tool under his guidance. Nic will be doing a two day Adze forging course, including bevel grinding and handle fitting to produce a tool that will last generations.
"There are no bad adzes, only bad handles"
Adze forging 2 days - £240
