Class Description: Let the wood guide you! In this class, you’ll learn basic greenwood spoon carving techniques, including selecting the best trees for carving, breaking-down logs into usable spoon blanks, and practicing the basic axe and knife skills needed for safe and efficient carving. Using only three tools (axe, straight knife, and hook knife), you'll begin carving your own wooden spoon; leaving with a few blisters on your hands, an appreciation for the therapeutic nature and addictive qualities of spoon carving, and the basic technique, confidence, and reference material needed to continue carving on your own. The small group format allows for safe and individualized instruction. The tuition fee includes materials: greenwood spoon blanks for carving, a dedicated (physically distanced) workstation, use of carving tools, course materials, personalized instruction, coaching, and encouragement. Please Note: an optional $80 take-home tool kit may be purchased in advance when you register. To order the take-home tool kit, you must register for the class before May 1st.

Lunch: Lunch is included in the class fee. If you have any dietary restrictions, please note them when you register.

Instructor Bio: For the past ten years, Ian Hart has been interested in researching, understanding, and reproducing traditional wood and metal work, mainly from the 17th and 18th centuries. During his senior year in college at the American College of the Building Arts, he assisted in the instruction of the freshman class in traditional metalwork. He spent several summers working at folk schools (Adirondack Folk School, Tillers International, and Touchstone); a portion of that time was spent teaching classes, which ranged from ornamental ironwork, spoon and bowl carving, and carved furniture. He was a Demonstrating Artisan at the Waterford Fair (2021, 2022).

Class Description: Learn how to make your own salves and balms using methods that are historically accurate to early Virginia, including the use of plants native to the area. Weather permitting, students will go outside to learn how to identify and forage for wild plants that may be incorporated into your projects. Learn how to complete your class projects with packaging and labeling.

Lunch: Lunch is included in the class fee. If you have any dietary restrictions, please note them when you register.

Instructor Bio: Maureen Anderson's home farm is a family-owned and operated venture of love and commitment to reviving the lost arts. They strive to farm in a sustainable manner and are committed to utilizing time-honored “old fashioned” methods as well. These methods both enhance the lives of their animals and maintain a connection to the earth. By offering and promoting products and educational ventures nationwide, they support and encouraging other small farms. They believe that small farms are the backbone of our culture and our country, producing healthier food, creating superior products, and fostering healthy economies and communities.

Class Description: Use your creativity to make a beautiful basic chain link necklace using sterling silver wire, beads, and other embellishments. You’ll learn how to make simple loops and wrapped loops that you will use to connect the beads in your necklace. You’ll learn how to arrange the beads to create a beautiful design using a bead board, and make a simple clasp. The instructor will provide sterling sliver wire. If time allows, you may also make a pair of earrings. Please bring the following tools, which can be purchased at Joann’s, Michaels, Hobby Lobby, or Walmart: round-nose pliers, chain-nose pliers, and flush cutters. The instructor will bring bead boards for your use during class. Bring your creativity to this fun class and leave with beautiful, wearable art! Please Note: the materials fee is not included in the tution fee. Depending on your bead selections, there will be an additional $25 - $35 materials fee due to the instructor in class.

Lunch: Lunch is included in the class fee. If you have any dietary restrictions, please note them when you register.

Instructor Bio: Candace Stribling began her love of jewelry-making after purchasing a kit at Michaels. She fell in love with the technical skills required in jewelry-making, and for the opportunity it provides for her to explore her creativity. She also fell in love with beads, especially beads from Africa, India, and other countries.

Candace took her first metalsmithing class at Glen Echo, and has since taken courses at the Delaplaine Visual Arts Center in Frederick, MD and at JewelryClassDC in Washington, DC. She finds she can best express her creative abilities by forming and shaping metal. All of her pieces start as sheet or wire and end up as a piece of one-of-kind jewelry using soldering, forming, hammering, and setting stones. Candace is a Waterford Landmark Artisan, exemplifying excellence in craftsmanship and education during the Waterford Fair, and for her commitment to the Waterford Foundation.

Class Description: Using a chair you bring from home, you will learn how to replace the seat with splint. The history, origin, and preservation of this woven seat style will also be discussed. If you aren’t sure if your chair is suitable for the class (click here to see an example of a suitable chair frame), please email an image to us in advance to ensure that you have what you need to successfully complete the project. Please Note: you will need to bring the following supplies to class: a standard stapler, a bucket or pan that will hold a gallon of water, a spray bottle (for water), an old towel, hand snips, pruners or sturdy scissors (to cut the reed), needle nose pliers, a utility knife, two 2-inch spring clamps, a pencil or pen, a butter knife (a thin blade is optimal), and your chair.

Lunch: Lunch is included in the class fee. If you have any dietary restrictions, please note them when you register.

Instructor Bio: Pamela Foster has been weaving for over 40 years. She specializes in wicker restoration, but weaves all types of chair seats, including splint, cane, rush, bamboo, rattan, willow, and grasses. She has woven seats for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and restored a wicker sled for the Loudoun Museum. She has been reproducing Gustav Stickley wicker lampshades for over 25 years, which are sold nationwide. She has been teaching for the Waterford Craft School since its inception in 2016.

You can learn more about Pamela in this YouTube video short, which captures a conversation we had with her in her cozy, mountaintop studio in 2021.

Class Description: The Shakers began making baskets early in their history to help with everyday farm work. The Shaker Cheese Basket is just what its name implies . . . it was used in the Shaker community in the cheese making process. The large hexagonal weave (triaxial weave) was used for draining the cheese curds. Today, this basket can serve as a beautiful accent piece in your home, as it is so architectural in nature. This 26” cheese basket will be woven of 3/8” flat reed using triaxial weaving, which is composed of three sets of weavers that intersect and interlace with each other at 60 degree angles. The base of the basket is a hexagon with hexagon openings. As the sides are woven it becomes round. Once the spokes are turned down, you will complete the basket with heavy 3/4” half round rims and 3/8” lashing. Please Note: This is an advanced class so you must have weaving experience. This is a challenging basket to make, but certainly one that will add beauty to your home.

Lunch: Lunch is included in the class fee. If you have any dietary restrictions, please note them when you register.

Instructor Bio: Working over wooden molds, in the method of the Shakers, Karen Wychock’s baskets are traditional in shape and materials. She weaves both Shaker reproductions in ash and traditional, utilitarian baskets of reed. Native hardwoods such as ash and oak are used to make the rims and handles, and all of her baskets are lashed using ash. Each basket takes on its own character as it is woven in a quatrefoil. Twill or fancy lace patterns appeal to both eye and touch.

Karen was an art teacher for 22 years in the Neshaminy School District, Langhorne, PA, before becoming a middle school principal for 15 years in both the Neshaminy School District and the Central Bucks School District.

She is a member of the Bucks County Craftsmen’s Guild, the Bucks County Hand Weaver’s Guild and the PA Guild of Craftsmen. She is also president of the Penn-Jersey Basket Weavers Guild. Karen sells her work at various shows and galleries throughout the northeast (Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, Virginia, and Ohio), and has the earned the distinction of Waterford Landmark Artisan for her commitment to the Waterford Fair and the Waterford Foundation. She teaches both children and adults.

Class Description: In rural areas, the art of barn quilt painting has become a popular way to celebrate America’s agricultural and cultural past while adding cheery pops of color to outdoor structures. Create your own 24” x 24” barn quilt painting--the perfect size for mounting on your shed, home, or business! Using a quilt block design that you bring from home for inspiration, you will learn how to scale and transfer the pattern onto a prepared wooden board, then you will be guided through the process of taping, painting, and sealing it. Most complete projects will have one or more coats of protective sealant by the end of the class; students will be given enough sealant to complete the process at home. If time allows, a smaller 12”x12” painting can be started for an additional $10 fee, which can be paid directly to the instructor in class.

Lunch: Lunch is included in the class fee. If you have any dietary restrictions, please note them when you register.

Instructor Bio: Vyvyan Rundgren became interested in painted floor cloths (both on canvas and linoleum), which gave a new dimension to her life-long love of art. For eight years she was an instructor at the John C. Campbell Folk School in NC and also taught workshops throughout central Virginia. The painted floor cloth concept expanded to include floor quilts (fabric) and floor pages (paper). Her book, Floor Cloths, Quilts & Pages was released in 2015.

Vyvyan serves as an officer on the Board of Directors for the Art Guild of Greene County. Through the Art Guild and with the support of the Greene County Economic Development & Tourism she founded the Blue Ridge Barn Quilt Project and it has grown to be the largest barn quilt trail in Virginia, now having over 150 artworks on display. She not only paints many of the barn quilts, she also conducts workshops to teach others how to create their own.

Class Description: Pine needle basketry is a craft tradition developed by American Indians in the Southeastern and Western U.S. states, where longleaf pine trees grow. In this class, you will learn how to coil and stitch longleaf pine needles to create a useful basket. Students will select from a variety of centers as a point of departure, then learn how to wrap and stitch the needles together; historical techniques will be discussed. No previous basket weaving experience is necessary!

Lunch: Lunch is included in the class fee. If you have any dietary restrictions, please note them when you register.

Instructor Bio: For Cory Ryan, art was always a hobby and her therapy from a stressful IT job. She started with folk art and had a goal to learn something new as the years went by. She learned to make baskets with longleaf pine needles from a friend’s mother, who had learned from her mother. She is pleased to carry on this heritage craft tradition. She teaches a variety of classes, ranging from quilling to pine needle basketry, and is serving her fourth term as President of the Art Guild of Greene in Greene County, VA. Now retired from the corporate world, Cory creates art to display and sell at a local craft shop in Ruckersville, VA.

Class Description: Join baker David S. Cargo to learn how to build a portable stacked-brick oven. You’ll build the oven together as a team, and while it is firing, learn how to make dough for flatbreads and pizza. When the oven has reached optimal temperature, you’ll bake naan, pita bread, and pizza in the hot brick oven, then cap off the class with a wood-fired tasting party! You will leave with hands-on experience in building and baking in stacked brick ovens, along with flat bread recipes, and plans for three different oven sizes.

Lunch: Lunch is included in the class fee (and a pizza party at the end of class). If you have any dietary restrictions, please note them when you register.

Instructor Bio: David S. Cargo is one of the founding members of the Saint Paul Bread Club, a former baker at Trotter's Cafe and Bakery, a former baker at the St. Agnes Baking Company, and a featured baker in Kim Ode's cookbook, Baking with the Saint Paul Bread Club: Recipes, Tips, and Stories.

David's been teaching his oven-building class since 2010. He's taught it over 70 times and to hundreds of students in several states. His workshop was selected to be on the program for the Kneading Conference in Maine in 2016, 2017, and 2018. He also presented a shortened version at the annual meeting of the Masonry Heater Association at Wildacres, North Carolina, in 2018. We are pleased to welcome him back to the Waterford Craft School. Check out our conversation with David on our YouTube channel, which we recorded via Zoom in April, 2021.