Handled Brooms
This workshop is for students who want to move up from simple wound whisk brooms to something with a handle. Handled brooms provide the user more reach as well as more stiffness for difficult sweeping jobs.
Not scheduled right now. Last taught 2026.
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The workshop
This workshop is for students who want to move up from simple wound whisk brooms to something with a handle. Handled brooms provide the user more reach as well as more stiffness for difficult sweeping jobs.
In this class we’ll make a variety of smaller, round brooms. These will take the shape of cobwebbers, hearth brooms, lobby brooms, and tiny house brooms. Students will learn the basic knots and techniques needed to produce several brooms in class, as well as the skills needed to make brooms on their own using found or purchased materials. Students will go home with a small practice whisk and one or more handled brooms of their own design. Advanced students may experiment with plaiting or twilling techniques.
Note that moderate hand and forearm strength – along with some hand-eye-foot coordination – will make this a more enjoyable workshop. Previous broom making experience will be helpful, but not mandatory.
Skills and techniques
- Sorting, evaluating, and processing broomcorn
- Using the Tumble Spool to hold twine tension
- Finishing knots
- Stitching for flatness
Before you come
Details for students
Where
One of the farm's studios, confirmed at check-in. See the campus
Staying on the farm
Housing, meals, the daily schedule, and places to stay nearby are on Prepare for your workshop.
Your instructor
Larry Antonuk
Sometime in 2010, Larry Antonuk found himself on a tour of the Enfield Shaker Museum in Enfield, NH. While watching a Broom Making demonstration he became fascinated with the process, and wound up coming back for a tutorial with Master Broom Maker Susan Brown. One thing led to another, and Larry is now a frequent demonstrator at Enfield. He has researched and reproduced a variety of Shaker designs, and now sells his work at Shaker museums in Enfield, Canterbury, Hancock, MA, Watervliet, NY, and SabbathDay Lake, Maine. Larry is a juried member of the League of NH Craftsmen, and can often be seen demonstrating at the Sunapee Fair.
Questions about this workshop, housing, or meals? Email registrar@sanbornmills.org or call (603) 435-7314. Please read the workshop policies before you register.