Trading Places: Traditional Craft Courses

This one day course introduces the basic skills of Blacksmithing, a trade that used to be found in every village and was at the heart of countryside life for hundreds of years. You will learn about managing the forge and heating your steel to around 1200 degrees Celsius. Discover the techniques of drawing down and shaping the metal on the anvil – then bending, forming and quenching your work until it is transformed from a length of steel bar into your own unique hook or candle holder! The course is...

Wooden spoons have been carved for thousands of years and, for most of the population, continued as an eating utensil until relatively recently. ‘Spoon’ was originally an Anglo-Saxon word that meant ‘a chip of wood’. Spoon carving requires only a few tools and within hours you can create a unique and practical item from a wooden log! On this 1 day introductory course you will begin by learning how to cleave the wood and use an axe to produce your spoon blank. The rest of the day will be spent...