Newsletter July 2022
Cheril Barber
Welcome to our “new look” newsletter
We thought it was about time to catch up with you again and let you know what’s been happening here in the workshop and what we have on offer for 2022/23 . The 2023 programme is just about ready to be launched so we will let you know as soon as that’s gone live. Thanks to everyone who has supported the school by enrolling on our courses throughout these unpredictable times - you will be pleased to know we are busier than ever!
Acoustic Guitar Course
We were thrilled to finally run the 3-week Acoustic Guitar Making course which has had to be postponed multiple times due to Covid. The course was fully booked and a huge success thanks to Dave Gilberd of Goldbeard Guitars who taught here with us for the first time.
Six beautiful bespoke guitars were created and customised to each student’s requirements -with careful planning and discussion before the students arrived here on Day 1.
Dave uses both traditional timbers often used for guitar making as well as giving his students the option to work with native New Zealand timbers such as Kauri and Kahikatea which contrasted beautifully with the more traditional Rosewood and Mahogany timbers. One student made a classical guitar as a gift for his wife, and another made one for his godson back in Ireland. The guitar making course is scheduled to run in 2023 from 15th May - 3rd June - places are strictly limited to six students only so we recommend early expressions of interest to avoid disappointment.
September is the month for Carving…….
We have seven different carving courses on offer and in particular we will warmly welcome Hape Kiddle who lives, carves and teaches in Australia - this will be the first time he will have visited us and we are very excited.
Hape is a sculptor, jeweller and carver and comes highly recommended as a wonderful and inspiring teacher. Have a look at his website to learn more about him.
He is teaching three 3-day courses each using different techniques but all three courses are suitable for those who have done some carving and those who have no previous experience. The carving toolkits are provided so you don’t need to bring any tools with you. The courses are :
We have limited places available in all three courses - please get in touch if you are interested in enrolling.
We also have our four regular carving courses running again in September - Intro to Carving, Spoon Carving and Letter Carving. We have also tweaked the content of our longer 5-day course which we called “Advanced Carving” - the title seemed to put people off a little but essentially it is a course for those who already have some carving experience and would like to attempt a new project either of their own choice or something the tutor, Geoff Korver, has provided.
The project on offer will be the carving and creating of a beautiful walking stick which even if not required as a walking aid it is indeed a lovely object. Discussion will take place with the tutor before the course starts so that your requirements can be met to get your project going.
Have a look at all our carving courses here.
Intro to Carving, Spoon Carving and Letter Carving.
Advanced Carving Course.
What some of our people have been up to
It’s been great to hear what some of our former students have been busy with recently and funny how our woodworking community spreads across the world and reconnects us.
Michael & Leon in Brazil
Michael Fortune has just finished teaching a course in Brazil - and it was delightful to see a photo pop up on Instagram with him and one of our students who attended the very first Beginners’ Intensive Programme - Leon Ades who was living in New Zealand and has since returned to Brazil and works as a successful furniture maker.
We will hear all about Michael’s trip to Brazil when he is here with us for the 3-week Design & Development Programme in November.
Peter Cowper who is a graduate of the 2014 Furniture Makers’ Programme appeared in a recent article in an Australian trade magazine (AWISA).
Peter has created a bespoke and limited lighting range “Curl” under his aptly named business Bespoke by Design.
Read about Peter’s success story here.
Josephine Jelicich was a graduate of the 2018 Furniture Makers’ Programme and is currently on a two month artist in residency programme run by Eden Arts in Auckland.
Josephine is part of our project which is being funded by Creative New Zealand for us to mentor a new generation of teachers here at the school so you will be seeing more of her here next year
Finally we were very grateful to Adrienne Matthews who wrote a lovely story about the Thorkild Hansen Scholarship Programme and the first recipient, Thijs Schrader, who completed the 8-week Beginners Intensive Programme back in June.
Read the article here.
So hopefully you like our new look newsletter - the aim is that we share news, tips and tricks, student and tutor profiles and (deep breath) we are in the very early stages of setting up our own YouTube channel. In the meantime, happy woodworking days to you and stay safe and well .
Best wishes from the small but mighty team at the Centre for Fine Woodworking.