Folk school fantastic

 

Last week, we (by "we" I mean Dustin) went to the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC. I didn't attend classes, but I think I fell as in love with this place as Dustin did.

Even the buildings around campus are cute and interesting

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Outside pottery kilns

It was a bit too cold (and I was way too sick) but in warmer months, they use this for a dance hall in the evenings.

These are only three of the 20 (?) or so buildings on the campus. It is so much... more... than we expected. But, in a good way :). 

Without further ado..... Show and Tell from the end of the week. Keep in mind that most of these people are BEGINNERS. They had little to no experience in any of the classes that they took. Amazing.....

One of the classes I could put to good use: cane bottom chairs

The wood turning class

Their instructor wore a cowboy hat that began with a solid block of wood that he turned on the lathe. I tried to take a sneaky picture of it during the closing program, but he was sitting by a window.

The vellum book binding class did some neat projects. Here is one. They basically removed the covers from books and completely remade their own.I make sit sound so much easier than it looked

The enamilng class made me wish I hadn't been sick all week and had been sitting in their class instead. The picture doesn't do it justice, like photos so often do. There were so many people around their table that it was difficult to get in at a good angle. 

My grandma has a glass kiln and we have a ceramics kiln. I'm ready to fire them up and try out some enameling. 

Another bad picture, but another amazing craft. The felt making class made masks this week. These are all made from handmade felt. 

There were probably 15 or so courses offered this week, these are just a few of them. I tried to use the best pics. (yes, ,unfortunately THESE are the best...) but they still capture the wide range of classes, skills, and people who were are the school this week. 

You may have noticed that I left the blacksmithers out. My resident blacksmith will be taking care of that blog post for me :) (and, making his blogging debut!)

At dinner on Sunday night, before the plague hit me, we sat with a couple who attend the school at least once a year together. Six years ago, in a cooking class at the folk school, they met. This week, they learned how to play the dulcimer together. Not only is the school neat, but the people you meet there have such interesting stories. 

Check out their website. If you have a free weekend or week, head to Brasstown! I didn't even ATTEND and I had a great experience! (well... minus that whole stomach flu that rendered me unable to get out of bed all week.... :)) 

Maybe we'll see you there. It has been declared to be a yearly Voyles trip now!