Has anyone ever taken a workshop (3-5 day) at Craft Supply? Being mostly self taught, I'm really think some of the bad or non-existent habits could go away.
Hey Jim - did you ever decide to take the plunge? Summer's almost over; better hurry!
I'm still working forward through the last 4 months of posts; it's been heartening to see that the "banana test" is still alive and well.
To answer your question, I took a class at CSUSA with one of my brothers back in 2004. It was a 5-day Beginner class with Rex Burningham. We made several things that I probably never would have thought to try on my own, including my first lidded box, my first "real" bowl (after making my first fancy funnel
), a large platter, a hefty bud vase, and even a mallet - which I still use.
We couldn't take whatever we wanted off of CSUSA's warehouse shelves (go figure!) but they had a good selection of blanks in the classroom area in various species for us to choose from. I need to find some more Myrtle ... I remember that being one of my favorites.
Besides getting instruction from an expert, it was great to have the use of a nice lathe, and interaction wth the other students and with CSUSA "regulars" like Dale Nish and Kip Christensen ... we even had Mike Mahoney and Stuart Batty drop in to say Hi one day.
I need to sign up for another class - they can really "kick start" you with ideas and enthusiasm. And they have so many excellent teacher/turners to choose from. Besides - it's only about a 12-mile drive for me.
I suppose some of the "edge" has been taken off thanks to the long-running Utah Woodturners club that I discovered about 2.5 years ago, and the CSUSA-sponsored club that hit its 1-year mark this month. Yep, I make the 12-mile trip to the CSUSA campus at least once a month now, and have to keep my hand on my wallet as I walk through the showroom to the demo area. At this month's meeting we had a "distinguished visitor": Jimmy Clewes was the class instructor that week, and attended the meeting in the evening. (2nd Wednesday of the month.)
Anyway ... I hope something in all of that was helpful.