Traditional craft workshops and interesting classes take place during the Wooden Boat Show. One of the most interesting activities is lathe turning, which can be used to make anything from bowls to table legs.
From noon to 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday there will be traditional craft workshops located all over the North House Folk School campus. This is your chance to meet the instructors, to taste, touch, feel, and witness techniques and traditions of these crafts. This is your chance to try your hand at making something you can’t make without professional instruction.
Amy James begins the demonstrations on Friday at noon with her wood-fired bread baking. Discover the techniques of baking bread in a wood-fired oven and taste some of the results. James’ crispy crusts and steaming hot insides are is the stuff only a wood-fired masonry oven can provide.
Next up on Friday, at 1 p.m., are David Asproth and Reuben Swenson with their demonstration of fly-fishing—from the setup to the cast.
Locals know and revere David Asproth for his grace and pleasure at sharing his fly-tying skills with the public. Dave is one of the best at tying flies in the country and has taken his skills and demonstrated them all over the USA.
Top: On Saturday, June 19 at 10 a.m., boat builder John Beltman will lead a walking tour of the wooden boats on display. However, the campus is open to visitors all weekend. Feel free to stroll around and check out the 50-plus boats on display. Above: In years past, there have been storytellers—but visitors will find that the boats tell their own stories.
But Asproth is also quite a fisherman, as is Swenson. Together the two of them will teach you how to land a fly gracefully on a quiet inland lake or gently on a rushing river. Dave will also throw in some information on which flies to use and when to use them. This should be quite a demonstration for those willing to spend the time learning from two great people and two great fishermen.
At 2 p.m. on Friday, John Beltman and Jim Sannerud will show how they use a lathe to make bowls and wooden legs.
Beltman demonstrates on a spring-pole lathe while Sannerud shows how to use a power lathe. Both turn out fine products, but watching Beltman use a traditional foot-powered lathe is like watching wood magically turn into a bowl— or a table leg. And while they essentially turn square chunks of wood into round pieces of wood, they each have something to share with proponents of either style of lathe. Both instructors will demonstrate turning black ash, a northern tree species cherished for table legs by wood turners.
Dennis Chilcote will introduce the process of preparing black ash splints for basket making, no easy feat, at 3 p.m. on Friday. Chilcote demonstrates the challenges artisans face when pounding, peeling and shaping black ash into strong, durable and beautiful baskets. He will also explain the challenges of saving the black ash trees from the emerald ash borer. This is a chance to increase one’s awareness and appreciation of not only basket making but to increase one’s awareness of what could be a dying art form if the black ash tree can’t be saved.
Allen Holzheuter and Kate Hartman will teach a class called Spin Your Fibers, Knit
Your Fibers
at 4 p.m. on Friday. For hundreds of years the spinning wheel has been the essential tool for spinning. The creation of yarn begins with spinning. After the yarn is spun, knitting is just one of the crafts that utilizes the yarn for creating all sorts of useable items.
And under these instructors’ tutelage, you can try your hand at spinning on several spinning wheels on hand.
Local wood carving instructor and all-around good guy Mike Schelmeske starts Saturday morning off at 9 a.m. with his class called TheCrooked
Knife—Carving a Paddle, The
Traditional Way.
With Schelmeske’s guidance, the art of using a crooked knife to make early productions of birch bark canoes and canoe paddles will come alive. This is your chance to learn to carve a paddle the traditional way. Mike will feature black ash, a northern hardwood that lends itself to a beautiful wood grain and strength suitable for a canoe paddle.
At 10 p.m. on Saturday, John Beltman, builder of classic wooden boats, will lead a Wooden Boat walking tour. He will be followed by Larry Schmitt, fiber artist, at 11 a.m., who will talk about Scandinavian Folklore and
Textiles.
Discover, for instance, the meaning of “the mitten as a rite of passage,” and other embellishments drawn from old Scandinavia folklore.
Erik Simula is on once again at 2 p.m. on Saturday, this time sharing his knowledge of making snowshoes in his demonstration of Steam Bending—
Working with Wood Grain.
Working with a traditional steam box setup, Erik will teach you the steps of steam bending by bending a pair of wooden ash frames for snowshoes. Once again, the wood of choice is black ash.
Leave a Reply