Workshops
Discounts:
Discounts available for members of CSA at workshops held at Mount Wolfe Farm
All workshops are held at Mount Wolfe Farm unless otherwise stated
Spoon Carving (Introduction to Green Woodworking)
Learn the basics of green woodworking by creating your own spoon
You will learn the basics of carving using hand tools working from a pre-made blank, to begin your own your own spoon carving practice. We will cover:
>sourcing and selecting wood
>splitting wood and axe work (demo only)
>slojd and hook knives technique
>basic sharpening tools and techniques
The aim is to give you lots of practice in a safe and relaxed environment!
All tools and lunch/refreshments provided.
Unless otherwise stated Winter Venue: White Birch Day Centre, Palgrave
Summer Venue: Skills Circle in The Witches' Forest, Mount Wolfe Farm
Other Workshop Dates:
Sat May 27 10-3pm
Sat Jun 24 10-3pm
Your Instructor
Jim Jones (aka @TheHedgieJim) is the founder of ORSN and has been carving spoons (in between hedgelaying, scything, basket-weaving and other skills) since 2018.
All workshops $70
Makers Month at
Saturday 15th April Intro to Spoon Carving 10 am -3pm $90
Sunday 16th April Taster Sessions 10am-1pm and 2-5pm $60
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Cost per person $70
Attendance required for the MWF Spoon Carving Club
Introduction and Intermediate Blacksmithing
At these workshops we will explore the basics of blacksmith work including setting up a basic outdoor forge and working with steel.
The forge at Mount Wolfe Farm was set up with the aid of Thak Ironworks and funding from the University of Waterloo via the Hedgelaying in the Ontario Landsacpe Project in 2019. Its a basic drum brake forge with an electric fan, an anvil, and leg vice set in the open beneath a canopy. The blacksmith workshops at Mount Wolfe Farm are aimed at supporting the learning of farm-adjacent skills and local land-based livelihoods, together with an appreciation and wise use of the natural world.
In the introductory course you will use your new skills to fashion a bottle opener or other basic but useful item!
In the intermediate course you will work together building on your skills by making a fire poker
Your Instructor
Our trainer will be local Blacksmith Steve Cornelson of Bad Llama Forge (@Bad_Llama_Forge)
Steve has been forging since his high school days. Having sought to compete in SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) armoured combat he found himself scrounging any information he could for processes and methods for armouring. In the time of a bare bones / pre YouTube internet.
He quickly found that making and repairing armour held far more satisfaction to him than using it.
To further his shops capabilities he sought methods to expand his tool set, rather than spend his meager teenagers earnings on very expensive niche tooling; Steve adopted the "need a tool, make a tool" philosophy, which inevitably led him down the ever more satisfying path of blacksmithing.
Steve took an 11 year hiatus to travel and teach English to medical students in China.
Now, having returned in 2017: Steve continues to produce tooling but also produces axes and knives. He also has a line of hand forged smoking pipes.
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Cost per person $90/ $105
Workshop Dates 2022:
Introduction
Saturday September 10th
Saturday October 8th
Intermediate
Saturday 24th September
Saturday 29th October
10am-4pm.
Previous workshops with Thak Ironworks
Sweet Grass Basket Weaving
Join Barbara Guy Long for a day of traditional basket making.
"I have an artistic sensibility tied to nature, and love working with my hands. I am a multi-media artist, and my first love is working with natural materials.In thirty years I have worked with willow and cedar, building structures in the landscape. The Mi’kmaq introduced me to basket making methods out of Ash and to Sweetgrass as a material for ceremony.I took a small workshop in the coil method of basket making and it has become my current passion.The tradition of sweet grass basket making is largely a lost art; I have been working with sweetgrass for a few years and find that the smell and feel of it in my hands is wonderful."
-Barbara