Friday, April 12th, all day
PRACTICAL DESIGN

Good design isn’t simple; it’s by far the most challenging part of building furniture.  One of best ways to become a better designer is to look at and make sense of furniture that appeals to you.  Guided by furniture maker Garrett Hack we will look at many images of furniture from antique to contemporary to understand what makes a design great — or not so great.  How do you use proportion, line, shape, detail, contrast, color? Where do you start the process of designing something, what materials do you use, which joinery or other techniques do you build it with, and what details might enhance the work. 

Beyond looking at images we will consider ways to generate pleasing curves getting started, making full scale drawings, how to choose the best wood for the project and organize your cuts for economy and quality, and how to develop a construction strategy for working accurately and efficiently. It all adds up to good design. 

Saturday/Sunday April 13/14 HANDS-ON workshop

PRECISION WITH HAND TOOLS

Good hand tool skills allow you to work more efficiently, accurately, and enjoyably. We will practice many practical hand tool techniques typical to building any piece of furniture — flattening surfaces and smoothing them to a polish, cutting end grain, jointing edges such as for joining two boards, cutting and fitting some joints, cutting beads and curves, and simple molded edges. We will even make a hand tool, one so simple and effective that it will amaze you with its range of uses. And of course we’ll talk about sharpening and tuning your tools so they work as effortlessly and accurately as possible, and even about how to integrate hand tools and machines in your process.