Pickings from Sanborn Mills Farm

Farm Pickings

News and Updates from Sanborn Mills Farm

— March 27, 2024 —

March in New England:

In like a lion, out like a lamb — but the lion never leaves.

~ Anonymous

Timber Framing and the Old House and Barn Expo

Prior to this year’s Old House and Barn Expo, which was sponsored by the New Hampshire Preservation Alliance and held on March 16 and 17, Sanborn Mills Farm hosted a timber-framing workshop where a frame was built from scratch, to be auctioned at the Expo. Participants in the workshop came from all over New England and worked for the most part in the Farm’s newly outfitted woodworking shop. Enthusiasm was high!

Upcoming Workshops of Interest

Sanborn Mills Farm’s 2024 Workshop Program is set to open in early April, but it’s never too early to register for a favorite. Many of our workshops fill quickly, so if there’s a workshop or two that catches your interest, make a point to register soon. The full schedule of 2024 workshops is posted on our website here.

Here are three upcoming workshops that may be of particular interest to you. Click on the workshop title for more information and to register.

Introduction to Key Making

May 4 & 5

Instructor: Thomas Boucher

Keys are the building block of every lock. They give important dimensions for the size of the lock and where and how the various parts will fit and interact. Participants in this workshop will learn the basics of making a hollow-stem single-piece forged key. This style is known as a Georgian wire bow. Not only will we cover the steps to form a key, but we will also make some of the necessary tools to do so. Participants will take their rough forgings and file them to shape. Although we are making a particular sized key, the skills and techniques learned in this class can be applied to produce many more keys in other shapes and sizes.

Blacksmithing Basics 3

May 10-12

Blacksmithing Basics 4

May 17-19

Instructor: Garry Kalajian

These workshops are for people who are new to blacksmithing as well as those with some experience who want to improve their skill set. Basic operations will be explained and demonstrated in detail, then used to make a hook and eye and form scrolls to join with rivets for a trivet or other project. Basic metallurgy and heat-treating a punch or chisel will also be explained and demonstrated.

Eco-Printing and Painting with Pigments

May 11 & 12

Instructor: Katama Murray

Learn all about natural pigments for creative processes! During this weekend workshop, participants will learn the basics of eco printing and painting with locally foraged plants and food waste on to different types of fabric and paper, as well as beginner book arts techniques to create small, folded, and stitched books. The interconnection of nature within these practices will be a focus as time will be offered to create inside and outside of the studio space. This immersion into the Farm’s natural environment and current season will help to inform creative experiments throughout the two-day class. Participants will be encouraged to bring a couple fabric items from home to ‘jazz up’ and recycle into a new printed garment that holds memory of the weekend and season using plants. This class offers a combination of outdoor foraging, printmaking, photography, bookmaking, and fiber processes, thereby offering a realm of possibilities that allow for full exploration with each mode of making.

www.sanbornmills.org

Photo Credits

Top photo by Steve Bjerklie.

Timber Framing photos by Steve Bjerklie and Beverly Thomas.

Workshop photos courtesy the instructors.