SOLD OUT!! Saturday and Sunday, March 22 & 23, 2025, 9am-5pm each day

Organized through Waterford Craft School. More info and registration here. $465 class fee, lunch provided.

During this weekend course, students will create beautiful round baskets from willow. Learn to construct a traditional basket with a circular base, rounded or sharp angled upsett, a choice of side weaves and a woven border. Time permitting, students can weave a complementary handle. We will be working with natural willow so students can explore and design with the various colors different types of willows present. Those who have some experience in willow weaving can practice shaping and explore different weave designs. Participants will finish the class with a sturdy and useful vessel. Learn more and register here.

Monday to Sunday, July 28 - August 3, 2025, 9am-5pm each day

Organized through Eric Cannizzaro. More info and registration here. $1600 combined class fee.

In this class students will use just a few hand tools to make a greenwood ladderback chair in the style of Jennie Alexander (Make A Chair From a Tree, 1978). Starting with an ash or oak log, we will spend the first three days working together to split, shave, and bend enough chair parts for everyone.

On day four, we will put our chair parts aside to dry and spend two days weaving willow baskets. We will learn and practice traditional weaving techniques while creating beautiful and functional harvesting baskets. Students will also learn about the cultivation and processing of this historically important natural material. Our baskets will be built from a round base with weaves mostly in the European tradition, including pairing, waling, randing and woven borders. Every student’s basket will be different! This class is suitable for beginners wanting to learn a base of weaving knowledge or intermediate weavers looking to improve skills and control. Care and use of finished pieces will be discussed in class. Willow is a stronger more tension-y material than many other basketry materials, strong hands are a must for this course.

The last two days of class will be spent back at the workbench and shaving horse, final shaping and assembling our chairs. This class is a lot of work and a lot of fun, and offers a unique opportunity to build skills with a few core tools. Seat weaving will be demonstrated in class and resources will provided for students to weave  at home. Learn more and register here.

Friday through Sunday, April 25-27, 2025, Friday noon-6pm, Saturday 8am-5pm, Sunday 8am-noon.

Organized through Northeast Basketmakers Guild. Registration here. $200 Member, $230 Non-Member Registration (opens November 2nd), plus $70 materials for my class, non-members of the NBG welcome, and there are grants available!

This is an INTERMEDIATE/ADVANCED level class! Students need to be comfortable working with willow. Prerequisites: Students MUST have the experience level in WILLOW. Students should be able to weave a regular round willow basket on their own without instruction, so that they are familiar with three rod wale, randing techniques, and general shaping. It is helpful if students are familiar with using a knife to cut willow slypes and/or scalloms.

In this willow weaving intensive, experienced students can practice creating a well-formed and refined project through the making of a creel. We begin with a D-shaped base where the back stakes are scallomed on, additional stakes are then punched through the hoop and corner stakes added. We then weave up the sides of the basket using three rod wale, randing, and a packing weave, with careful attention to weaving around corners and creating a bellied form at the front. The basket is completed with a woven rod border (another place to practice weaving around corners), a lid woven in a similar fashion to the base (students can choose to incorporate or leave out the hole), and leather fasteners and strapping. The project is customizable to different sizes and designs, whether you'd like a functional fishing creel or a fashionable purse! Register here.