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Sculptural Candle Holders and Bud Vases: Women and Non-Binary Session with Chelsea Witt
Chelsea Witt is an artist, furniture maker, and educator whose work explores the interplay of simplicity and complexity through basic shapes. Passionate about expanding access to woodworking, Chelsea serves as Executive Director and Education Coordinator for The Chairmaker’s Toolbox and teaches at craft schools across the country.
Get ready to play with wood, shape, and design in this welcoming hands-on workshop at Sanborn Mills Farm. Open to beginners, this Women and Non-Binary session invites you to create unique sculptural candle holders and bud vases while exploring what makes an object feel balanced, beautiful, and joyful to use.
You’ll experiment with the bandsaw, router, and a variety of hand tools to cut, shape, and refine your designs. No two pieces will be alike as you develop techniques for safely shaping wood and expressing your personal style through form, proportion, and creative play.
By the end of the three days, you’ll head home with new skills and functional pieces perfect for your own table or as heartfelt, handmade gifts. This workshop offers a refreshing way to discover woodworking as a form of creative expression and gain the confidence to keep making sculptural pieces long after the class ends.
Registration closes July 24th
Sculptural Candle Holders and Bud Vases: Women and Non-Binary Session | August 7–9
Foundations of Greenwood Chair Making with Charlie Ryland
This course offers a wonderful introduction to the rewarding world of green woodworking through the creation of a classic Appalachian ladderback chair. Charlie Ryland will lead a 5-day workshop at Sanborn Mills Farm where students of all levels will learn essential techniques that provide a strong foundation for hand tool work and furniture making without a full machine shop.
You’ll split parts from a log, shape them using a shave horse and drawknife, steam bend graceful, curved rear posts, and create durable mortise and tenon joints. The class culminates in assembling a beautiful two-slat ladderback chair inspired by the iconic Poynor family design. Additional skills include managing moisture content in wood and working with hide glue.
Charlie Ryland brings deep experience in traditional green woodworking methods. The course is open to all levels and emphasizes practical, lasting techniques you can carry into future projects. This workshop provides the skills, confidence, and inspiration to begin your journey in green woodworking and create lasting handcrafted furniture for years to come.
Foundations of Greenwood Chair Making | August 12–16
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Botanical Alchemy: Exploring Extraction Methods for Natural Dyes and Lake Pigments
July 29 – Aug 2
Natalie Stopka
Dye plants are remarkable factories of color. How do we make the most of these natural resources, eliciting the broadest range and maximum yield of color? Join Natalie Stopka for a five-day exploration of dye extraction methods utilizing plants from the dye garden and beyond. Inspired by recipes from historical dye works and pigment manufacture, we’ll learn which methods are suited to which plants, and how extraction methods influence dyeing and laking procedures. Participants will leave with a laboratory notebook documenting our 16+ extractions utilized as dye and pigment, and a personal project: ink, paint, or dyed fibers to fold into their own studio practice. They will also take with them the knowledge to extrapolate our analysis and findings to other plants in future.
LIMITED AVAILABILITY: 1 SPOT REMAINS
Spoon Carving
Aug 1 – 2
Eric Goodson
Spoons are central tools in the human experience; they may very well be the first and last tools we use in this life. They also make great projects for beginner carvers, with their convex and concave surfaces and changing grain direction. Through this course students will learn about wood selection, grain orientation, spoon design and ergonomics, safe axe technique, and a wide variety of special knife grips that make carving fast, efficient, and safe. Attention will also be paid to stretches and massage that help relieve hand fatigue. Finally, students will also discuss finishing oils, paints, and decorative techniques like chip carving and kolrosing.
LIMITED AVAILABILITY: 2 SPOTS REMAIN
Sanborn Mills Farm | 7097 Sanborn Road | Loudon, NH 03307 US