Woodturning at John Campbell Folk Art School

My wife and I ventured to Brasstown, North Carolina, for a week at John Campbell Folk Art School. Situated in the far southwestern corner of North Carolina and nestled in the Appalachian Mountains, the school offers hundreds of classes in over fifty different crafts - art, fabric arts, music, dance, cooking, gardening, nature studies, photography, wood carving, wood turning, and writing. For Mary Lou it was quilting with a nationally known instructor. For me, what else, it was wood turning.

The school is an example of non-competitive learning with simple living arrangements, excellent food, and time to learn and relax.

My wood turning class was held in what can only be described as the perfect set-up for wood turning. The Willard Baxter Wood Turning Studio is said to be the nation's largest wood turning school offering over 50 classes per year. A 2 year old building equipped with full size Powermatic lathes, Jet mini-lathes, quality tools, and ten roomy work stations. The lighting was excellent and a newly installed central dust collection system made it a comfortable setting. The instructor's lathe had a video camera and television set to enable the students to watch each demonstration. Everything you needed for helping me learn more.

To top off the learning experience, our instructor, Troy Bledsoe from Social Circle, Georgia was an experienced turner with a gift for making the class productive and fun. The projects were candlestick, tea lights, "confetti" lights, bowls, and bottle stoppers. Each project was helpful in learning to properly use and control my gouges. I also spent part of the last day practicing sharpening my own tools with a lot of guidance from the instructor. Now I am able to transfer those grinds to my own sharpening system and hopefully maintain the sharpness I like.

This has to have been the single best class I have ever attended. It is the reason that I am intending to return to the school in April for another turning class.